Mehdi Hasan Responds to Charlie Kirk Murder, Trump's Announcement, and Political Violence Rhetoric

[00:00] President Trump has just announced on

[00:02] Fox News that the suspected gunman who

[00:06] shot the conservative activist Charlie

[00:08] Kirk, killing him has been caught. Trump

[00:12] said, quote, "I think with a high degree

[00:15] of certainty, we have him in custody."

[00:18] Trump's comments came a day after the

[00:21] FBI announced a $100,000 reward for

[00:24] information leading to an arrest.

[00:26] Officials also released photos and video

[00:28] of the suspected gunman who shot Kirk

[00:31] during an outdoor event at Utah Valley

[00:33] University. A boltaction rifle was also

[00:36] recovered in a wooded area near the

[00:38] campus. In one video, the suspected

[00:41] gunman is seen jumping from a roof on

[00:43] campus and running away. On Thursday,

[00:47] President Trump said he'll honor Charlie

[00:48] Kirk with aostumous Presidential Medal

[00:51] of Freedom, the nation's highest

[00:52] civilian honor. Trump also escalated his

[00:55] attacks on the political left, saying,

[00:58] quote, "We just have to beat the hell

[01:01] out of them.

[01:02] >> We have a great country. We have radical

[01:04] left lunatics out there, and we just

[01:06] have to beat the hell out of it."

[01:08] >> On the floor of the House, Republican

[01:10] Representative Bob Ander of Missouri

[01:13] described the political left as quote

[01:15] pure evil.

[01:17] >> Well, everything has changed. If we

[01:20] didn't know it already, there is no

[01:21] longer any middle ground. Some on the

[01:23] American left are undoubtedly

[01:24] well-meaning people, but their ideology

[01:27] is pure evil. They hate the good, the

[01:30] truth, and the beautiful and embrace the

[01:31] evil, the false, and the ugly.

[01:33] >> This call comes as some lawmakers,

[01:36] including Congress member Alexandria

[01:39] Kaziocortez, are cancelling or

[01:41] postponing public events out of safety

[01:44] concerns. To talk about all of this and

[01:47] more, we're joined by Medie Hassan,

[01:49] editor and chief and CEO of Zateo, where

[01:51] his new piece is headlined, hypocritical

[01:54] conservatives are using Charlie Kirk's

[01:57] horrific murder to cynically smear the

[02:00] left. Mindy, welcome back to Democracy

[02:02] Now. Why don't you lay out uh what

[02:05] you're seeing in these last few days uh

[02:07] as we talk about this breaking news that

[02:10] the suspected gunman has been caught.

[02:14] Thanks Amy for having me. Um the problem

[02:16] with this administration of course is

[02:17] you can't trust anything they say. Cash

[02:19] Patel put out multiple statements uh

[02:21] over the last 48 hours suggesting uh

[02:23] that somebody's been caught, somebody's

[02:25] in custody. Uh they leaked to the Wall

[02:27] Street Journal that there was trans

[02:28] ideology on the weapon and then walked

[02:30] it back. We we have an administration of

[02:32] gaslighters and serial liars. So

[02:34] unfortunately in the old days, even if a

[02:35] president lied, you could try and take

[02:37] the bureaucracy or the law enforcement

[02:39] people. Maybe maybe sometimes that they

[02:41] were now you have to start from a

[02:42] position of pure skepticism. So I don't

[02:44] believe anything Trump says until I see

[02:45] more verification. I do hope they've

[02:47] caught the person. Um the problem is Amy

[02:49] that since uh from the moment Charlie

[02:52] Coat was horrifically murdered uh on on

[02:54] on camera, a horrific act uh inexcusable

[02:58] act on Wednesday in Utah. From the

[03:00] moment that happened, uh, Republicans,

[03:02] conservatives, prominent figures in this

[03:04] country on the right went to work to

[03:07] blame this on the left. Even though the

[03:09] killer was not in custody, apparently is

[03:11] now, let's see, the alleged killer. They

[03:13] no killer in custody, no motive. And yet

[03:16] for the last 36, 48 hours, we've been

[03:18] told again and again that the left did

[03:20] this. The left killed Kirk. The left has

[03:22] blood on its hands. And I wrote that

[03:24] piece for Zateo because I was deeply

[03:26] frustrated at what I was seeing. It's

[03:28] not just frustrating. It's dangerous,

[03:30] right? Your response to a political uh

[03:32] assassination, to political violence

[03:33] cannot be to ratchet up, uh more

[03:36] political violence, more dehumanization

[03:38] and demonization. And the reality is, of

[03:40] course, as I say, we don't know the

[03:42] motive of the killer. Let's say the

[03:43] killer turns out to be someone on the

[03:45] left. U even then, that doesn't mean the

[03:49] right is somehow scot-free here. And

[03:51] that's why I wrote my piece pointing out

[03:52] that the vast majority of right-wing

[03:54] political violence in this country uh

[03:55] comes from Trump supporters, comes from

[03:57] people on the far right, comes from all

[03:59] sorts of people who have horrific views

[04:01] about minorities and white supremacists.

[04:04] And I laid down the evidence in my piece

[04:06] uh for example this summer, just a few

[04:08] weeks ago. I know the right-wingers have

[04:10] been erasing her killing, but Melissa

[04:11] Hortman, the speaker of the Minnesota uh

[04:14] house, uh was murdered in her home with

[04:17] her husband. and another lawmaker was

[04:19] shot and almost killed uh with his

[04:21] partner. That was done by a Trump

[04:23] supporter this summer. Trump didn't even

[04:25] bother to show up at the funeral. Um no

[04:27] one mentions Melissa Hortman's death on

[04:29] the right when they're talking about

[04:30] political violence. We've erased January

[04:32] 6th. We've erased uh the attack on Josh

[04:34] Shapiro's home earlier this year. We've

[04:36] erased multiple attacks over the years

[04:39] that have been attributed to or that the

[04:42] suspect turned out to be some kind of

[04:43] Trump supporter. And I think that is why

[04:45] I wrote that piece because there's a

[04:47] real rewriting of history going on here.

[04:49] It's what far-right regimes do after,

[04:52] you know, tragedies like this. They try

[04:54] and weaponize them to go after their

[04:55] enemies. And Trump's made that very

[04:56] clear in all his statements. The radical

[04:58] left. This is a guy who has incited

[05:00] violence himself, including on January

[05:02] the 6th.

[05:03] >> I wanted to turn to Hunter Kak. He is

[05:06] the Utah Valley University student who

[05:10] posed a question to Charlie Kirk about

[05:14] gun violence just before Kirk was shot

[05:18] and killed.

[05:20] >> Five is a lot, right? I'm going to give

[05:21] you I'm going to give you some credit.

[05:22] Do you do you know how many mass

[05:24] shooters there have been in America over

[05:26] the last 10 years?

[05:27] >> Counting or not counting gang violence?

[05:29] >> Great.

[05:30] [Applause]

[05:34] On Thursday,

[05:37] that young man, he was 29 years old,

[05:40] Hunter Kak, the Utah Valley University,

[05:44] I think he was a student, posted his

[05:46] message response to what happened after

[05:50] he asked the question.

[05:53] >> And people have obviously pointed to the

[05:55] irony that

[05:57] I was the point that I was trying to

[06:00] make is how peaceful the left was.

[06:03] right before he got shot. And that

[06:08] that only makes sense if we stay

[06:09] peaceful. And as much as I disagree with

[06:12] Charlie Kirk, I'm I'm on the record for

[06:13] how much I disagree with Charlie Kirk.

[06:15] But like, man, dude, he is still a human

[06:19] being. Have we forgotten that?

[06:23] >> That's Hunter Kak who posed the

[06:26] question. He started by asking about how

[06:28] many trans um mass shooters um Charlie

[06:32] Kirk thought they were and then uh

[06:35] talked about um uh that percentage is a

[06:38] number of mass shooters in this country

[06:41] but as he says was horrified um as here

[06:46] is Charlie Kirk answering a question

[06:48] about gun violence then is shot dead. uh

[06:52] your response to this young man who's in

[06:55] a lot of pain. He said in fact though he

[06:58] disagrees with almost everything is

[07:00] known for opposing Charlie Kirk himself

[07:02] a tick tocker. Um just uh his wife just

[07:06] gave birth to their second child. He

[07:08] sees their families you know both of

[07:10] them having two children and he said but

[07:12] I am absolutely against violence and for

[07:15] his freedom of expression.

[07:18] >> Amy we all are. I mean 99% of people in

[07:21] this country I hope are against uh

[07:24] politically motivated murders. I mean

[07:26] it's horrific what happened to Charlie

[07:27] Ko is horrific on a human level on a

[07:29] political level on on multiple levels.

[07:32] Um and you know people are going around

[07:34] saying well you know he didn't believe

[07:35] in empathy so I don't care. Well just

[07:38] the fact that he didn't believe in

[07:39] empathy is irrelevant. I believe in

[07:40] empathy. Most of us should believe have

[07:42] empathy and I do have empathy for his

[07:43] wife and kids. Two kids are going to

[07:45] grow up without their father. The fact

[07:46] that their father had vile political

[07:47] views that I disagree with. The fact

[07:48] that their father said I should be

[07:50] deported from the US is irrelevant. All

[07:52] right. You don't kill people for their

[07:53] speech uh ever. Um and that young man

[07:56] gave a very eloquent statement there. Um

[07:58] the irony of him being killed after

[08:01] taking a question on gun violence uh and

[08:03] trying to make it about gangs.

[08:06] I mean Amy, right now everything in

[08:08] American politics just feels bizarre and

[08:10] ironic and unprecedented.

[08:12] You know, if you sat in a Netflix TV

[08:14] writer room and said, "Hey, this is the

[08:17] script for a political drama about

[08:20] politics in the United States and it was

[08:21] the script of the last 5 or 10 years."

[08:24] The TV writers would throw you out of

[08:25] the room and say, "This is ridiculous.

[08:26] We can't make this TV show. This is so

[08:28] unrealistic." The plot twists, the

[08:30] turns. But that's our daily life right

[08:31] now. I mean, we're all going crazy

[08:33] seeing the uh, you know, what happens on

[08:35] a daily basis. Um, you know, it's it's

[08:37] it's beyond anything we see on TV or in

[08:40] the movies these days. Um, and I worry

[08:42] that everything's going to get worse.

[08:43] Uh, I was on the BBC, uh, just a couple

[08:46] nights back. Uh, and you know, the

[08:48] question they asked was, is America

[08:51] going to come together after this?

[08:52] That's what other countries are

[08:53] wondering. That's what would happen in

[08:55] most normal countries after a tragedy

[08:57] like this. Unfortunately, the US is not

[08:58] a normal country right now. And I

[09:00] suspect not only are we not going to

[09:01] come together, we're going to go further

[09:02] apart because the president is someone

[09:04] who takes this opportunity to incite

[09:07] more. I mean, everything Donald Trump

[09:08] has said since this murder has been

[09:10] unhelpful at best, uh, dangerous and

[09:13] destructive at worst. Uh, he's not the

[09:15] right leader whenever there is a

[09:16] tragedy, whenever there is a murder or a

[09:18] terrorist attack. That's always been one

[09:19] of my great criticisms of Trump. I have

[09:21] many, uh, but he's not the right person

[09:23] to lead a nation when there is a tragedy

[09:25] or a crisis.

[09:27] Manny, in 2023, Charlie Kirk called for

[09:30] you to be deported over your views on

[09:33] the COVID 19 pandemic while you were

[09:36] working at MSNBC. I just wanted to play

[09:38] a clip from the Charlie Kirk show.

[09:42] >> So, we need to reassert what the actual

[09:44] truth of the matter is, especially if we

[09:46] are to be prepared for the next pandemic

[09:48] when it inevitably comes.

[09:50] >> Wow. Who is that neurotic lunatic?

[09:54] Who is that guy? Send him back to the

[09:57] country he came from. Holy cow. Get him

[10:00] off TV. Revoke his visa.

[10:03] >> So that was Charlie Kirk and again the

[10:06] horror of his murder right now. Your

[10:09] response then Medie and uh as you

[10:11] reflect on this now.

[10:15] >> Yeah, I responded at the time pointing

[10:16] out how racist that statement was.

[10:18] Charlie Kurt was very anti-immigrant. He

[10:20] was very anti-Muslim. People forget this

[10:22] stuff. But again, you know, I've spent

[10:24] the last 48 hours condemning his

[10:25] killing. I've um been I found the posts

[10:28] celebrating his death, very few of them.

[10:30] I know the Republicans are trying to

[10:31] exaggerate, there are deaths, there are

[10:33] obviously posts online celebrating his

[10:34] death. I found them distasteful,

[10:36] inappropriate. It's not something I

[10:37] would do. Um and yet I think to myself,

[10:40] had I been the one shot in the neck and

[10:43] passing away, I wonder whether what Kirk

[10:45] would have said about me. Um this is the

[10:48] real reality of where we live. I mean,

[10:50] we're in this weird situation, Amy, now

[10:51] where some liberals are going to another

[10:53] extreme, which is we should all condemn

[10:55] the killing of Charlie Ko, but we don't

[10:57] need to participate in the whitewashing

[10:58] of his record or the kind of this

[11:00] suggestion that he is some kind of free

[11:01] speech martr. He was not a supporter of

[11:04] free speech. You just saw that clip. I

[11:05] said something on MSNBC he did not like,

[11:08] I an American citizen. He said I should

[11:10] be deported from the United States. Is

[11:11] that someone who sounds like they

[11:13] support free speech? He was super

[11:14] anti-Muslim. Just a couple of days ago,

[11:16] he was posting about Islam being the

[11:17] sword with which the left slits the

[11:19] throat of America. He called Muslims

[11:21] conquerors, invaders. Um, his rhetoric

[11:24] was horrific. He put targets on people's

[11:26] backs. But again, I don't measure my own

[11:29] views or my own responses to tragedies

[11:31] by the standards set by Charlie Ko or

[11:33] Donald Trump or anyone else. The fact

[11:34] that he may have uh, you know, had a had

[11:37] a more gleeful response to my death than

[11:38] I do to his is irrelevant. As I say,

[11:40] none of us should celebrate the death of

[11:42] a human being. none of us should

[11:43] celebrate political violence because

[11:44] it's a threat to all of us and to this

[11:47] country. Um, and I think it's

[11:49] interesting that so many people are now

[11:51] trying to suggest uh that this guy I've

[11:53] seen people saying, "Oh, he never did

[11:55] anything. He just went and had good

[11:56] faith debates with college students."

[11:58] Just not true. Um, he supported the uh,

[12:00] you know, he supported the deportation

[12:02] of Mahmud Khalil, a green card legal

[12:04] resident who was punished for his

[12:06] speech, nothing else, by the Trump

[12:07] administration. So look, even us having

[12:09] this conversation, Amy, we'll be clipped

[12:11] somewhere by a Republican and say,

[12:12] "Look, look, they're celebrating his

[12:14] death. They're criticizing him." No,

[12:15] criticizing someone's views is not

[12:17] celebrating the death. We can do two

[12:19] things at once. We can walk and chew

[12:20] gum. We can say it's absolutely

[12:21] outrageous that Charlie Kat was murdered

[12:23] for his views and we have absolute

[12:25] empathy for his wife and kids and

[12:27] friends and family. But we can also say

[12:28] those views were horrific. We're not

[12:30] going to suddenly say because he was

[12:31] murdered, his views are somehow good.

[12:33] No, bad people can be unjustly murdered.

[12:36] Bad people can be innocent. uh when it

[12:38] comes to being killed because even bad

[12:40] people shouldn't be killed for their

[12:41] views.

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