Sen. Chris Coons: The internet "is driving extremism in our country"

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: September 14, 2025 / 2:19 PM EDT


Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said Sunday that amid efforts to foster bipartisan discourse, the internet "is driving extremism in our country," saying slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk "should not have paid with his life for the opportunity to speak out."

"No matter how much I might deeply disagree with his political views, the idea that he would be killed in such a grotesque and public way has to bring all of us to reflect about how hard it's getting, because the internet is an accelerant," Coons said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University last week in what officials described as a "targeted attack." The assassination has spurred calls for lowering the political temperature nationwide, along with efforts to improve bipartisan dialogue in Washington.

Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, appeared alongside Coons on Sunday as the two men made an appeal to bipartisanship amid the divisive political climate. Lankford echoed Coons' concerns about the internet and extremism to CBS News' chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett, saying calls for bipartisanship can be drowned out because "the algorithm pushes people to the most extreme."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chris-coons-james-lankford-congress-extremism-internet/

[kimbutgar]

1. I always say the internet has been a blessing and a curse on our world.

I’m glad I lived most of my adulthood before the internet!

[electric_blue68]

9. Like some (?many) things there are 2 sides. However I love the internet.

[Lovie777]

2. Coupled with corporate news.............

[ClaudetteCC]

4. Coupled with algorithms to maximize 'outrage' to capture eyeballs for advertising

[markodochartaigh]

3. The internet is a vehicle,

but it is being driven by reich-wing oiligarchs and "influencers". The trains that forcibly took Native American children to schools to "kill the Indian and save the child" didn’t drive themselves.

[DrFunkenstein]

6. That's a bit like saying that guns are a tool

The downside of the internet has so vastly outstripped the meager upside. Sure, it has done some good things, but it is also pretty much literally bringing about the end of mankind in the next 20-25 years, if we are being generous.

[markodochartaigh]

7. It did have so much potential though.

We basically have the Library of Congress in our pockets. For another species it could have been a tool only for good.

[rubbersole]

12. The other species is the ultra-wealthy.

They're not content with owning most everything. Seems they want it all. Not going to be much left for the rest of us.

[markodochartaigh]

13. I'll put this out there even knowing how it sounds.

Animals are distinguished by species on their physical aspects. Of course so are humans distinguished in animals in this way. But the real differentiating characteristic is between the brains of humans and animals. Sometimes I think that maybe humans can be differentiated into two species, normal people and psychopaths, on the basis of our different brains.

I know how this sounds and it could sure be the thin end of the wedge to real darkness. On the other hand, maybe many psychopaths already think this and we normal people haven't caught on.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. The whole system is driven by greed

Thomas Hobbes Leviathan has grown a corporate head and gargantuan tentacles.

[3825-87867]

8. The Internet?

Yeah, some. What about AM Radio owned by right wing billionaires? What about Fox?
That has been around longer than a funcionable internet.
The internet helps and you know since no wealthy Democrats want to buy and operate AM Radio to reach the Rurals, maybe if the Democrats learned to use the net better, it may even work for us.
It seems Democrats are stuck in the 60s we go high mindset and need to check their calendars. Sadly, whatever the right does will not hurt the older Dems one bit so why fight the right? Maybe some have the right idea that it's way past time for new young blood...and this comes from someone who supported Adlai while a teen.
Older Democrats embody FDR's comment that they are people with two good feet afraid (or reluctant) to take one step forward. They seem too set in their old ways in a new world.

[Ponietz]

10. No shit -- it must change for us to survive

[choie]

11. The internet is not positive or negative

its the goddamn hateful, racist, misogynist, bigoted, fascists that make it a cesspool.

[cstanleytech]

14. I suspect a lot of it's actually from other countries using it to cause more of it than anything.

[twodogsbarking]

15. The internet has caused people to disagree more vehemently. It twists minds that are weak.