The assassination of Charlie Kirk has elicited egregious reactions across social media. On the left, some have reacted to his murder by calling Kirk a Nazi and likening him to Adolf Hitler. Others callously mocked Kirk and celebrated his assassination. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has assigned responsibility for the tragedy to those who demonized Kirk, and Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday that the Justice Department will go after those "targeting anyone with hate speech." The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh has gone so far as to say he "cannot 'unite' with the Left because they want me dead" and "will spit on my grave when I die and laugh in the faces of my wife and children."
On Monday, Vice President J.D. Vance echoed this us-vs.-them mentality while hosting Kirk's podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show. During the episode, Vance said that America must confront the difficult truth that "24 percent of self-described quote, 'very liberals,' believe it is acceptable to be happy about the death of a political opponent" and "26 percent of young liberals believe political violence is sometimes justified."
However, Vance cherry-picks data from a YouGov poll released two days after Kirk's assassination to paint an inordinately bleak picture of the state of American political discourse.
