THIS Is A Witch Hunt -- Digby

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2025/11/19/this-is-a-witch-hunt/

My God, this is horrible:

When Lauren Vaughn, a kindergarten assistant in South Carolina, saw reports that right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk had been shot at an event in Utah, she opened Facebook and typed out a quote from Kirk himself.

Gun deaths, Kirk said in 2023, were unfortunate but “worth it” if they preserved “the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given Rights.” Following the quote, Vaughn added: “Thoughts and prayers.”

Vaughn, a 37-year-old Christian who has taken missionary trips to Guatemala, said her call for prayer was sincere. She said she hoped reading Kirk’s words in the context of the shooting might prompt her friendsto rethink their opposition to gun control.

“Maybe now they’ll listen,” she recalled thinking.



A few days later, Vaughn lost her job. She was one of more than 600 Americans fired, suspended, placed under investigation or disciplined by employers for comments about Kirk’s September 10 assassination, according to a Reuters review of court records, public statements, local media reports and interviews with two dozen people who were fired or otherwise disciplined.

Meanwhile, Trump is defending the free speech of Hitler defender Tucker Carlson and Nazi, Nick Fuentes telling Axios, “you can’t tell him [Carlson] who to interview…if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out. Let him, you know, people have to decide.” Gotta let the wingnuts say what they wanna say. They have a first amendment.

But they managed to get at least 600 ordinary people’s lives upended for saying something they deemed to be disrespectful toward a political activist who was murdered. I’m sure that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

We still have free speech in this country, never fear. For right wingers. Everyone else had better watch what they say.