The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk brought deep sorrow to his millions of followers, as well as rage from some on the Republican right.
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat, said he has been the target of some of the anger after he called on his Republican colleagues, including President Trump, to join Democrats in condemning political violence on both sides of the political spectrum.
Moulton says those comments led to death threats against him and his family, and that his daughters’ school called him to say other parents were worried about their children’s safety.
“The fellow parents are concerned that there could be some violence at their school,” Moulton said in an interview with Here & Now‘s Robin Young. “I mean, this is the worst part, just thinking about my two little girls, just like people are rightfully talking about Charlie Kirk’s kids growing up without a dad. But the fact that even fellow parents at their school are worried about their kids’ safety just because they’re going to school with my kids, that just shows how vicious this is.”
5 questions with Rep. Seth Moulton
You told the Boston Globe that Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill have offered support, but that you haven’t heard from any Republicans. Is that still true?
“I heard from one Republican [Thursday], actually, the first time. I shared what was said, and he said it was awful. But the point is that a lot of Republicans, not all, are politicizing this rather than truly trying to come together and saying this is not democracy. You don’t kill people for their ideas.”
Republicans are getting threats. Have you reached out to Republicans going through the same thing, but the threats are coming from the left? South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace says her office has been inundated.
“Look, I’ve been very strongly denouncing any violence from the left. And that’s the point: There’s a degree to which we need to police our own here. And we should all together say none of this is acceptable. What Nancy Mace did is blame Democrats. We’ve heard Republicans ask for retribution.
“Even that doesn’t deserve death threats, but I just said that we all need to denounce this violence, including the President of the United States. He ought to follow in the footsteps of Speaker Johnson, the speaker of the House on the Hill, who has said in a very measured way, ‘This has got to stop.'”
Do you see any irony that you’re being attacked by people in the Make America Great Again movement, not even a year after you were attacked by the left for questions you had about transgender athletes?
“This is a problem on both sides. The Republican Party, who’s out there banning books, and Democrats who just try to say, ‘You’re not even allowed to have these opinions.’ You know, ‘If you don’t meet this litmus test, then you’re not a real Democrat.’
“But we can also be honest about the sources of this violence. The Department of Justice just erased from their website a study that had been posted up until last week that said in very clear terms, the violence is more of an issue on the right than the left. That’s not what you’re hearing from Republicans at all. They’re just saying this is a problem solely on the left. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.
“And part of why I decided to share some of the voicemails that my office has received is to point out that this is a pervasive problem in America.”
You’re citing a 2023 study from the Anti-Defamation League that showed far-right extremists are responsible for 76% of extremist killings. Left-wing extremists are responsible for about 4%.
“And I’ll be the first, Robin, I will be the first to denounce that 4%, but we need to hear from Republicans that MAGA violence is unacceptable as well.”
I just want to ask you about this moment on the hill. Something seems to have changed.
“It’s very bad, but listen, when someone’s pouring gasoline on a fire, it’s not playing the blame game to tell them to stop, and we especially need to call for it to stop on our own side.
“I think it’s my public duty to talk about it. I really do.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Robin Young produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Michael Scotto. Scotto also produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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