On Monday afternoon, five days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a university in Utah, US vice-president JD Vance presented an episode of the podcast that made the rightwing activist famous.
Broadcasting The Charlie Kirk Show from his office, Vance delivered a blistering attack on the leftwing groups he claims are organising violent opposition to the Trump administration. “We’re going to go after the NGO network that foments, facilitates and engages in violence,” he said.
The motivations of the man accused of killing Kirk are still being analysed, and prosecutors have suggested that he was acting alone. However, that has not stopped senior figures in the administration from using the killing to demonise opponents on the left.