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Mother Jones; Mark Reinstein\/Zuma; Luis M. Alvarez\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the aftermath <\/span>of Wednesday\u2019s assassination of right-wing youth leader Charlie Kirk<\/a>, in the midst of more sober calls for mourning and moderation, many far-right influencers quickly began to call for revenge against the left<\/a>\u2014whom they blamed for Kirk\u2019s death. They did so even though the shooter still has not been identified, nor their motivations revealed. <\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just random individuals circulating such violent fantasies\u2014leaders of prominent extremist groups and pardoned insurrectionists<\/a> have issued calls to their networks to seek revenge.\u00a0In an email to Mother Jones<\/em>, Devin Burghart, executive director of the extremism research group Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, expressed his concern that reactions to Kirk\u2019s death could \u201cenergize the far-right to intensify political violence, from street clashes and armed paramilitarism to calls for racist terror.\u201d<\/p>\n Consider the message from Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers<\/a> militia group, who was sentenced<\/a> to 18 years in prison for his role in leading the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021, before being pardoned<\/a> by President Donald Trump in January\u2014along with nearly 1,600 others. On Wednesday, he said<\/a> on Alex Jones\u2019 Infowars<\/em> podcast that he would be restarting his organization in the wake of Kirk\u2019s killing.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m going to be rebuilding Oath Keepers,\u201d Rhodes said, \u201cand we will be doing protection again.\u201d The group never formally disbanded but had receded from the spotlight after their leader\u2019s conviction.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing we will be doing is public protection of patriots again, like we used to\u2014it\u2019s incredibly necessary,\u201d Rhodes added. \u201cI\u2019m sure the Proud Boys will agree\u2014if we have to, we\u2019ll go and ride the train again, just like the Guardian Angels did.\u201d He was referring to the New York City vigilante group Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa started in 1979.\u00a0<\/p>\n If his security team had been at Kirk\u2019s event, Rhodes said, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA would still be alive. He also urged men to \u201cstep up\u2026do your tour of duty\u201d and start their own vigilante groups. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the responsibility of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys to protect Americans in this environment,\u201d he continued, \u201cit\u2019s the responsibility of all<\/em> American men.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just the responsibility of Oath K<\/strong>eepers and Proud Boys to protect Americans in this environment, it\u2019s the responsibility of all<\/em> American men.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n He then suggested that they should \u201cstart a neighborhood watch,\u201d and should they find <\/strong> \u201csomeone who doesn\u2019t belong, let \u2018em know you\u2019re watching them.\u201d Threats weren\u2019t even necessary, \u201cbut you can let \u2018em know you\u2019re watching,\u201d Rhodes said. \u201cUsually, that\u2019s a deterrent.\u201d<\/p>\n Several other convicted insurrectionists also said they plan to avenge Kirk\u2019s death, noting that he had strenuously encouraged that they be freed from prison. \u201cCharlie was a HUGE advocate for our unconditional release\u2026He helped restore the lives of 1,600 of us,\u201d wrote<\/a> Enrique Tarrio, leader of the militia-like group the <\/strong>Proud Boys, who was sentenced<\/a> to 22 years in prison for his role in coordinating the attack on the Capitol. He, too, was pardoned by President Trump. \u201cI think I can speak for ALL J6ers when I say THANK YOU\u2026We carry the torch.\u201d<\/p>\n Jake Lang, who was accused of beating officers at the Capitol but avoided<\/a> going to trial before being pardoned <\/strong>and is currently running<\/a> for US Senate in Florida, called<\/a> for \u201ca MILLION MAN MARCH on DC to show solidarity\u201d with both <\/strong>Kirk and Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was killed<\/a> on a train in North Carolina last month. The Trump administration<\/a> and other Republicans have blamed Zarutska\u2019s murder on Democrats, alleging that the killing was directly connected to the party for being what they describe<\/a> as too \u201csoft on crime.\u201d The killer, who had a lengthy criminal history, is facing<\/a> federal charges. \u201cTHE TIME TO RISE IS NOW,\u201d Lang wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chris Worrell, a member of the Proud Boys, was convicted<\/a> of assaulting a group of police officers on January 6 and sparked a six-week-long manhunt while he tried to evade authorities. \u201cThe POLITICAL ASSASSINATION of [Kirk] MUST see RETRIBUTION!!\u201d he wrote<\/a> on X. Another convicted insurrectionist and Oath Keeper, Jessica Watkins, said<\/a>, \u201cCharlie Kirk\u2019s assassination pulled me out of retirement. More work must be done.\u201d Just twelve hours earlier, Watkins had written<\/a> <\/strong>to fellow Kirk fans who were upset about the shooting, \u201ctalks about Civil War are counterproductive. Please Stop. It\u2019s not helping.\u201d<\/p>\n The neo-Nazis weighed in with a post<\/a> on X from Nationalist Network<\/a> leader Ryan Sanchez: \u201cCharlie Kirk must be avenged. We must destroy the Left once and for all!\u201d In another tweet, he wrote<\/a>, \u201cWHITE MAN FIGHT BACK!\u201d On his website<\/a>, Sanchez says he is \u201cfighting for J6 prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n As incendiary as these posts may appear, some experts do not believe the former insurrectionists pose as legitimate a threat as they did in 2021. \u201cThese people cry civil war when Cracker Barrel changes their logo<\/a>,\u201d said Jon Lewis<\/a>, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. He sees some of the loudest voices calling for retribution, like Rhodes and Tarrio, as mere \u201cgrifters,\u201d adding, \u201cI\u2019m not worried about, like, the Oath Keepers bringing 1,000 guys to DC tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis pointed to Tarrio\u2019s recent announcement<\/a> that he would not attend a DC court hearing scheduled for Thursday, where he was supposed to appear in connection with a lawsuit that the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church filed (and won<\/a>) against the Proud Boys for vandalizing its Washington, DC, church building in 2020. \u201cThey want me to travel to totally unsafe DC in a time where conservative voices are under threat,\u201d Tarrio posted<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n John Rennie Short, professor emeritus of public policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and author of Insurrection: What the January 6 Assault on the Capitol Reveals About America and Democracy<\/em>,<\/a> sees the insurrectionists\u2019 calls for retribution as an effort to \u201craise that anger level again\u201d after losing their relevance with Trump\u2019s return to office. \u201cIt\u2019s a great business model for them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n What these experts are<\/em> concerned about, though, is how these messages from influencers with such a wide online <\/strong>reach could inspire lone actors to inflict violence.\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re now being told that the same people who tried to steal this country away from you just killed Charlie Kirk,\u201d Lewis said, \u201cand someone has to do something about that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re now being told that the same people who tried to steal this country away from you just killed Charlie Kirk, and someone has to do something about that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n There\u2019s also concern that the Trump administration may use the insurrectionists\u2019 sense of grievance to, as Burghart put it, \u201cfurther [their] authoritarian plans.\u201d After all, Attorney General Pam Bondi already fired<\/a> multiple prosecutors who pursued cases against the insurrectionists, and both FBI Director Kash Patel<\/a> and Deputy Director Dan Bongino<\/a> have promoted conspiracy theories about the attack.<\/p>\n In an address to the nation Wednesday night, President Trump explicitly blamed<\/a> his political opponents for Kirk\u2019s death: \u201cFor years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world\u2019s worst mass murderers and criminals,\u201d he said. \u201cThis kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we\u2019re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.\u201d<\/p>\n “For years those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murders and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country and it must stop right now.” pic.twitter.com\/q25tSplWQW<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 CSPAN (@cspan) September 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rennie Short sees Trump\u2019s baseless politicization of the tragedy as serving to distract from some of his own troubling political failures<\/a>. \u201cIt takes attention away from the Epstein files<\/a>,\u201d he said, \u201cfrom Israel bombing allies<\/a>, or Putin continuing to savagely attack Ukraine<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless, this messaging from the insurrectionists and echoed by the highest officials in government could still have serious consequences. \u201cEspecially for people who already assaulted law enforcement on January 6 and were pardoned,\u201d Lewis said, \u201cthere is certainly going to be an expectation that, if they answer the call again, they could have the same outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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