By Sharon Zhang

This article was originally published by Truthout

Education workers were the most frequently punished, a new report finds.

Hundreds of Americans lost their jobs or faced discipline at work for making comments about far right activist Charlie Kirk after his death in September, new reporting finds, as the Trump administration whipped up a frenzied crackdown against Kirk’s critics.

According to an investigation by Reuters, at least 600 Americans were fired, suspended, placed under investigation, or otherwise punished by their employers over comments about Kirk after he was shot and killed in September. The report cites court records, news reports and public statements, and notes that this is likely a vast undercount.

Teachers, academics, and university administrators were the most frequently punished, Reuters found, making up 350 of the incidents on the list. 

This is likely due to educators being a frequent target of the right, the report notes — a campaign that has grown more fierce and violent as fascism has grown in the U.S. Turning Point USA, Kirk’s organization, itself maintains a list of professors it targets for left-wing or perceived left-wing speech, subjecting those professors to an avalanche of surveillance and hate.

The report found that many were punished for simply criticizing Kirk’s politics, some labeling him as a hateful racist, while at least 15 were disciplined for comments invoking sentiments like “karma” — even as right-wing figures openly called for violence against those who showed anything but deference to Kirk and the right.

The story highlights the case of Lauren Vaughn, who was fired from her job as a kindergarten assistant in South Carolina after she shared a quote from Kirk on gun violence after he was shot. Kirk’s 2023 remark circulated widely after his death: “I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”

Vaughn, who is suing the school district over her dismissal, said she thought about school shootings and the fear on her students’ faces during active shooter drills when she made her post.

Many of these reports came from right-wing figures, who were actively encouraged by the White House. “Call them out, and, hell, call their employer,” said Vice President JD Vance on September 15, five days after Kirk’s death. The Trump administration helped facilitate the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show on ABC the week after Kirk’s death, after Kimmel accused the right of trying to “score political points” off the killing.

The number of those punished bolsters comparisons to the Red Scare, with the government imposing a culture of fear and paranoia over criticism of the right-wing operative whose organization, Turning Point USA, was backed by dark money groups.

At least 19 lawsuits have been filed by those disciplined, with many contending that their comments constitute protected speech. In October, the ACLU of South Carolina sued Clemson University for firing an assistant professor in environmental science, Joshua Bregy, for sharing a post on social media that said Kirk’s death was “karma” and quoted him saying, “play certain games, win certain prizes.” 

“Maybe you think I’m cruel too, but I’ll say this also — I truly grieve for Kirk’s family and friends,” the post read. “But am I going to allow people to make a martyr out of a flawed human being whose rhetoric caused notable damage? Not a chance.”

Bregy was then subject to a campaign of hate, after the Clemson College Republicans posted part of his message online, labelling Bregy as “leftist” and tagging Libs of Tiktok, a major figure in the mass firing campaign who called for “WAR” after Kirk’s death. Following the comments, President Donald Trump reposted a statement by a state lawmaker who called for the university to be defunded after the incident.

“When it comes to free speech, Clemson isn’t allowed to cave to the whims of a political mob,” said Allen Chaney, legal director of the ACLU of South Carolina. “Fortunately for us all, the Constitution is made of sterner stuff than that.”

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