{"id":416924,"date":"2025-09-11T22:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416924\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:43:09","slug":"we-are-in-a-war-rightwing-media-vow-retribution-for-charlie-kirk-killing-charlie-kirk-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416924\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are in a war\u2019: rightwing media vow retribution for Charlie Kirk killing | Charlie Kirk shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The killing of Charlie Kirk<\/a> prompted a furious reaction from rightwing media on Wednesday, with prominent figures claiming \u201cwe\u2019re in a war\u201d and vowing \u201cretribution\u201d for Kirk\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

It was a reaction that will heighten fears about political violence in the US, coming hours after Kirk, the rightwing activist and provocateur, was shot and killed during an event at Utah university.<\/p>\n

Greg Gutfeld, the prominent Fox News<\/a> host, was among the first at the network to issue an angry on-air response.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they could do this, they are capable of anything. I think that was the message. I believe that was the message,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to radicalize Republicans. You know, it\u2019s \u2013 we\u2019re not the radical type. But if you thought that you were going to shut a movement down, you\u2019re going to get a rude awakening. You woke us the fuck up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police and the FBI were still searching for a suspect on Thursday morning, and the shooter\u2019s motive remains unclear. But high-profile media figures, and Donald Trump<\/a>, appeared united in blaming Democrats and liberals for the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a war,\u201d Alex Jones, the far-right conspiracy theorist and podcast host, said in a live stream<\/a>. \u201cThe left has been saying: \u2018Put a bullseye on Trump, a bullseye on his supporters.\u2019 They\u2019ve been calling for violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The InfoWars founder Alex Jones, pictured in 2022. In response to Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing, he said: \u2018We\u2019re in a war.\u2019 Photograph: Joe Buglewicz\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Jones offered no evidence for his claims. He later added: \u201cThis is dangerous. This is a war, this is a war, this is a war. This is the war. This is it, get ready. They\u2019re terrorists, they mean business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump echoed much of the same sentiment in an address on Wednesday night, as he described the act as \u201cpolitical violence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence and murder are the tragic consequences of demonising those you disagree with,\u201d Trump said. \u201cFor years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world\u2019s worst mass murderers and criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president was echoing much of the response among the conservative media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to have steely resolve. Charlie Kirk\u2019s a casualty of war. We\u2019re at war in this country. We are,\u201d Steve Bannon said on his podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not gonna back off an inch. If you\u2019re gonna back off, then this is not for you. Charlie Kirk gave his life for his country, he\u2019s on the battlefield of political combat, OK. And they cut him down with an assassin\u2019s bullet. Let\u2019s be blunt about this, they cut him down with an assassin\u2019s bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bannon\u2019s co-host, the far-right activist Jack Posobiec, went even further, promising \u201cretribution\u201d<\/a> for Kirk\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never going to be another Charlie Kirk. But you know what else is going to happen: there\u2019s never going to be another assassin to take out someone like the way they did, because of what comes next. Because what comes next will be swift, it will be quick and it will be retribution,\u201d Posobiec said.<\/p>\n

On her YouTube channel, Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News host, appeared to be in tears as she broke the news<\/a>, while Laura Loomer, the rightwing conspiracy theorist who has become a close adviser to Trump, wrote on social media<\/a>: \u201cThis has been a very radicalizing week. A message to the left: debate time is over. You ended it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura Loomer arrives with Donald Trump in Philadelphia for the presidential debate on 10 September 2024. Photograph: Chris Szagola\/AP<\/p>\n

Amid the rage there was also a lionizing of Kirk, an evangelical Christian who frequently framed his political arguments through a religious lens, as a \u201cmartyr\u201d, including from Trump.<\/p>\n

Kirk, the president said, had become \u201ca martyr for truth and freedom\u201d who was \u201ca man of deep, deep faith\u201d.<\/p>\n

Benny Johnson, the rightwing political commentator, tweeted<\/a> on Thursday morning: \u201cCharlie Kirk is a martyr. And martyrs only become more powerful. We must all, in our own poor and inadequate ways, seek to carry on Charlie\u2019s mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cFor Charlie. American Martyr. Christian Soldier. May we defeat the evil that stole him from us. So help us, God.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were also frequent dark descriptions of the shooting as being a \u201cturning point\u201d \u2013 perhaps a deliberate reference to Turning Point USA<\/a>, the conservative organization founded by Kirk which has the stated aim to \u201cwin America\u2019s culture war\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jesse Watters was among those to use the phrase, suggesting to his audience in a lengthy monologue<\/a> that the left \u201care at war with us\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what are we going to do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate and that\u2019s the question we\u2019re just going to have to ask ourselves,\u201d Watters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unacceptable and has to stop, and it has to stop now. And everybody\u2019s accountable, and we\u2019re watching what they\u2019re saying on television and who\u2019s saying what: the politicians, the media, and all these rats out there. This can never happen again. It ends now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watters had earlier told the audience: \u201cWe are sick. We are sad. We are angry. And we are resolute.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cAnd we are going to avenge Charlie\u2019s death in the way that Charlie wanted to be avenged.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The killing of Charlie Kirk prompted a furious reaction from rightwing media on Wednesday, with prominent figures claiming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-416924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115188085944358543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}