GOP senator knows just who to blame for Charlie Kirk killing

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in 2024.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa blamed the amorphous “left” for the shooting death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. She claimed that lefties resort to violence when they cannot win political arguments.

"It has gone way too far,” Ernst said. “Political violence is never the answer. It is never the solution. And what we are finding is that when you do have those strong conservative voices speaking truth to power, you will find that when the left can no longer debate it, they can't deny the truth. The only way they can silence those voices is through violence.”

Mere months ago, Ernst glibly told constituents concerned about the Trump administration's gutting of federal health spending that “we all are going to die,” and she delivered Thursday’s accusation with the same casual indifference. She will not run for reelection next year.

Her latest remarks echo the evidence-free rhetoric pushed by President Donald Trump and the rest of the right-wing-o-sphere since Kirk’s murder on a Utah college campus on Wednesday. As of the writing of this story, no suspect has been named.