A mass “doxing” effort to track down, intimidate and harass people perceived not to have sufficiently mourned the killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk was endorsed on Monday by JD Vance.
The US vice-president guest-hosted Kirk’s podcast on Monday and said that people who “see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder” should “call them out”. He added: “Hell, call their employer. We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility, and there is no civility in the celebration of political assassination.”
In the past few days, numerous workers across various different fields ranging from colleges to an airplane pilot have been fired for their comments on Kirk’s death.
An anonymous website that began collecting reports of anti-Kirk “political extremism” said it had received more than 63,000 submissions. The website was originally named “Expose Charlie’s Murderers” but rebranded Monday to the “Charlie Kirk Data Foundation”. The group has previously said it had been targeted by hackers and “leftist attacks”. Its website was down on Tuesday.
Trump allies have sought to link Kirk’s killing – without evidence – to what they say is a coordinated leftwing “terror” movement that supports political violence, funded by progressive and liberal charities. This has led to fears of a draconian crackdown on free speech.
In his podcast, Vance said the administration would “work to dismantle the institutions that promote violence and terrorism in our own country”.
Related: JD Vance threatens crackdown on ‘far-left’ groups after Charlie Kirk shooting
The vice-president was joined on Kirk’s podcast by Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, who also vowed to crack down on what he called the “vast domestic terrorist network” he blamed for Kirk’s death.
“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, homeland security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people,” he said. “It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name.”
The political leanings of the shooter who killed Kirk are not yet clear, and the US has seen a wave of violence in recent years that has targeted both Democrats and Republicans.
Still, the dragnet has also caught up those who have expressed criticism of the late commentator, a Christian nationalist with a history of sexist and racist speeches. Some have simply quoted Kirk’s own words, or been accused of not adequately mourning his passing.
One target was Army Lt Col Christopher Ladnier, who quoted Kirk on the day of his assassination. This included Kirk calling the Civil Rights Act a “beast” that “has now turned into an anti-white weapon”, and his statement that some gun deaths are the cost of the second amendment.
Republican-controlled states such as Florida, Oklahoma and Texas have launched investigations of teachers accused of inappropriate statements after last week’s assassination. And the US military has invited members of the public to report those who “celebrate or mock” the killing and said some troops have already been removed for their comments. A school district in Wisconsin reported receiving more than 800 messages after one conservative influencer mistakenly identified an associate principal at an elementary school as celebrating Kirk’s death.
Calls for a crackdown by Vance and other Trump allies have invoked memories of some of the darkest chapters of US history.
“The government involvement in this does inch this closer to looking like McCarthyism,” said Adam Goldstein of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, referring to the 1950s campaign to root out communists that led to false allegations and ruined careers. “It was not a shining moment for free expression.”
Democrats have been victims of political violence recently, including the June assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and the 2022 beating of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their San Francisco home.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
