Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) acknowledged that there are “corners of the web” where the more “inflammatory” comments made by the late political activist Charlie Kirk are making the rounds.
“Charlie said some very inflammatory things, and in some corners of the web, that‘s all people have heard,” Cox said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “But he also said some other things, about forgiveness.”
Cox may have been referring to Kirk’s defense of the Second Amendment. Kirk advocated the right to own guns in the aftermath of mass shooting events.
“I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational,” Kirk once said.
Kirk was also critical of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. When a report claimed that Kirk described King as “a bad guy” and that the Civil Rights Act was a mistake, Kirk said last year on the Charlie Kirk Show that the claims were true. During the same episode, Kirk read aloud a request for comment from a reporter.
“‘As we note in the piece, Kirk has previously described [King] as a hero and a civil rights icon,’” Kirk read, then added, “It’s true. I used to be wrong.”
Cox went on to defend the more “amazing” comments Kirk made in his lifetime.
“[Kirk] said some amazing things about when things get dark, putting down our phones, reading scripture, going to church, talking to our neighbors. He said that we have to engage,” Cox said. “And that‘s what I appreciate most about Charlie Kirk is that if we don‘t, if we don‘t keep talking, that‘s when the violence starts.”
The Utah governor also appeared on NBC News’s Meet the Press to reveal that President Donald Trump wants to clamp down on violent retaliation.
DEMOCRATS MUM ON GUN CONTROL BUT CONDEMN POLITICAL VIOLENCE AFTER CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION
“I don’t do much national press anymore. The White House asked us to come on and talk about this because they are worried about the escalation that’s happening out there,” Cox said.
Trump has been careful to discourage violence and promised to “find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity.”