Charlie Kirk warned his followers to be wary of "assassination culture" among the left months before his own assassination on the campus of Utah Valley University. (Getty Images)
"Political violence, in fact, is political cowardice. It means that you cannot convince people of the correctness of your ideas, and you have to impose them through force," Sanders said. "Every American, no matter what one's political point-of-view may be, must condemn all forms of political violence and all forms of intimidation. We must welcome and respect dissenting points of view. That's what our Constitution is about, that's what our Bill of Rights is about, that, in fact, is what freedom is about."
"The murder of Charlie Kirk is part of a disturbing rise in political violence that threatens to hollow out public life and make people afraid of participating," Sanders continued.
Memorials honoring Charlie Kirk have been held across the country and overseas, including in Berlin. Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025. ( Ilkin Eskipehlivan /Anadolu via Getty Images)
In a foreboding post on social media in April, Kirk himself warned about the "assassination culture" spreading on the left.
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"Assassination culture is spreading on the left. Forty-eight percent of liberals say it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk. Fifty-five percent said the same about Donald Trump," Kirk wrote in his post on X, which cited data from a study completed by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI).
"The left is being whipped into a violent frenzy. Any setback, whether losing an election or losing a court case, justifies a maximally violent response," he said.
Fox News Digital's Alex Miller and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bernie-sanders-condemns-disturbing-rise-political-violence-after-charlie-kirks-assassination