Several people on the left and right have cheered the words of New York Times podcaster Ezra Klein, who heralded right-wing activist Charlie Kirk as "practicing politics the right way."
Others, however, say Klein's kind words and calls for non-violence ignore Kirk's frequent calls for different groups of people to be killed or oppressed. Kirk has called for trying doctors of transgender patients and suggested that men should "physically attack" trans people. He also claimed those in the LGBTQ community should be "stoned to death," and told women, "submit to your husband."
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace sang Klein's praises, noting his "eloquent words." However, former FBI agent Michael Feinberg had a different take the more he thought about the column.
Feinberg, who is now a fellow for "Lawfare," was fired from the FBI because he was friends with Peter Strzok, whom Trump targeted as he was working on the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
"At first blush, I agreed with most of it. But the more I thought about it, and the more I reflected on what he was saying in the context of what I'd seen in my own career, I kind of have to push back a little bit against one of his assumptions," said Feinberg.
"What worries me is that there is a rising tide in America of people who are not necessarily invested in what so many of us call the 'American Experiment,' and believe very much in a post-liberal order. And I say that using the word 'liberal' in its, sort of, classical sense," he explained. "Just the enlightenment ideals of a democratic republic. And once people start believing and start disbelieving in the overall political architecture of our country, there are few guardrails to stop them from using violence. And I think we as a nation and the law enforcement community, in particular, is going to have to reckon with how we face that."
"What I mean to articulate is that as long as people on both the right and left or any other political divide you can imagine agree in the overall rules of the game, agree in the integrity of the system, political violence can generally be tamped down because people will use preexisting peaceful processes to settle their differences," continued Feinberg.
What he said is being seen more often, however, is that people develop a general distrust in the system itself.
"And once you don't trust the integrity of the system, you, sort of, have in your own mind the moral authority to transgress the boundaries it sets up. And that's what leads to violence," he concluded.