Vance plays radio host as the right milks Charlie Kirk killing
Vice President JD Vance spent Monday hosting Charlie Kirk’s radio show, using his power to continue whitewashing the deceased conservative pundit’s record while leveling threats at President Donald Trump’s political opponents.
The White House promoted the radio appearance, hyping it up on official government-funded social media accounts. The White House’s official rapid response account live-tweeted throughout the show, which was broadcast from the White House.
“Every single person in this building, we owe something to Charlie,” Vance said, hailing a man who once described Martin Luther King Jr. as a “myth,” “awful,” and “not a good person.”
As part of his radio show hosting duties, Vance invited several White House staffers to appear on the program with him. For instance, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich hailed the work of Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA, which is notorious for hiring white supremacists.
Senior Trump aide Stephen Miller also appeared and revealed the administration’s plans to use Kirk’s death to attack the left.
“We are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen and we will do it in Charlie's name,” Miller said in reference to progressive groups who have told the truth about Kirk, the right, and the Republican Party.
Hosting a political talk show while holding office as a sitting vice president is strange. Constitutionally the job of vice president is to preside over the Senate, including casting tiebreaking votes as former Vice President Kamala Harris frequently did. Instead, Vance led the show for over two hours, culminating in a thunderous condemnation of the left, falsely asserting that the bulk of political violence and threats comes from the left.
“While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-Left,” Vance said.
Vance also threatened to use the power of the government to go after the nonprofit Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundation for purportedly financing The Nation. Vance falsely alleged that an article in the magazine justified Kirk’s death. The article, by writer Elizabeth Spiers, detailed the vile, bigoted things that Kirk said but did not endorse his murder.
Following the Vance broadcast, Spiers wrote, “Glad the vice president of the United States, whose salary my taxes fund, is using his position to *checks notes* attack me on the Charlie Kirk show.”
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Vance is currently vice president because Trump’s last running mate was the target of death threats after Trump incited a riot at the U.S. Capitol—an invasion that Kirk supported. When Vance, Trump, and others in the administration bring up the weaponization of political rhetoric, they are speaking of themselves and figures like Kirk.
Vance is better known for constantly being on vacation as part of his duties as vice president. Now, he appears to believe the job also entails hosting radio shows in a time slot previously reserved for a bigot.