Tucker Carlson Blasts Calls To Impose Restrictions on Political Speech After Kirk Assassination
Sept. 20—In a special Sept. 16 broadcast titled “America After Charlie Kirk,” talk show host Tucker Carlson made very critical comments about the motions to further restrict free speech in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk last week—including from within the Trump Administration. Carlson particularly took aim at Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said on Sept. 15, “There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech. And there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society.”
“There’s no sentence that Charlie Kirk would have objected to more than that,” Carlson said in reference to Bondi. “You hope that Charlie Kirk’s death won’t be used by a group we now call bad actors to create a society that was the opposite of the one he worked to build…. You hope that a year from now, the turmoil we’re seeing in the aftermath of his murder won’t be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country.”
Carlson continued: “And by the way, that thinking … is exactly what got us to a place where some huge and horrifying percentage of young people think it’s okay to shoot people you disagree with.” Today’s youth have “been told for their entire lives in schools exactly what Pam Bondi just told them: ‘Well, there’s free speech, but then there’s also hate speech. And woe to those who engage in it because it’s a crime.’ That’s a lie. And it’s a lie that denies the humanity of the people you’re telling it about.”
Bondi’s comments received a fierce response from many other conservatives across the board, so much so that she decided to clarify her words in a statement to Axios on Sept. 17. “Freedom of speech is sacred in our country, and we will never impede upon that right,” she wrote in a statement, but adding: “We will investigate organizations that pursue illegal activities, engage in political violence, violate our civil rights, and commit tax or nonprofit fraud…. We know these organizations exist, but for far too long, the Department of Justice has sat idly by as these groups incite and fund violence in our country. No more.” Therefore, “If you want to be a hateful person and simply say hateful things, that is your right to do so,” Bondi added. “If you want to be a violent person, I will stop you.”
"If Charlie stood for anything it was that all disputes, all disagreements should be resolved, not by violence, but by respectful dialogue which promotes reasoned decisions," said a source familiar with Kirk's methods. "He was for engaging in open debate, not in rabble-rousing those who agree with you to attack those who don't. Any restrictions of free speech go against his method, which saw him willing to engage in respectful debate with anyone. The cornerstone of a Police State is an attack on the First Amendment. Charlie died fighting for this ideal."