Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson ripped into President Donald Trump on Wednesday, accusing his administration of using Charlie Kirk‘s death as an excuse to attack the First Amendment rights of Americans.
Speaking on his podcast, the influential conservative worried that the administration would enact strict laws around speech in the wake of Kirk’s shooting. He said that a country with curtailed speech rights is “the opposite of the one [Kirk] worked to build.”
“You hope that a year from now, the turmoil we’re seeing in the aftermath of his murder won’t be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country,” Carlson said. “If that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience, there never will be.”
Carlson called out Attorney General Pam Bondi by name after the nation’s top prosecutor said she would “target” people who participate in “hate speech.”
“If they can tell you what to say, they’re telling you what to think, then there is nothing they can’t do to you,” Carlson said. “They don’t consider you human, they don’t believe you have a soul. A human being with a soul, a free man, has the right to say what he believes.”
Carlson’s warnings come on the heels of Jimmy Kimmel being pulled from the air by ABC. The late-night host implied the gunman who killed Kirk was a supporter of Trump and faced a revolt of ABC affiliate networks. The show was suspended “indefinitely” after FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to “take action” against the network.
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about “justice” for Charlie Kirk