We knew Republicans would use the murder of Charlie Kirk as a pretext for further crackdowns on their enemies, but I expected that the Trump administration’s top target at this moment would be trans people. We know Republicans are arguing that this was a murder committed by a person sympathetic to trans people, and that the murder was committed on behalf of trans people — but the White House, at least for now, doesn’t seem to be focused on depriving trans people of voting rights or making it illegal for adults to be trans.
Efforts to do all that are probably on the horizon, but for now, the administration’s #1 priority is this:
President Trump and his top advisers threatened on Monday to unleash the power of the federal government to punish what they alleged was a left-wing network that funds and incites violence, seizing on Charlie Kirk’s killing to make broad and unsubstantiated claims about their political opponents.
… Mr. Trump and his top allies suggested that the suspect was part of a coordinated movement that was fomenting violence against conservatives, without presenting evidence that such a network existed.
