Fox News’ Incitement Of Violence After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Shows The Network's True Nature
Fox News have been shouting a war cry since the moment Charlie Kirk was shot
Charlie Kirk’s assassination shocked the USA and much of the wider world. Leaders across the aisle condemned the act, calling for unity and a lowering of the temperature in American politics. But on Fox News, the response was to use his death to promote an idea that more violence must follow.
Hosts and commentators turned grief into fury, framing Kirk’s death as proof of a one-sided war waged by the left and demanding vengeance. Across prime time and daytime shows alike, the language of battle, vengeance, and even extermination dominated. This is despite the clear evidence that the shooter was a fellow member of the far-right.
What follows is a closer look at the rhetoric Fox deployed, using their own words.
“They Are at War With Us” – Jesse Watters’ Declaration
“They are at war with us, whether we want to accept it or not… And what are we going to do about it?”
“We are going to avenge Charlie’s death.”
“We are sick. We are sad. We are angry. And we are resolute… This is a turning point, and we know which direction we’re going.”
“Everybody’s accountable and we’re watching what they’re saying… the politicians, the media, and all these rats out there.”
Jesse Watters’ words on The Five showed a complete bloodlust. He attempted to draw battle lines, as one would assume Charlie Kirk would have wanted from him. His invocation of “war” and “vengeance” cast conservatives as combatants under siege, implying that the proper response to Kirk’s killing is not reflection but retaliation. By labeling critics as “rats,” he turned political opponents into pests. His declaration that “this can never happen again, it ends now” suggested an ultimatum, raising the question of what happens if it does happen again.
Donald Trump Jr.: Violence Only Goes One Way
“Whenever the left realizes that they are losing arguments, they resort to this violence.”
“It’s not going both ways. It’s simply one way.”
“Anyone who is saying otherwise… should be thrown off the air.”
“The media has branded people like Charlie as ‘Nazi,’ ‘fascist,’ ‘greatest threat to democracy’… That sends a message to crazy people that they’re doing a good deed by killing us.”
Donald Trump Jr. doubled down, blaming Democrats wholesale for political violence. His insistence that violence comes only from the left denied the reality of right-wing extremism.
He claimed Democrats have created a culture where violence is not only tolerated but encouraged. More striking still was his demand that dissenting media voices be silenced, a threat to purge the airwaves of anyone contradicting Fox’s narrative. He concluded that “when the far left can’t win debates on ideas, it resorts to violence,” collapsing the difference between fringe radicals and mainstream Democrats.
Laura Ingraham: Hating America
“Whoever planned Charlie Kirk’s murder hated America.”
“Charlie was a direct threat to progressives’ stranglehold on young minds, and that is why the hard left despised him.”
“This was not just an attack on Charlie Kirk, this was an attack on the country he loved.”
Laura Ingraham’s framing was simple and stark. By tying Kirk’s assassin to hatred of America itself, she turned the tragedy into a symbol: to oppose Kirk was to oppose the nation.
The implication extended beyond the killer to Kirk’s political opponents, painting them as un-American by association. In her written op-ed, she went further, declaring that the left “couldn’t control him, so they tried to silence him.” This martyr framing elevated Kirk while demonizing the left as tyrants.
Donald Trump on Fox & Friends
“The radicals on the left are the problem… The radicals on the right don’t want to see crime.”
“The left has spent years calling wonderful Americans like Charlie ‘Nazis’ and ‘murderers.’ That has consequences.”
From the White House, child rapist Donald Trump used Fox to exonerate his own side. By claiming right-wing radicals simply want law and order, he stripped away the distinction between peaceful conservatives and violent extremists. For Trump, only the left bore blame, and Fox amplified that message uncritically. His assertion that Democrats “incited” the assassination by their language mirrored the broader Fox theme: words from the left are dangerous, while words from the right are righteous.
Brian Kilmeade: Calls for Killing the Homeless and Mentally Ill
“You have people on the streets who are never going to get better… It’s time to look at involuntary lethal injection for the homeless and the mentally ill.”
“These people are beyond saving. We can’t let them destroy our cities.”
Perhaps the most shocking words came not in prime time but in the morning. Brian Kilmeade, on Fox & Friends, advocated outright killing of vulnerable populations through state-sanctioned lethal injection. His comments weren’t tied directly to Kirk’s death but were delivered in the same week of escalated rhetoric. By suggesting extermination as public policy, Kilmeade crossed from rhetorical warfare into genocidal suggestion. The call to eliminate entire groups deemed undesirable through lethal means was the darkest escalation in Fox’s coverage.
Fox’s news division aired statements urging calm. Speaker Mike Johnson told viewers that “this is on all of us” and urged Americans to “turn the temperature down.” Guests like John Wood Jr. from Braver Angels reminded viewers that “the solution to political disagreement in America is never violence.” But these moments were drowned out by the louder, angrier voices. The editorial side fixated on vengeance, destruction, and war. The vocabulary, “avenge,” “destroy,” “war,” “enemy,” “rats,” and even “lethal injection,” dominated the week.
The result was a narrative where the left is a violent monolith, conservatives are righteous victims, and America faces a turning point that demands action. The action demanded is left vague, but the tone of vengeance and extermination makes its meaning hard to miss. Even when framed as political combat, the language blurred the line between metaphor and incitement.
Charlie Kirk’s death could have been a moment for unity against political violence. On Fox News, it became something else: a rallying cry for escalation. By demonizing opponents as enemies, by calling for vengeance, and by floating the killing of vulnerable populations, Fox’s loudest voices didn’t cool the fire. They poured fuel on it, and in doing so, they made America’s political temperature more dangerous than before.