On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” NPR Domestic Extremism Correspondent Odette Yousef reacted to the text exchange in which Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin said that “Some hate can’t be negotiated out” by saying that “Kirk, it should be noted, often spoke of his anti-trans views.” And that if the charges laid out by prosecutors about Kirk’s assassination are true, it “would represent a significant escalation in violence from what’s perceived as the political left.”
Yousef said prosecutors “shared information about a note that [the suspect] allegedly left behind for this roommate, saying, ‘I ha[d] the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.’ And when his roommate asked, after the killing, why [the suspect] had done it, [the suspect] texted, ‘I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.’ Kirk, it should be noted, often spoke of his anti-trans views.”
Later, she added, “For many years, it’s been the consensus of analysts — and the FBI, up until this year — that the most persistent and lethal threat in the U.S. has come from violent white supremacists. The data support this. Far-right actors have been behind deadly mass shootings at synagogues, black churches, Walmarts, grocery stores, and other places. If, indeed, the allegations bear out here, this would represent a significant escalation in violence from what’s perceived as the political left.”
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