Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday doubled down on his criticism of the left in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, saying the First Amendment does not protect those who allegedly celebrated Kirk’s death from consequences and reaffirming that the White House will go after left-leaning organizations that it claims are inciting violence.
“The First Amendment protects a lot of very ugly speech but if you celebrate … Charlie Kirk’s death, you should not be protected from being fired for being a disgusting person,” Vance told Fox News. “If you are a university professor who benefits from American tax dollars, you should not be celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death and if you are, maybe you should lose your job or your university should, should face a loss of funding.”
Vance added, “If you are the kind of person who thinks that Charlie Kirk was justifiably murdered, sometimes the government can’t do anything about that. But you know what can — is, is civil society and I’ve actually been gratified to see all these people standing up and saying, ‘Yes, we have free speech and yes, we have free debate, but if you’re, if you’re celebrating the death of a young father, you ought to pay some consequences for it.’”
The First Amendment does not universally protect people from professional consequences for saying something offensive. But in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, the Trump administration has indicated it intends to target liberal groups for investigation or other actions — which critics see as an effort to stifle free speech and dissent.
Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this week said the government would “target” those who use hate speech, though she later appeared to walk those comments back. Vance’s comments, particularly his threats on federal funding for universities, reflect how the administration could use the levers of government to advance that effort.
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