Jimmy Kimmel returned to his ABC late-night show this week after a brief suspension over remarks he made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But his comeback was quickly met with criticism, as Vice President JD Vance called on him to issue a public apology to Charlie's widow, Erika Kirk.
"He [Kimmel] tries to say that he told a joke. He didn't tell a joke. He was actually accusing right-wing America, conservative America, of killing Charlie Kirk. We now know that is false. Charlie Kirk was murdered by a left-wing assassin who was radicalized by some of the rhetoric that we see coming from the far-Left," Vance said Thursday on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle."
"When you accuse the people who've been holding prayer vigils, who have been praying about Charlie Kirk, you accuse them of killing Charlie Kirk, when we know as a left-wing assassin, you're actually apologizing for his murder, you're encouraging more of that violence to happen."
In recent weeks, the hateful rhetoric against conservatives and the right has continued, despite evidence it has increased the willingness of people to engage in political violence. Early on Wednesday morning, a man began shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas, Texas, ultimately killing a detainee and injuring two others. Anti-ICE messages were engraved on the bullet casings. ICE agents have experienced a 1000 percent increase in violence since January, according to the Trump administration
Also on Wednesday, a leftist gun club posted a recruitment flyer at Georgetown University, featuring the same phrases engraved on the bullet casings of the Charlie Kirk assassin. The sign-up form said that they were "done with ceremonial resistance and strongly worded letters."
"If we're going to stop this crazy strain of left-wing violence, we have to be honest about what it is, and the honest truth is that Charlie Kirk was not killed by a MAGA American. He was not killed by a Republican. He was killed by a left-wing radical. Let's be honest about that fact, so that we can stop it from happening."
Until the left is willing to properly diagnose the problem of political violence, little bipartisan work can be done to stop it.