Washington Examiner Investigative Editor Sarah Bedford said conversations about today’s political climate should focus on radicalization, not polarization, following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Bedford argued on NewsNation’s Balance that political division isn’t a new problem in the United States. She said the nation has been divided for decades.
“We’ve been extremely divided for decades,” Bedford said. “What this really is a conversation about is radicalization, not polarization, and radicalization is happening increasingly on the Left.”
Since Kirk was shot and killed last week at an event at Utah Valley University, discussions about political violence and division have been dominating national conversations.
Some House Republicans blamed Democrats last week for Kirk’s assassination, including Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), who also accused the media of being “complicit.”
“You are responsible for this, because you are echoing the horrifically horrible political violent rhetoric that’s being produced by the Democratic Party,” Van Orden said.
Bedford said Democrats have created a “rhetorical permission structure” for radicalization by “aggressively demonizing” their Republican opponents.
“That’s the conversation that needs to be had openly and honestly in Washington,” she said. “And this pressure on Donald Trump to be a symbol of unity at a time when this is a conversation about radicalization is, I think, disingenuous.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday said her office will “absolutely target” people who “target anyone with hate speech.”
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi said on the Katie Miller Podcast.
Bondi stood firm on these comments on Tuesday after receiving bipartisan backlash.
“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime. For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over,” Bondi said on X.