The murder of Charlie Kirk has become more than a national tragedy; it has become a litmus test for how America’s political class and media handle violence when it touches the Right. And predictably, many in the press have chosen to scold conservatives rather than grapple with the reality of what just happened.
Take Jim Acosta, who declared on CNN that conservatives are guilty of “absolutely disgraceful” exploitation of Kirk’s death, warning ominously about a spiral into “an eye for an eye.” It’s a familiar tactic: minimize the left’s role in the environment that fueled this assassination, then pivot to finger-wagging at conservatives for daring to demand accountability.
“From the moment I was elected, I have felt that I accept a certain level of risk in doing this job,” AOC told reporters today after postponing an upcoming rally. https://t.co/csYkoOIYLF
— Axios (@axios) September 11, 2025
Then there’s Axios, which framed the fallout around whether progressive stars like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will feel the need to delay or cancel their events, including her ironically named “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. The implication? Conservatives should not focus too much on the loss of one of their most prominent leaders, because Democrats also face “risks.”
But the examples Axios cites border on self-parody. They recall the 2022 incident when a heckler called AOC “hot, hot, hot like a tamale” on the Capitol steps — a juvenile, crude comment, but hardly a threat to her life. And of course, the mythology of January 6th resurfaces, when AOC told harrowing stories about barricading herself in her office as a MAGA mob supposedly pounded on her door. Only later did it come out that there were no rioters in her office building at all — it was Capitol security knocking.
AOC, the biggest victim pic.twitter.com/YkpdaUcYAf
— Lili von Shtupp (@LvS_Redux) September 11, 2025
This is the “struggle” Axios wants readers to see as equivalent to Kirk’s assassination: wolf whistles, internet trolls, and debunked melodrama. Meanwhile, Charlie Kirk — a husband and father of two — was shot in the neck while debating a college student about mass shootings. That is the difference between rhetoric inflated into victimhood and actual political violence that left a man dead.
The press knows this. But instead of acknowledging the magnitude of what happened, they default to a narrative that treats the assassination of a conservative as just another political talking point — while elevating the inconveniences of progressive figures as if they are walking in the same kind of danger.
Reached for comment, @AOC eloquently stated, “ME ME ME ME ME, ME ME ME, and also ME ME ME ME ME.”
— @BlazingApathy (@BlazingApathy) September 11, 2025
