In just seven months, Vice President JD Vance went from espousing free speech to calling for censorship, in the wake of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s murder.
On Monday, as he guest-hosted the “Charlie Kirk Show,” the Republican vice president asked the public to identify — or doxx, according to critics — anyone who celebrated Kirk’s killing. He also echoed President Donald Trump’s promise to target groups that fund liberal causes.
“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out,” Vance said. “Hell, call their employer.”
Vance’s calls for punishing people for their protected free speech stands in sharp contrast to what he said on February 14, when he vowed the Trump administration will protect free speech, even if they disagree with it.
“Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth,” Vance said about the Biden White House. “Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite.”
In the days since Kirk’s murder, right-wing circles have engaged in a massive cancel culture campaign, doxxing people who have made allegedly critical comments about Kirk. At least dozens of people around the country — in private and public industries — have been punished, with some being fired. The most notable example so far was Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was taken off the air indefinitely on Wednesday. ABC and its parent company, Disney, seemingly made the move in response to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr floating what appears to be illegal regulatory punishment for the company, after Kimmel attacked MAGA’s response to Kirk’s shooting and suggested that the suspected gunman, Tyler Robinson, could be “one of them.”
