When people say “political violence is wrong,” does that change the underlying substructure of thought that leads to a massive elevation in violence in the country of the political variety?
I don&#8217;t think it means anything to just say that political violence is wrong, because there are actual substrates of thought that lead to the elevation of the violence that compel fringe actors to go out and do things like murder Charlie Kirk.
Thus, having our politicians simply go out there and say, “We&#8217;ve got to take down the temperature; we all have to use better language,” is absolutely true, but it isn&#8217;t specific enough.
Chuck Schumer said, “The bottom line is this is a time that all Americans should come together and feel and mourn what happened. Violence, which affects so many different people of so many different political persuasions, is an affliction of America, and coming together is what we ought to be doing, not pointing fingers of blame.”
Hakeem Jeffries said, “This moment requires leadership that brings the American people together, as opposed to trying to further divide us. Political violence in any form against any American is unacceptable, and should be denounced by everyone. And moving forward, we have to figure out a better way to come together, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans.”
All of this is correct.
But all of this is incredibly vague.
I want to talk about something that we all know is true, but nobody seems to want to say: Not all ideologies are equally prone to violence.
When there is a shooting, a mass shooting at a synagogue, a mass shooting at a church, when Charlie Kirk is shot, everybody&#8217;s mind immediately goes to this: What are the likeliest probabilities in terms of who did the shooting? 
Everyone does this. We cannot pretend that we are blind to the realities of the world. When there is a shooting at a synagogue, I can tell you my mind goes to two places: radical Muslim or white supremacist. Those are usually the options. If there&#8217;s a shooting at a church, your mind might go to a trans radical or a radical Muslim. 
That&#8217;s where your mind is going to go. And this is leaving aside people who are generally mentally ill or where there&#8217;s no political ideology involved. If there is a political ideology involved, your mind immediately goes to the movements that are likely to drive people toward murder.
Not every ideology is prone to this. No one thought that when Charlie Kirk was shot, it was because of his stance on low taxes. No one thought that. We differ on all sorts of politics in this country. Nobody thought that a debate about marginal tax rates was why Charlie was shot. Nobody believes Charlie Kirk was murdered because of his stance on energy policy. 
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2279-breaking-charlie-kirk-assassin-in-custody?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
In order for an ideology, for a movement to coalesce in such a way that it allows for violence — the sort of bubbling of violence that lies at the outskirts of a movement — there have to be some preconditions.
I&#8217;ve been talking a lot about lions and scavengers. What we are seeing here is the scavengers at work. 
The basic philosophy of the scavenger is very simple: All models and civilizations are merely guises for power. My failure is a result of one of those corrupt power systems. There&#8217;s a great conspiracy out there. I am the victim. I&#8217;m being targeted. I am the actual victim. 
And thus, if there is a great conspiracy that is targeting me for destruction, I must respond in kind with violence.
This is how you get to the idiotic notion that speech is violence. 
Those are the three elements: “Morals and civilizations that I don&#8217;t like are simply guises for power,” “My failure within that system is a result of that great conspiracy and I am the victim,” and “It is an existential threat to me and therefore I must act out with violence and harm somebody.”
Let me give you three examples, and I&#8217;m going to take them from the top death threats I received. 
I receive an enormous number of death threats. I have 24/7 security on me, on my family. I literally go nowhere without an entire team of security at this point in my life. And that is because of things like what happened to Charlie.
There are three main wings that I get these threats from: Trans ideology/Marxist ideology, white supremacists, and radical Muslims. 
I want to go through each one of those and explain why these particular ideologies, why these particular movements are likely to generate violence. 
A trans ideology says that your argument about biology, that there is simply male and female, is, in fact, a guise for power. You&#8217;re doing it because you hate me; you wish to erase me. I am a victim of your failure to accept my identity, such that you&#8217;re erasing me. You&#8217;re engaging in a “trans genocide,” and therefore, you are threatening me. Your speech is a form of violence. It is wiping away my identity. 
And therefore violence ought to be met with violence.
Marxist ideology, which is derived from the same general area, is the idea that the governmental system, the free market system, is an imposition on me. It is a conspiracy from above to harm me, to destroy me. My failures inside the market are actually not my own. They&#8217;re the fault of the system. And you, as an advocate for the system, are victimizing me. You&#8217;re erasing me. You&#8217;re destroying me. And I must act with violence. There&#8217;s a reason why Marxist movements are so violent. They say that speech, advocacy for the free market, is, in fact, a system of power. It is to be met with violence. 
White supremacy: I know that there&#8217;s an attempt to pretend that this doesn&#8217;t exist, but it absolutely exists in online spaces. Pretending it doesn&#8217;t is bulls*** and everyone knows it. I know it because I&#8217;ve had to have the FBI arrest somebody who was doing this while threatening not just me, by the way, but Donald Trump Jr. 
That ideology says that white people are being put upon in the United States by an entire system. And if you&#8217;re an advocate for that system, you are threatening me with destruction, with erasure, with white genocide, and thus you must be killed. Violence is a proper response to an attempted genocide. That is the argument that is made, at root, by many white supremacists. 
I&#8217;m not talking about what the Left calls white supremacy, which is anything to the right of Hillary Clinton. I&#8217;m talking about actual, honest-to-God white supremacists. I get an awful lot of death threats from them.
Group number three, radical Muslims, who believe that the failures of the Palestinians, for example, are the result of evil Western systems. And thus, if you are an advocate for those systems, it&#8217;s because you want to erase the radical Muslims and you want to kill people and you want to commit genocide, and therefore it is fine to shoot two Israeli embassy staffers dead in Washington, D.C. That is why it is fine to throw a Molotov cocktail at an 80-year-old woman in Colorado who was protesting Israeli hostages being held. 
We all know this is true. Pretending it isn&#8217;t true doesn&#8217;t make it go away. Not all movements are equally likely to bubble up with violence.
And so when we have politicians saying political violence is bad, if you&#8217;re not speaking out against the movements that use this logic, if you&#8217;re not speaking out against the movements that say that speech is in fact a form of violence, that systems are in fact a form of violence, and that violence is the proper response to that, then you are contributing to the environment in which this kind of stuff happens. 
It is not that there are many radical Muslims in the United States, by the numbers, thank God.
It’s not that there are many white supremacists in the United States.
But by the numbers, the increasing radicalism of the Left in the United States is, in fact, a massive issue. 
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) recently did rankings of campus free speech. And what they found is that college campuses are replete with the failure to speak your mind. 
Why? Because people are afraid of violence.
It goes all the way back to when I was in college. There&#8217;s nothing new here. I wrote my very first book, “Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth,” in 2004 about the kind of discrimination conservatives faced on campus. And yes, there was the possibility of violence, even in 2004, not being shot, but the possibility of being physically assaulted, which is something that came close to happening to me multiple times, even when I was an undergrad. 
That&#8217;s going back 20 years, when I was warning that this was going to metastasize and take over huge swaths of the political Left. People ignored it at the time. But it was true.
I spoke in 2015 at the University of Missouri during the Black Lives Matter upsurge, after Ferguson. And I remember people asking about safety. I said, “I&#8217;m not worried about safety. There are some police there; I&#8217;ve got a security team now. No one’s going to take a shot at me. This is America. You don&#8217;t get shot in America for saying things on a college campus. This is America. I grew up in this country. This is my country. This is a country I love. This is where our fundamental value is the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. No one&#8217;s going to do this kind of stuff. No one.” 
But it&#8217;s becoming more and more common. According to FIRE, a record 1-in-3 students now hold some level of acceptance, even if only rarely, for resorting to violence to stop a campus speech. 
Now, I&#8217;m sure not everybody who believes they&#8217;re using violence thinks in terms of shooting someone to death. But when you are drawing from a pool at this point of legitimately tens of millions of young Americans, who are atomistic and isolated and don&#8217;t touch grass, it is not going to be hard to find some unhinged people who decide to take that to its logical conclusion and fire a bullet through the throat of a man who is simply attempting to speak truth to people in the friendliest possible fashion. 
I don&#8217;t like when people say “They shot Charlie,” because “they” isn&#8217;t a person. A person shot Charlie Kirk, and he shot Charlie Kirk for a deranged reason.
With that said, there are movements in which the substrate of their political thinking leads to an elevation in violence. Period. End of story. That is a reality.
And it is not enough to just say “political violence is bad” if you are not calling out the movements themselves.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-HOMICIDE-MASS-MEDIA-CRIME

Saying ‘Political Violence Is Wrong’ Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Anti-Semitism

assassination

Ben Shapiro

Charlie Kirk

Leftists

Marxism

Opinion

Radical Islam

Shooting

Transgender

White Supremacists

The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis is on lockdown after gunshots were reportedly heard inside Bancroft Hall.
A midshipman who had been kicked out of the school returned to campus armed with a weapon, according to Fox News.
&#8220;The shooter is knocking on doors pretending to be a military policeman,&#8221; one official said.
There are multiple victims being assessed for their injuries, Fox anchor Bret Baier reports. At least one victim is being transported by medevac with serious, life-threatening wounds.
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BREAKING: A gunman has opened fire at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and multiple people have been shot.
Reminder, today is the 24th anniversary of 9/11.
There has been so much terror in our country this week. It’s sickening. <a href="https://t.co/tYbvlAmr7w">pic.twitter.com/tYbvlAmr7w</a>
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraLoomer/status/1966279107836350493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Naval Support Activity Annapolis, in coordination with local law enforcement, is currently responding to reports of threats made to the Naval Academy,&#8221; NSAA PAO, LT Naweed Lemar said in a statement.
&#8220;The base is on lockdown out of an abundance of caution,&#8221; he added. &#8220;This is a developing situation and we will provide updates as they become available.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
US NAVAL ACADMEY LOCKDOWN: “Naval Support Activity Annapolis, in coordination with local law enforcement, is currently responding to reports of threats made to the Naval Academy. The base is on lockdown out of an abundance of caution. This is a developing situation and we will…
— Allison Papson (@AllisonPapson) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1966265564164194369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
This is a developing story, please refresh for updates&#8230;

Mahan Hall, United States Naval Academy

Naval Academy On Lockdown, Shots Heard Inside Hall

Crime

U.S.

U.S. Navy

President Donald Trump issued an order on Wednesday that all American flags be lowered to half staff until Sunday evening at 6 p.m. in honor of conservative commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Trump shared the news in a post to his Truth Social platform, saying, &#8220;In honor of Charlie Kirk, a truly Great American Patriot, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Sunday evening at 6 P.M.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In honor of Charlie Kirk, President Trump is ordering all American flags throughout the U.S. to be lowered to Half Mast. <a href="https://t.co/FOYHIZU2FD">pic.twitter.com/FOYHIZU2FD</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1965885627116966045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Kirk was shot hours earlier while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem, just 20 minutes after he&#8217;d begun to speak. Video quickly circulated of the moment when Kirk was shot by an individual who remains at large as of this writing. Chaos erupted on the scene as students fled in all directions.
Social media was immediately flooded with prayers and well-wishes for Kirk, his wife Erika, and their two young children — but Trump made the heartbreaking announcement a few hours later that his friend had died.
&#8220;The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!&#8221; Trump said in a statement.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his… <a href="https://t.co/aM8Pz3TKml">pic.twitter.com/aM8Pz3TKml</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1965880535659470994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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President Trump Participates In Panel Discussion At The Generation Next Summit At The White House

Trump Orders Flags Lowered To Half Staff In Charlie Kirk’s Honor

Trump Orders Flags Lowered To Half Staff In Charlie Kirk's Honor

Donald Trump

Politics

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) brought his chamber to a halt on Wednesday, holding a moment of silence for conservative commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk after he was shot in the neck at an event in Utah.
Johnson spoke to <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/09/10/congress/johnson-on-charlie-kirk-00556264">reporters</a> ahead of the planned moment of silence, telling them, &#8220;We ask everyone to pray for him and his family. Political violence has become all too common in American society, and this is not who we are.&#8221;
The House Speaker joined a number of other elected officials in condemning political violence in the aftermath of the shooting, adding, &#8220;It violates core principles of our country today, our Judeo-Christian heritage, our civil society, our American way of life. And it must stop.&#8221;
&#8220;We need every political figure, we need everyone who has a platform to say this loudly and clearly: we can settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner, end political violence,&#8221; Johnson said.
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) voiced a similar sentiment when he first learned of the shooting, saying, &#8220;I condemn this in the strongest terms. There is ZERO place in our great country for these horrendous acts of political violence. We must find a better way forward. May Charlie Kirk have a full and quick recovery.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I condemn this in the strongest terms.
There is ZERO place in our great country for these horrendous acts of political violence.
We must find a better way forward.
May Charlie Kirk have a full and quick recovery. <a href="https://t.co/S2DlqVXNai">pic.twitter.com/S2DlqVXNai</a>
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenFettermanPA/status/1965856642358267925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Shortly after Johnson announced his plan to hold a moment of silence, Turning Point USA Chief Operating Officer Justin Streiff <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charlie-kirk-leading-conservative-activist-and-father-dead-at-31?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Tim+Rice&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Charlie+Kirk%2C+Leading+Conservative+Activist+And+Father%2C+Dead+At+31">confirmed</a> Kirk’s death in an email to TPUSA staff.
President Donald Trump and others also reported that Kirk had died.
&#8220;The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!&#8221; Trump said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his… <a href="https://t.co/aM8Pz3TKml">pic.twitter.com/aM8Pz3TKml</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1965880535659470994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

US House Speaker Mike Johnson

Speaker Johnson Calls The House To A Halt, Holds Moment Of Silence For Charlie Kirk

Mike Johnson

Political Violence

U.S. House of Representatives

President Donald Trump blasted Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday morning after seven people were killed and at least a dozen more were wounded in shootings throughout Chicago over the weekend.
Police in Chicago said the shooting victims ranged between the ages of 15 and 57 in more than a dozen shootings between Friday and Sunday, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-weekend-shootings-sep-5-to-8-2025/">reported</a>. The violence in Chicago over the weekend came after another deadly few days over Labor Day weekend, when eight people were <a href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-shootings-labor-day-58c2b6678c89d340fb5ab699bf142247">killed</a> and at least 50 people were wounded.
&#8220;Governor Pritzker just stated that he doesn&#8217;t want Federal Government HELP! WHY???&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115168933967621443">posted</a> on Truth Social. &#8220;What is wrong with this guy, and the 5% in Polls Mayor. I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them. Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness. The City and State have not been able to do the job. People of Illinois should band together and DEMAND PROTECTION. IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!! ACT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!&#8221;
In recent weeks, Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago to address the city&#8217;s violent crime problem after he sent troops and federal agents into Washington, D.C., last month. Trump posted a meme on Saturday, showing an AI-generated image of himself with military helicopters flying over Chicago, which is shown in flames.
The image was captioned: &#8220;I love the smell of deportations in the morning&#8230; Chicago about to find out why it&#8217;s called the Department of War.&#8221; Trump border czar Tom Homan said on Sunday that &#8220;sanctuary cities&#8221; should expect to see a surge in immigration enforcement, adding that use of National Guard troops to assist was on the table, ABC 7 Chicago <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/live-updates/chicago-federal-intervention-latest-president-trumps-immigration-enforcement-possible-national-guard-deployment-live-updates/17758521/entry/17767661/">reported</a>.
<iframe class="truthsocial-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0;" src="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115158096026629509/embed" width="600" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://truthsocial.com/embed.js" async="async"></script>
&nbsp;
Democrats, including Pritzker, argued that the meme was a threat &#8220;to go to war with an American city.&#8221;
&#8220;This is not a joke. This is not normal,&#8221; Pritzker <a href="https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/1964367057052701152">posted</a> on X. &#8220;Donald Trump isn&#8217;t a strongman, he&#8217;s a scared man. Illinois won&#8217;t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.&#8221;
Mayor Johnson <a href="https://x.com/chicagosmayor/status/1964384513548570871?s=46&amp;t=NOfQRKFbAKf3WtjF9OVfDQ">added</a>, &#8220;The President&#8217;s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution. We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.&#8221;
Chicago has reported the most <a href="https://kfoxtv.com/news/nation-world/chicago-has-most-murders-of-any-us-city-for-13-consecutive-years-leavitt-white-house-press-secretary-president-donald-trump-illinois-governor-jb-pritzker-washington-dc-crime-crackdown-statistics-murder-homicide-deaths-carjacking-theft-assaults-weapons">homicides</a> of any American city for 13 straight years. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-declares-were-going-in-chicago-on-notice-as-national-guard-plans-imminent">promised</a> last week that the federal government would take action.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going in. I didn&#8217;t say when we&#8217;re going in. … This isn&#8217;t a political thing. I have an obligation,&#8221; Trump said.
A National Guard deployment to Chicago would likely face legal challenges. Last week, a federal judge in California <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-rules-trump-illegally-deployed-us-military-to-los-angeles">ruled</a> that Trump&#8217;s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June was unlawful. The Trump administration is also being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-files-suit-to-end-trumps-national-guard-deployment">sued</a> over its use of the National Guard in Washington, D.C.

Trump Rips Dems For Refusing Federal Help After More Deadly Shootings In Chicago

Brandon Johnson

Chicago

Executive

Illinois

J.B. Pritzker

National Guard

Violent Crime

One MSNBC guest claimed on Saturday that calls for prayer after the tragic school shooting that unfolded just days earlier were &#8220;a form of idolatry&#8221; and &#8220;theological malpractice,&#8221; arguing that unless people were also willing to go after gun manufacturers, their prayers meant nothing.
Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, joined MSNBC host Ali Velshi to discuss the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, MN — and he blamed Republican lawmakers and guns for the tragic shooting.
WATCH:
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Jones: I want to bring theology into this because you have all these people want to give thoughts and prayers. But I was a minister, and that is a form of theological malpractice—when you pray for something you have the power to change. <a href="https://t.co/yx1BAjeTTc">pic.twitter.com/yx1BAjeTTc</a>
— Acyn (@Acyn) <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1961893873925640296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After a brief discussion about the potential role played by violent video games, Velshi pivoted to blame the guns. &#8220;There are people who play video games all over the world, and nobody has the problem the way we have it in the United States. So it might actually be about the guns.&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, that’s exactly it. And, you know, I want to take it a step further and say that — I want to bring theology into this because you have all these people who want to give thoughts and prayers after a shooting, but I was a minister and that is a form of theological malpractice,&#8221; Jones cut straight to the point. &#8220;When you pray for something that you have the power to change — there’s an African proverb that says, when you pray, you move your hands and feet. You know, what we’re seeing is a form of idolatry, where we’re willing to worship the lives of our children to appease the prophets of the gun industry.&#8221;
Jones went on to attack Republicans over a Tennessee law, saying, &#8220;After the mass shooting at the Covenant School, the only law Republicans passed that year was to protect gun manufacturers from litigation. That’s what they did after children were killed in a school. It is cruel, it is shameful, it’s immoral, and it is something that is going to be a dark stain on American history, that we’ve allowed this to go on for so long unchallenged. And we have the power to change things.&#8221;
&#8220;And I would say to my colleagues who serve in government bodies, that we —Keep your thoughts and prayers, keep your tweets,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;If you wanna address gun violence, you don’t need a tweet, what you need is a mirror. You have the power to change things. You have the power to take action. Now is the time, until it’s your child, because sooner or later it’s gonna hit home. And then it’ll be too late.&#8221;
Other Democrats — from former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to Minneapolis Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-mayor-trashes-people-for-offering-thoughts-and-prayers-after-shooting">Jacob Frey</a> — took a similar tone after the shooting, arguing that calls for prayer were empty without gun control measures.
Press Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/karoline-leavitt-destroys-jen-psaki-for-mocking-the-power-of-prayer">Karoline Leavitt</a> pushed back, saying that such criticisms were demeaning to the millions of Americans who believe in the power of prayer — and a number pointed out that Republicans have proposed solutions to gun violence that would make schools harder targets, but that Democrats have repeatedly made it clear they will not consider such ideas.

Justin Jones

MSNBC Guest Says It’s ‘Theological Malpractice’ To Pray In The Wake Of School Shooting

MSNBC Guest Says It's 'Idolatry,' 'Theological Malpractice' To Pray In The Wake Of School Shooting

Democrat

Media

MSNBC

School Shooting

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tore into her predecessor, former Press Secretary Jen Psaki, over an X post attacking those who responded to Wednesday&#8217;s tragic school shooting by offering prayers.
During Thursday&#8217;s briefing, Leavitt told members of the Press Corps that she had seen Psaki&#8217;s post and thought it was extremely disrespectful of her to dismiss the beliefs of many Americans who value prayer.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
With class and calm, Karoline Leavitt just absolutely wrecked Jen Psaki for mocking the power of prayer:
&#8220;I saw the comments of my predecessor, Jen Psaki, I think they&#8217;re incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to the tens of millions of Americans of faith across this country… <a href="https://t.co/Mk595Sq1Dn">https://t.co/Mk595Sq1Dn</a> <a href="https://t.co/cHLb31pWSR">pic.twitter.com/cHLb31pWSR</a>
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1961126369288708540?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Yes, I saw the comments of my predecessor, Ms. Psaki, and frankly, I think they&#8217;re incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to the tens of millions of Americans of faith across this country who believe in the power of prayer, who believe that prayer works, and who believe that on a morning like this, when beautiful young children were killed while praying in a church, it&#8217;s utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country,&#8221; Leavitt said. &#8220;And it&#8217;s disrespectful to the millions of Americans of faith, and I would encourage Ms. Psaki to pray for these families themselves, who need it right now more than ever.&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Psaki posted on Wednesday, shortly after news broke of the deadly shooting, saying, &#8220;Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) <a href="https://twitter.com/jrpsaki/status/1960730977472237739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, also a Democrat, made a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-mayor-trashes-people-for-offering-thoughts-and-prayers-after-shooting">similar comment</a> during a press conference on Wednesday in an effort to direct the conversation toward gun control: &#8220;Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church.&#8221;

White House Holds Press Briefing

Karoline Leavitt Destroys Jen Psaki For Mocking The Power Of Prayer

Gun Control

Jen Psaki

Karoline Leavitt

Police responded to an active shooter situation at Villanova University on Thursday afternoon, as new students were moving into their dorms at the private Catholic research university west of Philadelphia. Villanova President Rev. Peter M. Donohue said that the reported shooting was a &#8220;cruel hoax,&#8221; adding that no one was injured, NBC 10 Philadelphia <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/villanova-students-warned-of-active-shooter-on-campus/4257685/">reported</a>.
At around 4:30 p.m. ET, while many students and parents were attending mass, an alert went out from Villanova instructing everyone to shelter in place and stay away from the Law School&#8217;s Scarpa Hall. A video posted on X showed a representative for Villanova telling a group of people who had taken shelter that the active shooter situation was &#8220;supposedly in the library at the law school.&#8221;
The campus was placed on lockdown over the incident just hours after Villanova Law <a href="https://x.com/Villanova_Law/status/1958620709808206026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1958620709808206026%7Ctwgr%5Ec8b9ece089c78ab88cf83b134bb6b0ff50ce0254%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcphiladelphia.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fvillanova-students-warned-of-active-shooter-on-campus%2F4257685%2F">posted</a> that it hosted a &#8220;successful&#8221; orientation for students that was followed by a picnic. The school year is set to begin next week.
&#8220;Today, as we are celebrating Orientation Mass to welcome our newest Villanovans and their families to our community, panic and terror ensued with the news of a possible shooter at the Law School,&#8221; Donohue said. &#8220;Mercifully, no one was injured, and we now know that it was a cruel hoax—there was no active shooter, no injuries and no evidence of firearms present on campus. While that is a blessing and relief, I know today’s events have shaken our entire community.&#8221;
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨BREAKING: An active shooter alert has been reported at Villanova University
<a href="https://t.co/tzqwX9s1BK">pic.twitter.com/tzqwX9s1BK</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1958637655790325927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2025</a>
&nbsp;</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
shooting at villanova university, we are hiding and locked down in a utility closet…. an HR rep just came to clarify the situation <a href="https://t.co/Ukw42WEHg3">pic.twitter.com/Ukw42WEHg3</a>
— Liam Zieg (@liamzieg) <a href="https://twitter.com/liamzieg/status/1958633579807904016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
The active shooting hoax at Villanova came hours after police <a href="https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2025/08/21/university-of-tennessee-chattanooga-lockdown-reports-of-shooter/85762026007/">lifted</a> an active shooter lockdown at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga after finding no evidence of a threat.
This is a developing story; refresh the page for updates.

US-VATICAN-RELIGION-POPE-UNIVERSITY

Active Shooter Scare On Villanova Campus Was ‘Cruel Hoax’

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

Police

Washington, D.C., police recorded the 100th homicide of 2025 in the nation&#8217;s capital Monday evening, just hours after President Donald Trump announced that the federal government would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-gonna-take-our-capital-back-heres-everything-trump-is-going-to-do-to-clean-up-d-c">take control</a> of law enforcement to crack down on violent crime in D.C.
Tymark Wells, 33, was shot multiple times in D.C.&#8217;s Logan Circle neighborhood just before 7:00 p.m., Fox 5 <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/man-shot-killed-dc-just-hours-after-trump-federalizes-metropolitan-police-department">reported</a>. The victim was taken to the hospital after police arrived on the scene and was later pronounced dead. Police are searching for a man wearing a black shirt and carrying a rifle, according to <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-killed-in-shooting-in-northwest-dc/3973874/">NBC 4 Washington</a>.
Logan Circle is just one mile from the White House and is described as one of D.C.&#8217;s more popular neighborhoods, attracting young crowds to its restaurants and bars. After the shooting, the Secret Service closed the Ellipse park near the White House, along with the north and south fence lines around the White House.
The D.C. Police Union, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/immediate-action-is-necessary-d-c-police-union-backs-trumps-capital-takeover">backed</a> Trump&#8217;s decision to federalize the police department, said in a statement, &#8220;Last night, DC suffered the grave milestone of its 100th homicide for 2025. Let’s hope this federal intervention leads to real change to the laws in DC that allow this to happen year after year.&#8221;
The fatal shooting is yet another example of the violent crime plaguing the nation&#8217;s capital that President Trump has vowed to root out. The homicide rate in D.C. in 2024 reached 27.3 per 100,000 residents, giving the U.S. capital the fourth-highest homicide rate of any city in the country. So far in 2025, D.C. authorities have also <a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime">reported</a> over 530 assaults with a dangerous weapon, nearly 900 robberies, and nearly 3,000 motor vehicle thefts. While the city has reported lower violent crime levels since record highs from 2020 to 2023, violent crime remains much higher in D.C. than it did 10-15 years ago.
D.C.&#8217;s crime data has also been questioned after a Metropolitan Police Department commander was suspended and placed under investigation for allegedly changing crime statistics. That investigation was announced shortly after the commander filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief, and after the police union accused the Metropolitan Police Department of falsifying crime stats to make it appear as if the city had seen a drop in violent crime, NBC 4 Washington <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-police-commander-suspended-crime-statistics/3959566/">reported</a>.
Still, Democratic city leaders argue that they are doing their job to address violent crime in D.C. On Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unsettling-and-unprecedented-d-c-mayor-slams-trumps-takeover-says-crime-is-dropping?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=%E2%80%98Unsettling+And+Unprecedented%3A+D.C.+Mayor+Slams+Trump%E2%80%99s+Takeover%2C+Says+Crime+Is+Dropping">said</a> that Trump&#8217;s &#8220;view of D.C. is shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term,” when the city was experiencing a record-breaking crime wave.
“And it is true that those were challenging times related to some issues. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post-COVID, but we worked quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools,&#8221; Bowser said, adding, &#8220;We have been able to reverse that 2023 crime spike.&#8221;
Neither Trump nor the D.C. Police Union, which represents over 3,000 officers with the Metropolitan Police Department, agrees that Democratic leaders are properly enforcing the law and protecting Americans.
The D.C. Police Union <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/immediate-action-is-necessary-d-c-police-union-backs-trumps-capital-takeover?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=%E2%80%98Immediate+Action+Is+Necessary%E2%80%99%3A+D.C.+Police+Union+Backs+Trump%E2%80%99s+Capital+Takeover">said</a> in a statement on Monday that it &#8220;acknowledges and supports the President’s announcement this morning to assume temporary control of the MPD in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, DC.&#8221;
“The Union agrees that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety,&#8221; the police union added.

D.C. Metropolitan Police

Crime-Ridden D.C. Records 100th Homicide Of The Year Hours After Trump Federalizes Police

Democrats

Homicide

Washington D.C.

The U.S. Army awarded medals to six soldiers who subdued an active shooter and quickly aided their wounded colleagues after a sergeant opened fire at Fort Stewart in Georgia on Wednesday.
At a <a href="https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1YqKDZNmgaoJV">press conference</a> on Thursday morning, the Army honored First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Staff Sergeant Aaron Turner, and Sergeant Eve Rodarte for their heroism. The suspect is accused of using his personal handgun in the shooting. Fort Stewart prohibits personnel from carrying their own firearms at the base.
&#8220;One of the things I can say unequivocally is that the fast action of these soldiers under stress and under trauma and under fire absolutely saved lives from being lost,&#8221; said U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll.
&#8220;One of the soldiers tackled the person, so just think about this, they were unarmed and ran at and tackled an armed person who they knew was actively shooting their buddies, their colleagues, their fellow soldiers,&#8221; Driscoll added. &#8220;Another soldier jumped on top of the person to subdue them until federal law enforcement arrived. The other soldiers, using their training that they developed over years and years, started to take care of mass casualties.&#8221;
The Army <a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/fort-stewart-shooting-georgia-08-07-25#cme1grzoq000h356nvib6ue5s">said</a> that Staff Sgt. Turner was the first person to subdue the shooter before Master Sgt. Thomas jumped in to help pin him down. Turner is an automated logistical specialist from Farmington, New Mexico, who has been at Fort Stewart for less than a year.
The five victims are all expected to survive, and three of them have already been released from the hospital. One of the victims who remains in the hospital is expected to recover quickly, while the other victim has a longer recovery ahead, Savannah, Georgia, CBS affiliate WTOC <a href="https://www.wtoc.com/2025/08/07/soldiers-who-subdued-fort-stewart-shooter-awarded-medals-3-injured-soldiers-released-hospital/">reported</a>.
The Daily Wire is not publishing the gunman’s name due to a company policy against contributing to the unintentional glorification of mass shooters.
The suspect was identified as a 28-year-old active-duty sergeant who enlisted in 2018. He had not seen combat and had no behavioral incidents that were known to the Army before the shooting. Brig. Gen. John Lubas said on Wednesday that the suspect was arrested for driving under the influence in May, an arrest that the Army&#8217;s top brass did not know about until after the shooting, when they entered the suspect&#8217;s name into a crime database. He was scheduled to be arraigned in the DUI case on August 20, <a href="https://www.ksbw.com/article/fort-stewart-army-sergeant-shooting-coworkers/65624655">according</a> to KSBW Action News 8.
An investigation into the shooting remains ongoing, and the Army said it does not want to speculate about the shooter&#8217;s motives.

Army honors soldiers who stopped gunman

Army Honors Unarmed Soldiers Who Took Down Fort Stewart Shooter

Georgia

Heroism

Military

U.S. Army

As news broke that a mass shooter with a high-powered rifle had opened fire on people in a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, CNN anchor Erin Burnett and CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller both speculated that the gunman was “possibly white,” catalyzing anger on social media.
Surveillance images quickly surfaced after the mass shooting, showing the dark-complexioned, mustachioed gunman walking into the building at 345 Park Avenue with a rifle, wearing sunglasses and dark clothes. The Daily Wire is not publishing the gunman’s name due to a company policy against contributing to the unintentional glorification of mass shooters.
“People don&#8217;t walk around with guns like that. But was his face visible? I mean, do they — they have any idea at this point who he is?” Burnett asked Miller.
“They do not know who he is,” Miller stated. “They know he is a male, possibly white. He&#8217;s wearing sunglasses. He appears to have a mustache. And that picture has been distributed to every police officer in New York City particularly, has been sent to the phones of the search teams inside that building because whenever they encounter a group of people, the first thing they have to figure out is, is that individual among these people hiding among victims or pretending to be an office worker, because one thing you don&#8217;t want to have happen is to have this kind of cordon where you&#8217;re trying to evacuate people in groups as you can get them to a safe corridor and have this person slip out with them.&#8221;
“Male, possibly white, mustache, sunglasses in that building,” Burnett repeated. Later. She repeated, “There were a few things that really stood out there among them that they did get. They do know what he looks like. Sunglasses, mustache, male, possibly white &#8230;”
Ironically, later in the broadcast Miller stated, “One of the cautions here, as you know, from having done so many of these, Erin, unfortunately, is that we always have to be mindful of the idea that between people who are watching, listening information that&#8217;s being sent over social media, that we have to be a little bit guarded on specifics.”
“You share what you can from your sources. Some of it obviously, you must protect,” Burnett stated.
Social media slammed Burnett. One post stated, “CNN anchor Erin Burnett stated live on the air that the obviously not white man, quote, was ‘possibly white.’ Embarrassing attempt to politicize this tragedy.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A devastating shooting occurred in New York City, leaving 4 dead, including a police officer.
CNN anchor Erin Burnett stated live on the air that the obviously not white man, quote, was “possibly white.” Embarrassing attempt to politicize this tragedy. <a href="https://t.co/3T2dGA08ud">pic.twitter.com/3T2dGA08ud</a>
&mdash; Armstrong Williams 🇺🇸 (@Arightside) <a href="https://twitter.com/Arightside/status/1950138865412411758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Another post stated, “@ErinBurnett  knows exactly what she’s doing here. Incredible misinformation and irresponsible, purposeful race-baiting. If you don’t know for sure, you don’t say it. Unless, of course your job is to mislead, stir-up confusion, obfuscation and to bury facts.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/ErinBurnett?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ErinBurnett</a> knows exactly what she’s doing here. Incredible misinformation and irresponsible, purposeful race-baiting. If you don’t know for sure, you don’t say it. Unless, of course your job is to mislead, stir-up confusion, obfuscation and to bury facts. <a href="https://t.co/JMRDxTg7qJ">pic.twitter.com/JMRDxTg7qJ</a>
&mdash; Ross Dyer (@RossDyerTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/RossDyerTV/status/1949984927706931566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pqJdFP-etb0?si=eEmJ9lIDY7nkpol7" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
One month before the 2024 election, Burnett remained silent when her guest Democratic strategist guest, Aisha Mills, bridled, “As a black lesbian who Donald Trump doesn’t believe has genes as good as his, is he going to attempt to exterminate me?” and railed to CNN senior political commentator David Urban, “I’m not going to be lectured by some white man who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Urban responded, “Shame on you, Aisha,” prompting Burnett to state, “Let me just say I appreciate — OK, I appreciate both of you, I know it&#8217;s obviously getting heated. I think — I think what people appreciate about both of you is you mean what you say and you say what you mean. You&#8217;re both very genuine people.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
CNN guest: “I’m not going to be lectured by some white man…”
The blatant racism isn’t the most noteworthy part, it’s Erin Burnett refusing to condemn it on her own show. 
 <a href="https://t.co/lQmsYxdB2P">pic.twitter.com/lQmsYxdB2P</a>
&mdash; Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) <a href="https://twitter.com/cabot_phillips/status/1844188406181777895?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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2014 Concordia Summit – Day 1

‘Purposeful Race-Baiting’: CNN’s Burnett Slammed For Saying NYC Mass Shooter Was ‘Possibly White’

Erin Burnett

Manhattan

Mass Shooting

New York

New York City

Racism

A gunman shot multiple people in a New York City office building on Monday before turning the gun on himself.
The gunman killed at least one police officer and injured another. Four people inside the office building, a skyscraper in midtown Manhattan, were killed, according to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/active-shooter-report-prompts-massive-police-response-midtown-manhattan-business-district">Fox News</a>. The gunman reportedly died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed that the gunman is dead, <a href="https://x.com/NYPDPC/status/1949981438842941663">posting</a> on X that &#8220;the scene has been contained and the lone shooter has been neutralized.&#8221;
Officials have tentatively identified the shooter as a 27-year-old from Las Vegas, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/new-york-city-midtown-manhattan-shooting-07-28-25#cmdnsyogl001o3b6nhh3p0qqa">CNN</a>.
Security camera footage from the office building appears to have caught images of the shooter as he was walking inside. The gunman appeared to be carrying a rifle.
He began shooting in the lobby of the building before traveling to another floor and shooting again. He eventually made his way to the 33rd floor of the building where he fatally shot himself, sources told Fox News.
Former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan theorized that the gunman had some connection to one of the businesses operating inside the skyscraper. &#8220;He knew exactly where he wanted to be and where he wanted to go,&#8221; Kaplan <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1949985849522721153">said</a>.
The office building the gunman entered houses Blackstone and the NFL headquarters. New York City police and FBI agents swarmed the area on Monday afternoon amid reports of an active shooter.
Local and federal officials began posting updates as videos from the response rocketed across social media.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams posted a <a href="https://x.com/nycmayor/status/1949971560330059818">warning</a> to social media: “New Yorkers: there is an active shooter investigation taking place in Midtown right now. Please take proper safety precautions if you are in vicinity (sic) and do not go outside if you are near Park Avenue and East 51st Street.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino posted to X that the FBI joined the law enforcement response.
“FBI New York Field Office management personnel and agents are responding to provide support at the active crime scene in Manhattan,” Bongino <a href="https://x.com/FBIDDBongino/status/1949970080294449243">said</a>.

Officer Dead, Multiple Injured After Gunman Storms Manhattan Office Building

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