Trump and Vance Use Kirk’s Killing to Announce Ominous Plans to Investigate ‘the Left’

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Sep 15, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 09: U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet and administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In remarks to the media on Sunday, President Trump made it clear he will continue to use the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk as grounds to investigate those he sees as his political foes. In fact, he suggested, that work is already underway.

“The problem is on the left — if you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right like some people like to say. The problem we have is on the left,” he told reporters Sunday. “And when you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speak so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left, that’s not the right.”

“They’re already under investigation. They’re already under major investigation,” Trump continued. “A lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left — already under investigation.”

It remains unclear who exactly the Trump administration is “already” investigating in the wake of Kirk’s killing, beyond the work the FBI is doing to investigate the attack. But Trump and his allies began agitating around the idea that some amorphous liberal blob was to blame for the killing even before a suspect was identified. While law enforcement is still working to establish a motive for the assassination, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has repeatedly asserted that the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, had “leftist ideology,” as well as stating that Robinson acted alone.

Trump’s Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tossed off some details about this impending crackdown on “the left” further on Monday, as Vance hosted an episode of Kirk’s podcast broadcasting from the White House. Vance was joined by Miller and some of Kirk’s other friends, like ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Vance said that the administration is working on ways to “dismantle the institutions that promote violence and terrorism in our own country” and said they would “explore every option to bring real unity to our country and stop those who would kill their fellow Americans because they don’t like what they say.”

Miller took things in a uniquely sinister direction. He announced that there would soon be a formal effort by the federal government to begin rooting out what he claimed was a “domestic terror movement” in the U.S. He said that it would all be done in Kirk’s name.

“With God 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, eliminate and destroy this network and make America safe again for the American people,” he said.

— Nicole Lafond

Vance Encourages Right-Wingers to Report People to Their Bosses

Just as Miller claimed that there is some sort of nameless leftist network working in coordination to organize “doxing campaigns, the organized riots, the organized street violence,” Vance encouraged those listening to target anyone and everyone who might post something on social media criticizing Kirk’s far-right extremist viewpoints.

“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. Hell, call their employer. We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility, and there is no civility in the celebration of political assassination,” he said.

— Nicole Lafond

Vance Floats Specific Groups For His Allies to Target

From WaPo’s coverage of the podcast episode:

Vance called out the “generous tax treatment” that George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation receive as he accused the groups of funding a “disgusting article” in the Nation magazine that he said was used to justify Kirk’s death.
Vance’s effort to link the two foundations to the article appears to be inaccurate. The Ford Foundation last provided a grant to the Nation for an internship program in 2019 but has not provided money since, according to online records. Bhaskar Sunkara, the president of the Nation, said on X that the publication had never received funds from the Open Society Foundations. Vance’s office, asked about his accusation, provided a link to a report about the Nation by a conservative group, which in turn cited a 2017 report about Open Society Foundations grants.

— Nicole Lafond

Trump to Congressional Republicans: Get In Line

House Republican leadership is planning to put a “clean” short-term continuing resolution on the floor this week to keep the government open until the week before Thanksgiving. The CR would reportedly not include any Democratic demands, including extending the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits.

Both House and Senate Democratic leadership have said they will not vote for a CR that does not include health care provisions.

“House Democrats will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a Monday statement.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump — who recently said Republicans should not “bother dealing with” Democrats’ demands — took to Truth Social on Monday to whip Republicans who may be against the short-term CR into shape.

“In times like these, Republicans have to stick TOGETHER to fight back against the Radical Left Democrat demands, and vote “YES!” on both Votes needed to pass a Clean CR this week out of the House of Representatives,” President Trump posted on Truth Social Monday. “Democrats want the Government to shut down. Republicans want the Government to OPEN.”

Legislation to fund the government, of course, requires 60 votes in the Senate. Even though President Trump has been dismissing the idea, Republicans will need at least a handful of Democrats to join them. It’s possible the president is ignoring that reality because he wants a shutdown he can try to blame on Democrats.

— Emine Yücel