FILE PHOTO: Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder, greets the crowd during the AmericaFest 2024 conference sponsored by conservative group Turning Point in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo/File Photo
The killing of Charlie Kirk has triggered a firestorm of violent rhetoric on social media, with people growing increasingly bloodthirsty, MSNBC White House correspondent Vaughn Hillyard warned on Wednesday evening.
Kirk was killed during a political event with college students at Utah Valley University in Orem.
"I'm not optimistic that we are going to see the political discourse turned down over the next few days," said Hillyard. "In fact, I fear we're going to see quite the opposite."
"While we've been talking over the past two hours, I've also been occasionally looking at Twitter or Bluesky and various op-eds and the recriminations, the blame game, quite frankly, the baying for blood of political opponents has already started," Hillyard continued. "There's going to be a lot of whataboutism, there's going to be a lot of attempt to pin responsibility on different public and political figures or writers or thought leaders."
"And again, just to reemphasize a point that I think all of us have made: that's not going to get us anywhere," he added. "The taking up of that tone is going to make something like this, I fear, more likely in the future, not less."
This comes shortly after Fox News' Jesse Watters uncorked a furious tirade on his network, proclaiming "they are at war with us" and heavily implying some sort of broader left-wing plot of violent attacks.
Watch the video below or at the link here.