Distasteful Democrats and liberal pundits blamed Charlie Kirk and the conservative movement he championed for his own death within hours of his life being taken by an assassin at a speaking event in Utah.
“Political violence unfortunately has been ratcheting up in this country,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters Wednesday, referencing the recent murder of Minnesota’s Democratic House speaker.
“I think there are people who are fomenting it in this country — I think the president’s rhetoric often foments it,” Pritzker went on.
“We’ve seen the January 6th rioters who clearly have tripped a new era of political violence.”
The Democratic governor made no mention of the twin assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 campaign.
MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd also placed responsibility with Kirk’s rhetoric for the shocking shooting at Utah Valley University.
“You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place,” said Dowd, who most recently ran as a Democrat for Texas lieutenant governor.
“That’s the unfortunate environment we’re in,” added Dowd, author of the 2021 book “Revelations on the River: Healing a Nation, Healing Ourselves.”
Elsewhere on the air, before Kirk’s death was confirmed, Dowd said: “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration,” implying that lax firearms laws may have been responsible.
“We have no idea,” he also said. “We don’t know any of the full details of this.”
The head of MSNBC and Dowd both apologized for the remarks, however the latter was reportedly fired by the network over the comments, according to journalist Yashar Ali and Variety magazine.
“During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable,” MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said in a statement. “We apologize for his statements, as has he. There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”
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Dowd added later on his BlueSky account: “My thoughts & prayers are w/ the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. On an earlier appearance on MSNBC I was asked a question on the environment we are in.
“I apologize for my tone and words,” he added. “Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”
🚨MSNBC is now blaming Charlie Kirk for being shot.
“You can’t stop with these awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place”
What a disgusting thing to say. pic.twitter.com/iPX4NiQXZl
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 10, 2025
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) blamed “political rhetoric” from “both sides” for Kirk’s death during an appearance on CNN.
“Political violence is never the answer. It divides us. But also, I’ve got to say, political rhetoric, too, from both sides, often gets out of hand and it incites people to do things like this,” Kelly argued.
The senator then urged Americans to “think about .. our words and the consequences of them, you know, from both sides of the political spectrum.”
CNN analyst Scott Jennings was among several conservatives outraged over the left’s reaction to Kirk’s assassination.
“I think people are already saying things that shouldn’t be said,” Jennings said on the network.
“Today, a 31-year-old father of two and a husband is dead. There’s really nothing more to say than this is unacceptable and it’s wrong. There is no both-sides-ing it. A man is dead,” he continued.
Jennings fumed over the people he said “just can’t stop grinding political axes” and called out Pritzker, specifically.
“I heard JB Pritzker blame Donald Trump today – I don’t understand it,” the CNN analyst said.
The popular right-wing X profile Libs of TikTok also shared a montage of leftists on the social networking site abominably celebrating Kirk’s death.
Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck from around 200 yards away.
The gunman is still at large.
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox suggested that his state will likely seek the death penalty when the perp is apprehended and charged.
“I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination,” Cox said at a press conference Wednesday.
President Trump blasted the “radical left” in a video message from the Oval Office, for comparing “wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.”
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The president said: “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
Kirk, a father of two, started the Turning Point USA movement in 2012 that has since dominated right-wing political organizing on college campuses nationwide.
Reps for Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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