Don’t silence those gloating over Charlie Kirk’s death. Speak louder. | Opinion

The assassination of Charlie Kirk last week should have been a moment that united Americans in defense of the freedoms the Founding Fathers risked everything to secure. It should have been a reminder that free speech is the lifeblood of liberty.

Instead, South Carolina politicians and MAGA influencers weaponized the tragedy as a form of right-wing cancel culture — targeting anyone who dared to question Kirk’s words, tactics or legacy.

Look, you are a sick individual if you celebrated Kirk’s assassination. I don’t care how much you despised his politics or believed his words spread hate. Gloating over his death is grotesque. He was a human, a husband, a father, and he was killed for exercising his constitutional rights.

As vile as some comments may be, in America you have the right to make them, without fear of government reprisal, with few exceptions such as “true threats.” Freedom of speech exists to protect even the ugliest, most offensive expression. That’s the uncomfortable price of freedom.

It’s also the line we can never afford to cross.

Republicans once understood that truth. But today, many of the same voices who once defended free speech are leading the digital lynch mobs — compiling “anti-Kirk” posts into lists, feeding them to employers and demanding firings.

Ordinary Americans — teachers, nurses, restaurant workers — are being paraded online, shamed and stripped of their livelihoods, their dissent treated as a crime, their careers destroyed.

We’ve seen this before. During the Cold War, fear of communist infiltration sparked loyalty oaths, blacklists and congressional witch hunts. Careers were destroyed, reputations ruined, and Americans silenced, all without evidence — all in the name of “protecting” the country.

Now history is repeating itself.

Sadly, much of the effort to destroy people’s lives isn’t about liberty or principle — it’s about clout. Followers. Clicks. Algorithms. Payouts. It’s all part of Hate, Inc., the outrage economy that social media enables and rewards financially.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was right: Social media is a cancer. But the assault on free speech doesn’t stop online.

President Donald Trump and some aides have vilified the “radical left” and even floated the idea of labeling certain groups as domestic terrorists. Vice President JD Vance vowed retribution against liberal institutions, saying he would “go after the NGO network that foments, facilitates and engages in violence.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice will “absolutely target” people who use “hate speech.”

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, demanded lifetime social media bans for anyone who “belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk” and vowed to strip their business licenses, blacklist their companies, expel them from schools and even revoke their driver’s licenses.

I am not sure what part of “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech,” Rep. Higgins doesn’t understand, but let’s be clear: This isn’t justice, it isn’t accountability, and it sure as hell isn’t the America that generations have fought and died to defend.

It’s intimidation dressed up as outrage. It’s MAGA McCarthyism — a witch hunt designed to silence dissent, punish thought and enforce conformity through fear.

The left is not blameless. In fact, the left wrote the playbook. Disagree with the left, and you’re branded, boycotted and blacklisted.

Liberal groups hounded conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers, aiming to choke off his revenue and silence his voice. When New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said kneeling during the national anthem disrespected the U.S. flag, he faced intense social media backlash from fans, sponsors and media pundits until he apologized.

From the Black Lives Matter movement to mask mandates to not using the “right” pronouns, the liberal woke mob disagreed and forced some people out of jobs for daring to question the narrative.

Those actions set the stage. The very same weapons once sharpened by the left are now being wielded by the MAGA movement to silence dissent and settle political scores.

But to silence even one voice is to dim the light of liberty.

If America is to remain Ronald Reagan’s “shining city upon a hill,” we must meet this moment with courage. We must speak louder, stand firmer and defend not only our own rights but also the rights of those with whom we disagree.

Liberty’s true test is not defending voices we cherish but protecting the ones we cannot stand. That is the essence of freedom and the heart of what makes America great.

Matt Wylie is a South Carolina-based Republican political strategist and analyst with over 25 years of experience working on federal, state and local campaigns.