While some politicians have been calling for calm, the fallout over the Charlie Kirk shooting continued Monday in the ongoing battle between Republicans and Democrats.
The latest clash involved Republicans and U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democrat whose seat representing Connecticut’s Fifth District has been targeted multiple times.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which seeks to win elections for Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Monday sent out a statement saying that “radical Democrat Jahana Hayes has said absolutely nothing” in the days since Kirk was killed in a shooting in Utah that was witnessed by thousands on a college campus.
“Silence is complacency,” said Maureen O’Toole, the Eastern regional press secretary for the NRCC. “Radical Democrat Jahana Hayes’ reckless fear-mongering fanned the flames of violence that led to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and now she refuses to even condemn the violence.”
Hayes rejected the suggestion that she had been silent.
“I absolutely condemn political violence in all forms and have expressed that repeatedly throughout my time in Congress,” Hayes said in a statement to The Courant. “It is not accurate that I have been silent. While the NRCC uses their time sending tweets and press releases filled with words like “radical democrats” and pointing fingers at those they accuse of ‘fanning the flames,’ I have actually used my time organizing members around sending a letter calling for a hearing on school shooting and campus violence. No one should feel unsafe when expressing opinions on a university campus and as members of Congress we can do more than just put out statements.”
Congresswoman Jahana Hayes of Wolcott says she has reached out to her colleagues since the shooting death of Charlie Kirk. Here, she addresses guests during the International Overdose Awareness Day at the Darius Miller Bandshell at Walnut Hill Park in New Britain on Aug. 31, 2023. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
At the same time, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy posted an interview with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on the Fox News Channel that recounted his last contact with Kirk.
“Pay attention. Something dark might be coming,” Murphy said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The murder of Charlie Kirk could have united Americans to confront political violence. Instead, Trump and his anti-democratic radicals look to be readying a campaign to destroy dissent.”
The video showed Miller as saying, “The last message that Charlie Kirk gave to me before he joined his creator in heaven was he said that we have to dismantle and take on the radical left organizations in this country that are fomenting violence. That was the last message that he sent me … We are gonna do that.”
Murphy then continued, “Leaders across the political spectrum have spoken out about the need to depoliticize our fight against violence. GOP Governor Spencer Cox has led the way. But Trump and his lieutenants are spinning a lie. That the only threat is from the left. … We should condemn political violence of all kinds, whether it comes from the left or right or is directed at Republicans or Democrats. But if we really want to be honest, there is much more right wing-fueled violence than left wing violence.”
Murphy added, “That’s why it was so important for Trump sycophants to take over the DOJ and FBI, so that if a pretext arose, Trump could orchestrate a dizzying campaign to shut down political opposition groups and lock up or harass its leaders. This is what could be coming – now. I hope I’m wrong. But we need to be prepared if I’m right.”
State Democratic chairman Roberto Alves blasted the statement by the NRCC and challenged state Republican chairman Ben Proto to call upon Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson “to lower the temperature” by having the remarks retracted.
“This statement from national Republicans is unfair,” Alves said. “It’s grotesque, and it’s extremely dangerous. The chairman of the Connecticut Republicans joined us just days ago in saying ‘the only way we can stop the violence is by working together to bring down the temperature of political rhetoric’ and ‘the task is not an easy one, but America is worth the effort.’ ”
Proto, though, issued his own challenge after hearing Alves’s remarks, saying that Alves should rebuke Murphy for strong statements that the senator recently made to journalist Chuck Todd that Democrats need to “fight fire with fire” in the ongoing battle against Trump and Republicans.
“Calling out someone for not offering condolences after five days is not necessarily politically violent language,” Proto said regarding Hayes. “Telling people that we’re in a war, and we need to fight fire with fire, that is politically inciting language and is meant to get people reacting in a way that we saw happen on Wednesday. When he says most of the violence comes from the right wing, he’s wrong.”
Proto added, “Roberto, I agree with you that we need to turn down the political rhetoric. Step up and call out Chris Murphy for it. I call on Roberto Alves to put a press release out from the Connecticut Democrats condemning Chris Murphy’s words that we’re at war, and we need to fight fire with fire. Chris Murphy needs to shut up. Tell him to do that. … Or does he support what Chris said? Does he believe we’re at war and that the Democrats should fight fire with fire? It’s not hard, Roberto. Let us know.”
In an age when members of both political parties agreed that shootings have become far too commonplace in American society, the shooting of Kirk has struck a chord and gained widespread attention.
Quinnipiac University professor Scott McLean, who studies politics, polling and their impact, noted that the Kirk assassination has generated far more media attention than various shootings across the country in which the victims are not known to the general public.
“I think we’ve become numb to the school shootings, and this is just different,” McLean told The Courant in an interview. “It was particularly gruesome and horrifying – done right in public in front of a large audience. The audience has grown because we have social media. Now, everyone has watched it on their phone. That’s what makes it different.”
McLean added, “He’s not an elected official, but he is a national figure, and he is very close to the Republican Party establishment. … Taken from his family, it makes it particularly tragic. There are all those things going on at once. … I hope it turns into a longer, more national discussion about the condition of our political discourse today. It has become degraded in the last 10 years, and it’s having an effect on public opinion and people’s behavior.”
Professor Scott McLean of Quinnipiac University, shown here with his students, says the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is different from other shootings because it was captured on video that has been repeated multiple times on cell phones in a way that other shootings have not. (Steven Valenti/Republican-American via Associated Press).
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
