“Morning Joe” dedicated part of its Thursday broadcast to discussing the Wednesday assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, calling it firstly “a human tragedy.”
“This is a young man who was killed in broad daylight in front of 3,000 of his supporters, and his wife and his two young children were there. They’ll grow up without a father,” said “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist. “That’s the human part of this.” He went on to praise the “near-universal condemnation” of Kirk’s assassination from both Republicans and Democrats.
“There is a statement being made. The president has made it as well,” Geist observed. “Of course, there are always people on the fringe on social media who are going to be idiots and celebrate the horrible moments like this. But there is near-universal condemnation from political leadership for this act of violence and all acts of violence.”
“This is a really important moment for our leaders to step up and say that again and again,” he added. “We’re getting it from both sides of the aisle and let’s hope that holds.” You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself in the video below.
Echoing Geist’s sentiments, “Morning Joe” panelist Jonathan Lemire emphasized the weight of Kirk’s assassination and what it says about the current state of political violence in America. “What happened yesterday [is] a horrible tragedy, but becoming all too common,” he said. “Political violence [is] on the rise in a deeply, not just depressing, but dangerous way in this country.”
“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough also took a moment during the segment to touch on MSNBC’s firing of senior political analyst Matthew Dowd. As details about Kirk’s fatal shooting were still coming in on Wednesday, Dowd cited the incendiary, divisive nature of many of Kirk’s public debates and comments. He then said on the air, “I always go back to: hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
His comments were quickly condemned by MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler, and Scarborough believes she was right to do so. “Matthew Dowd yesterday came on and made a wild speculation that was obviously wrong and extraordinarily hurtful to many people, and Rebecca Kutler said so last night,” Scarborough explained. “We’re glad that she did that.”
“None of this is an endorsement of all of his views. Certainly not that,” Geist noted. “But the point is, it’s a condemnation of using violence to settle your disagreements with somebody over their views. I think most of us at this table disagree with a lot of what Charlie Kirk would say, but this, obviously, is not the answer. This cannot happen.”
