Charlie Kirk Assassination: Maga Right Launches Witch Hunt

Journalist Matthew Dowd will no longer comment on US politics on MSNBC: he was fired for making comments deemed "inappropriate" about the September 10 murder of Trumpist influencer Charlie Kirk , reports The New York Times .

“In an exchange with presenter Katy Tur, Mr Dowd noted that Charlie Kirk had encouraged hate speech, adding that 'hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,' ” ​​the newspaper explains.

Hours later, MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler called the comments “insensitive” and “unacceptable” and announced that Matthew Dowd was no longer with the network.

“The right-wing media mob mobilized, attacked me on a multitude of platforms, and MSNBC responded by firing me,” the journalist summarized in a blog post published two days later, while offering his apologies. “ Let me be clear: I had no intention of blaming Kirk for this horrific attack. Let us unite and condemn violence in all its forms.”

Matthew Dowd had been working for MSNBC for three years, providing "major" political analysis, The Hill reported . On Fox News, Donald Trump welcomed the network's decision on September 12. "They fired this guy, Dowd, a horrible guy, a horrible human being... But they fired him. I heard they're firing other people."

In fact, the journalist is no longer the only one to suffer the professional consequences of his statements after the death of Charlie Kirk, notes The New York Times.

Immediately after the 31-year-old influencer was killed, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, an employee at Middle Tennessee State University in the south, posted on Facebook: “Hate breeds hate. ZERO sympathy.” Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn immediately denounced the post: “This person should be ashamed […]. She needs to be fired from her position.” A statement from the university has since confirmed that the employee was fired “effective immediately.”

This is not yet the case for another Oklahoma teacher. He dared to write on social media that “ Charlie Kirk died as he lived: bringing out the worst in people.” He is now the subject of an investigation by the state education department, which has described his comments as “abhorrent,” CNN reports .

Since September 10, MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) influencer Laura Loomer has been spearheading what looks like a harassment campaign, CNN explains. “I’m going to spend my night making famous anyone I find online celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death. If you’re sick enough to celebrate his passing, prepare to have your career aspirations ruined,” she posted a few hours after the shooting.

The movement immediately gained momentum. A website was created. It's called “Expose Charlie's Murderers,” and its domain name was registered anonymously. The goal is to collect all messages deemed hostile to Charlie Kirk. And while the platform claims not to be a “doxxing” site— that is, it doesn't disclose personal data—it clearly identifies the authors, “the city they live in, their employer, their Instagram account, and even their email address.”

As of Saturday, the site already reported 30,000 reports. “This website will soon be converted into a searchable database of these 30,000 reports, filterable by location and industry. It is a permanent and constantly updated archive of radical activists calling for violence,” its administrators specify, who are perfectly explicit about their goal: to get the people they highlight fired.

But most of the people whose messages are reposted on “Expose Charlie's Murderers” don't appear to be activists, “and many don't appear to be calling for violence either,” CNN points out. Yet the site's name alone suggests that the people whose information it shares are responsible for Kirk's murder, “thus opening the door to harassment,” analyzes Hank Teran of the Open Measures platform.

“This is definitely targeting these people and it's a perfectly orchestrated harassment campaign,” confirms Laura Edelson, associate professor at Northeastern University and director of the Cybersecurity for Democracy program.