Charlie Kirk’s killing set MAGA ablaze with war cries—but one Republican senator is calling out the dangerous attacks against the other side of the aisle.
Sen. Thom Tillis slammed what he called the “cheap, disgusting, awful way” right-wing pundits are inciting “war” following the fatal shooting of Kirk, 31, at a campus event in Utah on Wednesday.
“What I was really disgusted by yesterday is a couple of talking heads that see this as an opportunity to say we’re at war so that they could get some of our conservative followers lathered up over this,” the North Carolina lawmaker told reporters on Thursday.
He added: “It seems like a cheap, disgusting, awful way to pretend like you’re a leader of a conservative movement. And there were two in particular that I found particularly disgusting.”
Exactly who Tillis was referring to is unclear. The Daily Beast has reached out for comment.
Tillis is alluding to the many conservative pundits and lawmakers who rushed to blame Democrats for the tragic shooting—despite no suspect being in custody and no evidence made public pointing to a political motive.
Fox News host Jesse Watters called Charlie Kirk’s death a “turning point” during a broadcast aired shortly after confirmation of the conservative influencer’s passing.
“Think about it... it’s happening. You’ve got trans shooters, you’ve got riots in L.A. They are at war with us, whether we want to accept it or, they are at war with us,” he said, then asked: “And what are we going to do about it?”
For his part, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones quickly blamed the attack on “the Democrat deep state.”
Jones later posted a lengthy clip from his show with the caption, “Emergency Warning! The Democrat Deep State Killed Charlie Kirk In A Desperate Attempt To Shut Down Populist Free Speech And Conservative / Nationalist Voting Recruitment On College Campuses.”
Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon also claimed the country was at war in the wake of Kirk’s death.
“We have to have steely resolve. Charlie Kirk is a casualty of war. We are at war in this country. We are,” Bannon said on jis show,War Room.
President Donald Trump himself blamed the “radical left” for the death of the Turning Point USA founder and called for a crackdown on left-wing groups in a four-minute address posted to Truth Social Wednesday night.
He then claimed that left-wing rhetoric was to blame for violent attacks not only on Kirk, but also on the UnitedHealthcare CEO and Trump himself.
Elon Musk, too, stoked tensions on social media, writing on X: “The Left is the party of murder.”
X users theorized that Tillis may have been referring to Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who told reporters “Democrats own this,” on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Her colleague, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, echoed that same sentiment on X: “I am done with the rhetoric this rotten House and corrupt media has caused,” the Florida Republican wrote. “YOU ARE THE HATE you claim to fight. Your words caused this. Your hate caused this.”
Kirk was speaking about trans issues and mass shootings when he was shot in the neck. His stop at the university in Orem, Utah, was one of many he had scheduled as part of what he dubbed the “American Comeback Tour.” The tour was put on by Turning Point USA, the conservative group he founded.
There has been an outpouring of prayers for Kirk across the political spectrum, as well as for his wife and two young children. Trump announced his death on Truth Social about two and a half hours after the shot rang out.
