MaddowBlog-Trump points to 'major' new investigation into people on 'the left' following Kirk slaying

[LetMyPeopleVote]

“A lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left [are] already under investigation,” Trump said four days after Charlie Kirk's death.

After Charlie Kirk was murdered, there were fears Trump would exploit the shooting to go after his political opponents.

Four days later, he boasted that a “major” investigation is “already” underway against unnamed targets on “the left.” www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-15T12:08:07.671Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-points-major-new-investigation-people-left-kirk-slaying-rcna231305

The scripted comments suggested that Trump is eager to exploit Kirk’s death to use the power of the state to go after his political opponents. Four days later, The Daily Beast reported:

Donald Trump boasted his administration has launched a ‘major investigation’ into people on ‘the left’ over the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Trump did not provide details on the probe but teased an upcoming announcement as he tore into his perceived political enemies over the fatal shooting of his close ally in Utah last week.

During a brief Q&A with reporters, the president began by pushing familiar smears against Americans who disagree with him. “If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right,” he said, once again ignoring the evidence related to right-wing violence. “When you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag-burnings all over the place — that’s the left. That’s not the right.”

But then he went just a bit further. “They’re already under major investigation,” Trump added. “A lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left [are] already under investigation.”

Trump: " They're already under major investigation, a lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the Left. They're already under investigation."

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-09-15T01:18:31.658Z

.......During a Fox News interview last week, for example, the president appeared to excuse far-right crimes, insisting that extremists on the right “oftentimes” have a good reason to commit acts of violence. (He prefaced the comments by saying, “Well, I’ll tell you something that’s gonna get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less.” His indifference, of course, is part of the problem.)

Trump added soon after that his advice to the right is to get “revenge at the voter box,” though he quickly added, “But unfortunately we don’t have so many ballot boxes because they have mail-in in voting, which is totally rigged.”

Or put another way, the president’s message to those on the right is that they could stick to democratic means but that might not be an entirely credible solution since, in his view, his opponents have undermined the electoral system.

Kirk’s death has created an important leadership test for Trump, and he keeps finding new ways to flunk that test.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Imagine the howlings

if Biden or Garland had gone after the Right in this manner.

[Cha]

3. Think of Traitor as a Nazi Dic and

it all makes sense... Nothing but Lies... he was already after Blue Cities and his Opponents in the Midterms.. Now he's Lying about what Kirk's assassin was.

Hoping this BLOWS UP in his UGLY Fucked UP face

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. MaddowBlog-White House eyes multifaceted crackdown on liberal organizations after Kirk slaying

Team Trump’s campaign against entities opposed to the president reached an extraordinary new level on Monday, exploiting the activist’s death.

The New York Times noted in March that Trump and his “allies are aggressively attacking the players and machinery that power the left,” through “a series of highly partisan official actions.”

Six months later, that problem is spectacularly worse. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-16T13:04:23.409Z

That might’ve sounded alarmist to some, but it wasn’t long before the White House bolstered Murphy’s concerns in dramatic fashion. The New York Times reported:

President Trump and his top advisers threatened on Monday to unleash the power of the federal government to punish what they alleged was a left-wing network that funds and incites violence, seizing on Charlie Kirk’s killing to make broad and unsubstantiated claims about their political opponents.

The report added that while the motive in Kirk’s slaying is still under investigation, and law enforcement officials have said that the suspected shooter acted alone, the president and several of his top allies “suggested that the suspect was part of a coordinated movement that was fomenting violence against conservatives, without presenting evidence that such a network existed.”

Trump and his team have been unsubtle in recent days about their vision. Hours after Kirk’s death, the president delivered Oval Office remarks in which the Republican not only lashed out at the left, he also vowed that his administration “will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”....

Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, for example, promised to bring the resources of the federal government to bear against what he described as “terrorist networks,” adding that he believes there are liberal organizations that constitute “a vast domestic terror movement” that the administration intends to dismantle through a variety of federal agencies and departments......

In case this isn’t obvious, the White House could be using this opportunity to lower the temperature, reduce tensions and avoid a potentially incendiary blame game. Instead, it’s pointing to a vast conspiracy that doesn’t appear to exist, using a shooting death as a pretense to launch a multifaceted federal campaign against political opponents of the president.

The New York Times noted in March that Trump and his “allies are aggressively attacking the players and machinery that power the left,” through “a series of highly partisan official actions.” Six months later, that problem is accelerating.