Far-Left New Republic Urges Democrats: Shun Empathy After Kirk Assassination — Be ‘Callous, Short of Cruel’Joshua Klein 14 Sep 2025
The far-left New Republic, in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, declared that Democrats’ responses condemning the killing were “too tasteful for the moment,” warned that “empathy helps prop up Republicans and Trumpists as legitimate and normal political actors,” and urged Democrats to adopt a “callous, perhaps, but short of cruel” tone — even suggesting they say, “I’m sorry his family is suffering. I wish his message would die with him.”
In an article titled “Charlie Kirk and the Empathy Trap” — with the subhead, “Democrats will never be as cruel as Republicans after a political assassination. That’s to their credit. But it may not be to their advantage” — the magazine derided conservative outrage and mocked reports of leftists celebrating Kirk’s murder, declaring: “You can go online and nut-pick the odd leftist making light of Charlie Kirk’s death.”
https://twitter.com/newrepublic/status/1966930591573541018It then dismissed Democratic leaders’ official statements — Kamala Harris saying, “Political violence has no place in America,” Hakeem Jeffries declaring it is “completely incompatible with American values,” and Gabby Giffords, herself a survivor of gun violence, warning that “We must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”
The author argued that such remarks only showed weakness, declaring that “these denunciations of political violence are too tasteful for the moment,” and adding, “piously expressing respect for Kirk’s work and incanting the importance of ‘debate’ are capitulations to Republicans’ invoking standards to which the right no longer pretends to adhere.”
The piece went further: “Actually, it’s worse: There are no Republicans asking or demanding that their Democratic counterparts play the part of sympathetic colleague.” Democrats, it claimed, “reflexively” react that way, and “it still surprises them when the notoriously remorseless refuse to reciprocate.”
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/09/14/new-republic-urges-democrats-shun-empathy-kirk-assassination/
