Distasteful Democrats and liberal pundits blamed Charlie Kirk and the conservative movement he championed for his own death within hours of his life being taken by an assassin at a speaking event in Utah.
“Political violence unfortunately has been ratcheting up in this country,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters Wednesday, referencing the recent murder of Minnesota’s Democratic House speaker.
“I think there are people who are fomenting it in this country — I think the president’s rhetoric often foments it,” Pritzker went on.
Follow The Post’s live coverage of the Charlie Kirk shooting for the latest news and updates
“We’ve seen the January 6th rioters who clearly have tripped a new era of political violence.”
The Democratic governor made no mention of the twin assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 campaign.
MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd also placed responsibility with Kirk’s rhetoric for the shocking shooting at Utah Valley University.
“You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place,” said Dowd, who most recently ran as a Democrat for Texas lieutenant governor.
🚨MSNBC is now blaming Charlie Kirk for being shot.
“You can’t stop with these awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place”
What a disgusting thing to say. pic.twitter.com/iPX4NiQXZl
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 10, 2025
“That’s the unfortunate environment we’re in,” added Dowd, author of the 2021 book “Revelations on the River: Healing a Nation, Healing Ourselves.”
Elsewhere on the air, before Kirk’s death was confirmed, Dowd said: “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration,” implying that lax firearms laws may have been responsible.
“We have no idea,” he also said. “We don’t know any of the full details of this.”
“During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable,” MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said in a statement. “We apologize for his statements, as has he. There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”
The popular right-wing X profile Libs of TikTok also shared a montage of leftists on the social networking site abominably celebrating Kirk’s death.
Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck from around 200 yards away.
Utah authorities later announced that a person of interest was in custody and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the “subject” had been arrested.
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Republican Gov. Spencer Cox suggested that his state will likely seek the death penalty when the perp is apprehended and charged.
“I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination,” Cox said at a press conference Wednesday.
Kirk, a father of two, started the Turning Point USA movement in 2012 that has since dominated right-wing political organizing on college campuses nationwide.
