Rep. Clay Higgins, the deeply problematic Louisiana Republican, threatened to have anyone who he says "belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk" banned from social media platforms.
"If they ran their mouth with their smartass hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man who dedicated his whole life to delivering respectful conservative truth into the hearts of liberal enclave universities, armed only with a Bible and a microphone and a Constitution… those profiles must come down," Higgins wrote in a post on X of Kirk, who was gunned down on Wednesday at a college event in Utah. "So, I’m going to lean forward in this fight, demanding that big tech have zero tolerance for violent political hate content, the user to be banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER."
“Sorry, Charlie” by Clay Jones
Of course, it is in bad taste to joke about someone who was killed. But that is by no means illegal conduct. It’s also a wild move from a guy who purports to be a supporter of free speech.
Indeed, Higgins co-sponsored the “Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act” in 2023, which sought to ban “federal employees from censoring the speech of others while acting in an official capacity.” Banning people from social media for making posts you don’t like sure sounds like censorship to me.
What’s more, if Higgins wants people who make gross social media posts banned from platforms, he would no longer have social media accounts himself.
Back in 2020, Higgins threatened to shoot Black protesters, writing in a Facebook post alongside an image of armed Black men, “One way ticket fellas…Have your affairs in order…I’d drop any 10 of you where you stand.”
"Nothing personal. We just eliminate the threat. We don't care what color you are. ... If you show up like this ... you won't walk away," Higgins’ post, which was removed from Facebook for violating its policies around inciting violence, said.
And when former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was nearly bludgeoned to death in his own home in 2022, Higgins made another sick joke on social media about the attack. Higgins deleted that disgusting post on his own.
Higgins isn’t the only Republican who has made detestable social media posts about assassinations.
In June, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) sent a vile X post mocking the assassinations of former Minnesota state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as the attempted murder of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman.
Lee tweeted a security footage image of the alleged assassin, who was dressed in a mask, along with the text “Nightmare on Waltz Street."
Lee later deleted the posts after he was confronted by Democratic lawmakers.
