Robert Davis

Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, said on Monday that there is something "fundamentally wrong" with the way the Trump administration has responded to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk was killed last week when a gunman shot him in the neck during a talk at Utah Valley University. A 22-year-old suspect has been arrested in the case, and is allegedly not cooperating with authorities, according to officials.

Kirk's death set off a firestorm on the right, with some political leaders calling for a permanent national divorce. President Donald Trump has described the Democratic Party as an extremist organization and Vice President JD Vance said during a podcast interview on Monday that there can be "no unity" with people who celebrated Kirk's murder.

Longwell noted that there is a "hypocrisy" behind the Trump administration's posturing on the issue during a new episode of "Bulwark Takes" on Monday.

"The hypocrisy is obviously self-evident," Longwell said. "I think the bigger problem is that it's pretextual."

Longwell said the Trump administration and others on the right have equated Kirk's murder with George Floyd's death in 2020, which set off nationwide protests.

After Floyd's death, private citizens publicly shamed people who celebrated the death on social media, which caused some people to lose their jobs. Republicans protested the shaming then, but are now using the powers of government to the same ends, Longwell argued.

"It's deeply asymmetric, but also wrong. It is just fundamentally wrong," Longwell said. "But that's what they are doing. They are trying to use this as a reason to shut down funding and chill funding structures on the left so that they can try to keep people from beating them in elections."

A Democratic political analyst expressed concern on Monday night that President Donald Trump's administration could move to outlaw the Democratic Party after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Jamal Simmons, a CNN political commentator, joined CNN's Kaitlan Collins on "The Source" to discuss the aftermath of Kirk's assassination. Simmons noted that Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, called the Democratic Party an extremist organization during a podcast interview on Monday, and that Trump has recently said his administration is working to root out extremism.

He also noted that the right was trying to control the conversation around Kirk's death by making a false equivalence.

"I don't think we should interpret giving people time to grieve for Charlie Kirk as saying people ought to support Charlie Kirk," Simmons said. "They can have a very vehement disagreement with what he stood for, and they may want to express that in whatever way they want to."

"But the question then becomes...is the President of the United States going to outlaw the Democratic Party?" he added. "Is the President of the United States going to unleash the Justice Department on the Democratic Party?"

"Is that your concern?" Collins asked.

"It's absolutely a concern!" Simmons said.

Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) slammed the "callousness" that President Donald Trump exhibited during a press conference on Monday.

Trump claimed during the press conference that he didn't order flags to be lowered after Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered in June by a right-wing extremist because Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, didn't ask him to. CNN's Kaitlan Collins played footage of Trump saying he chose not to call Walz after Hortman's murder.

Smith discussed Trump's comments on CNN's "The Source" on Monday.

"I'm just sort of blown away by the callousness of his response," Smith said. "What we need in this moment is a universal condemnation of political violence. That condemnation should transcend politics."

"And yet the President of the United States, I don't know whether he's just clueless or he was pretending that he didn't know who Melissa Hortman was and trying to deflect blame, is exactly what we do not need in this moment," she continued. "This is a moment when the president is actively trying to gin-up fear by spreading disinformation and his opinions when he has no idea what is behind this tragic killing of Charlie Kirk."

Collins asked whether Smith thought Trump would have lowered the flags if Walz had called the president.

"I don't think so," she said. "What was it he said? 'You can't do it for everyone.' That is exactly what we do not need."

Mehdi Hasan, founder and CEO of news outlet Zeteo, erupted during an interview on Monday night after a former Trump advisor defended some of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's most incendiary statements.

Hasan and Ken Cuccinelli, the former Homeland Security acting deputy secretary during the first Trump administration, clashed on a new episode of "Cuomo" on NewsNation.

Cuccinelli argued that Kirk was killed for sharing his ideas, and called on "everyone to reject violence for political ends."

"That's something Charlie Kirk lived and died for," Cuccinelli said. "People who actually watched him interact with people who disagreed with him...Charlie was incredibly level in how he communicated with people. He was firm. But he never got angry; he didn't call people names. He respected them. He told them he respected them."

His comments didn't sit well with Hasan.

"What Ken just said is not true, that Charlie never called for violence or that Charlie was level-headed," Hasan said. "Charlie called for me to be deported because he didn't like a monologue I did about COVID. He called for Joe Biden to be executed by the death penalty. We can go down the list."

Hasan also noted that Trump uses the same rhetoric that conservatives are saying should be avoided.

"This is a president who has called his enemies scum, vermin, and animals," Hasan said.

Stephen Miran, an economic advisor in the Trump administration, narrowly secured enough votes to be confirmed as the next Federal Reserve Governor, according to a new report.

Reuters reported on Monday night that Miran was confirmed by a 48-47 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate. He replaces Adriana Kugler, who resigned from the central bank in August.

Miran's appointment could go a long way toward helping Trump achieve his goal of lowering interest rates, according to experts.

Reuters also noted the speed at which Miran was confirmed.

"It typically takes months for a Fed governor nominee to be confirmed by the Senate; in Miran's case it took fewer than six weeks," according to the report."

President Donald Trump issued a new round of attacks against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) during a news conference on Monday, a move that was widely condemned online.

Trump talked with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday after signing a bill to send federal troops to Memphis, Tennessee. A reporter asked Trump to respond to Omar's criticism of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Omar called Kirk a "reprehensible human" during an interview with Mehdi Hasan, founder of Zeteo News, last week.

"I think she's a disgraceful person, a loser," Trump said of Omar. "It's amazing the way people vote. I know it's people from her area, maybe of the world. They got here and they vote her in. I don't know. It's hard to believe. But I think she's a disgusting person."

Trump's comments were met with fierce pushback online.

"The president of the United States. Disgusting racism. Over and over," journalist Adam Robinson posted on X.

"I think you're the actual disgusting person," Donald Blais Jr., a former lawmaker in Massachusetts, posted on X.

"I’ve had coffee with Ilhan Omar, and this may come as little surprise, but she is a way more pleasant and compassionate human being than a mountain of evidence would suggest Donald Trump is," journalist Brian Shea posted on Bluesky.

"We really cannot overestimate the danger of normalizing our president speaking this way about an elected representative or any other American," author Jennifer Valent posted on X.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld raged at a colleague on Monday's episode of "The Five" after she mentioned an example of political violence committed by a right-wing extremist.

Gutfeld and left-leaning co-host Jessica Tarlov got into a debate about whether more information is needed to understand the motives of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's murderer. President Donald Trump blamed "radical left lunatics" for Kirk's killing, a line that the right-wing media have repeated incessantly.

Gutfeld argued that no more information is needed, which surprised Tarlov.

"Why is this only happening on the left and not the right?" Gutfeld asked, referring to Kirk's politically motivated murder. "That's all we need to know!"

"Oh really?" Tarlov replied. "What about Vance Boelter? What about Melissa Hortman?"

Boelter, 57, of Minnesota, was indicted on federal charges of stalking and murdering Hortman, the state's former Democratic House Speaker, and her husband, Mark, over the summer.

Boelter also shot Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, according to a press release.

"Did you know her name before she was killed?" Gutfeld replied. "Did any of us spend every single day talking about Mrs. Hortman? I never heard of her until after she died."

"So she doesn't matter?" Tarlov replied.

"The fact of the matter is, the both-sides argument not only doesn't fly, but we don't care!" Gutfeld responded.

Prominent liberal academic Cornel West stormed out of an interview on Monday after a MAGA-aligned podcaster accused him of celebrating the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week.

West appeared on a new episode of "Piers Morgan Uncensored" on Monday to discuss Kirk's killing. The episode aired at a time when political tensions boiled over between right- and left-wing groups. Some MAGA personalities have called for a permanent national divorce after Kirk's murder, arguing there can be "no unity" with people who have different political views.

The show's host, Piers Morgan, asked West whether he agreed that the language used to describe President Donald Trump and those associated with him played a part in Kirk's murder. West argued that Kirk's murder symbolized a deeper cultural issue in America, an argument that Andrew Wilson, host of the MAGA-aligned podcast "The Crucible," vehemently disagreed with.

"They called President Trump's administration a neofascist movement, you lunatic!" Wilson yelled at West. "You people have gone out of your way to do everything possible to cultivate this!"

"Let me make my case!" West interjected.

"It's rhetoric like that from people like you that got that man killed," Wilson said.

"Piers, why did you bring someone on that's not going to allow anybody to speak, man?" West said. "We're just wasting time."

West and Wilson continued to crosstalk until Wet got up and left the interview.

"It's kind of farcical to quit a debate where we're debating the importance of free speech and being able to listen to somebody else's opinions," Morgan said after West left. "It seems to be completely insane."

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he's asked his attorney general to look into whether the federal government can charge "paid agitators" under federal statutes.

Trump was asked during a news conference in the Oval Office about an incident that occurred last week, where protesters shouted at him and members of his cabinet while they dined at a local Washington, D.C. restaurant. Videos surfaced online of multiple protesters shouting "Free Palestine" at the president and members of his cabinet who attended the dinner.

During the news conference, Trump said he's asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to "look into" charging protesters and agitators under federal racketeering statutes.

"I'm doing a great job for peace in the Middle East," Trump said. "I should get a lot of awards for that, with the Abraham Accords and everything else. But a woman just stood up and started screaming, and she got booed out of the place, too."

"I went there to show how safe, and it was safe, this woman was just a mouthpiece," he continued. "She was a paid agitator, and you have a lot of them, and I've asked Pam [Bondi] to look into that in terms of bringing RICO cases against them. Criminal RICO."

RICO refers to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law that has frequently been utilized to dismantle organized crime operations.

"They should be put in jail," Trump said. "What they're doing to this country is really subversive."

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller made a series of threats against left-wing groups on Monday that stunned political analysts.

Miller appeared on a new episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show" on Monday, hosted by Vice President JD Vance. During the show, both Miller and Vance threatened to go after Democratic activists, journalists, and political party members who allegedly celebrated the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week.

"With God and as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks, and make America safe again for the American people," Miller said. "It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name."

Miller's comments generated intense debate on social media.

"Wake up, America," California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, posted on X. "Stephen Miller has already publicly labeled the Democratic Party as a terrorist organization. This isn’t about crime and safety. It’s about dismantling our democratic institutions. We cannot allow acts of political violence to be weaponized and used to threaten tens of millions of Americans."

"The dark fantasies of a genuine lunatic," journalist John Harwood posted on X.

"But if you call them fascist they will cry," journalist Jay Bookman posted on X.

"We are watching a dystopian nightmare unfold in front of our very eyes," military veteran Greg Bagwell posted on X.

"Listen to the language he uses. Specifically, the word 'terrorist,'" military veteran John Jackson posted on X. "Trump thinks designating someone as a terrorist means you can extrajudicially kill them. This is false."

"Stephen Miller was directly involved in one of the largest acts of organized domestic political violence the United States has seen in modern times, the Jan 6 insurrection," journalist Greg Sargent posted on X.

Vice President JD Vance's appearance on Monday's episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show" raised the eyebrows of many political observers.

Vance interviewed White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller on a new episode of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk's namesake podcast. Observers said Vance made several worrisome claims in the interview, including threatening to use the powers of government to disrupt left-wing groups and accusing left-wing groups of being more violent than right-wing groups.

"While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-Left," Vance said.

Political analysts and commentators responded to Vance's claims on social media.

"You’re lying, JD Vance," Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) posted on Bluesky. "Stop using tragedy to stoke divisions between Americans so you can grab more power."

"That is a lie. Obviously," Medhi Hasan, founder of Zeteo News, posted on X. "Well, actually this bit is true; it’s ’not a both sides problem.’ Agreed. It’s a specifically Republican problem."

"It is not a statistical fact at all," Jon Favreau, co-host of "Pod Save America," posted on X. "I wouldn't make an assertion like that about the right without evidence and I'm just a podcaster, not the Vice President of the United States. Incredibly irresponsible."

"JD Vance is full of bull----," USA Today opinion columnist Michael Stern posted on Bluesky. "He is blatantly lying when he says liberals are more likely to commit political violence. Someone should have him chat with his predecessor, Mike Pence, who MAGA tried to murder. Take a look at the January 6 videos and you will know MAGA are more violent."

"False," Glenn Kessler, author and former fact-checker at the Washington Post, posted on Bluesky. "I recently checked the ADL data, which has some issues because they include non-ideological murders. But even with those removed, over the past decade right-wing extremists would account for about half of the murders, with about 35% by Islamist extremists, and 8% by left-wing extremist."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, officially endorsed Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race on Sunday night — a move that generated significant criticism of other Democratic Party leaders.

"New York needs leaders who will put aside differences, stand up and fight back against Mr. Trump," Hochul wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times explaining her endorsement.

"Zohran Mamdani and I will both be fearless in confronting the president’s extreme agenda — with urgency, conviction, and the defiance that defines New York," it continued. "And we must never allow Mr. Trump to control our city like the king he wants to be. Anyone who accepts his tainted influence, or benefits from it, is compromised from the start."

Hochul is one of the highest-profile left-wing elected officials to endorse Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, to date. Left-wing political commentators and analysts slammed Democratic leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), both of whom have not endorsed Mamdani, on social media.

"Hochul showing more political savvy than Jeffries or Schumer," podcaster Doug Gordon posted on Bluesky.

"Hochul just endorsed Mamdani," political consultant Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin posted on Bluesky. "Your move, Jeffries and Schumer."

"Hochul, belatedly, does the right thing and endorses Mamdani. Makes Schumer and Jeffries look even more ‘spineless’, to quote Sen. Van Hollen," journalist Medhi Hasan posted on Bluesky.

"OK, Kathy Hochul has more courage than Schumer or Jeffries or Gillibrand," journalist Joan Walsh posted on Bluesky.

Political analysts and observers sharply criticized President Donald Trump's comments to reporters on Sunday evening.

Trump was asked whether his administration had begun revoking visas of foreign travelers who celebrated the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week. Trump said officials are"looking at names" and that Republicans wouldn't celebrate if a Democratic activist were killed.

"That's not right," Trump said. "We wouldn't celebrate if something happened like this, and we don't. These are sick people. These are really derranged people."

Commentators and observers replied to Trump's comments on social media.

"He's a disgrace," author John Pavlovitz posted on X.

"Trump mocked Paul Pelosi getting attacked," Democratic activist Harry Sisson posted on X. "He’s a total liar."

"Trump is absolutely delusional," political commentator and entrepreneur Ed Krassenstein posted on X. "He is gaslighting you. Tell Melissa Hortman’s family that there’s no hate or violence on the right. Tell Paul Pelosi that!"

"Does Trump think everyone forgot when he mocked Paul Pelosi being attacked?" Republicans Against Trump posted on X.

Kari Lake, the Trump administration's senior advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, claimed during conservative activist Charlie Kirk's memorial service at the Kennedy Center on Sunday that college "indoctrination camps" had radicalized Kirk's shooter.

Kirk's memorial service was attended by several members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

"How does a 22-year-old become so filled with hate?" Lake said during her speech. "Five years earlier, I was told he was a Trump supporter."

"Then we send our kids off to college and they brainwashed him," she continued. "I am making a plea to mothers out there, please don't send your children into these indoctrination camps."

"At one point, that 22-year-old was a baby in his mother's arms," Lake continued. "And by all accounts, they did a good job raising him until he was sent off to be brainwashed."

"We are living through the most horrific brainwashing campaign in the history of mankind," she added.

Lake's comments come at a time of intense debate about Kirk's assassination. Rightwing figures have blamed Democrats for Kirk's assassination, and Democrats have rejected those claims.

Lake also called on both sides to work to end political violence.

"I'm not going to say our side is perfect, but damn it, this is coming from the other side!" Lake said.

President Donald Trump blamed former President Joe Biden in a social media post for what he called a "terrible" murder that occurred in Dallas over the weekend.

"I am aware of the terrible reports regarding the murder of Chandra Nagamallaiah, a well-respected person in Dallas, Texas, who was brutally beheaded, in front of his wife and son, by an ILLEGAL ALIEN from Cuba who should have never been in our Country," Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night.

Nagamallaiah was a hotel employee in Dallas who was brutally murdered by one of his co-workers in a dispute over a broken washing machine, according to court documents published by CBS News.

A 37-year-old suspect has been arrested in the case, according to media reports.

The timestamp on Trump's post shows it was published during the memorial service for conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the Kennedy Center.

"This individual was previously arrested for terrible crimes, including child sex abuse, grand theft auto, and false imprisonment, but was released back into our Homeland under incompetent Joe Biden because Cuba did not want such an evil person in their Country," Trump's post continued.

"Rest assured, the time for being soft on these Illegal Immigrant Criminals is OVER under my watch!"