WSJ (“Workers Are Getting Fired Over Posts Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Death“):
Workers across the country who’ve mocked Charlie Kirk’s death online have quickly learned their words can get them fired.
From American Airlines to Nasdaq—and in workplaces that include restaurants, schools and law firms—employers have ousted or suspended staff in recent days for gloating, deriding or making otherwise contentious posts about the conservative activist’s killing. Many are getting flagged to the posts by online activists who’ve collected the names of commenters. Some prominent conservatives have joined the call, too.
“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out—and, hell, call their employer,” said Vice President JD Vance as he guest-hosted the late Kirk’s podcast Monday.
The swift response from companies underscores their eagerness to distance themselves from political commentary that risks blowing back on their reputations with consumers—or the Trump administration. Business leaders have become less accommodating in recent years to their workers’ personal views on matters including the war on Gaza, immigration and transgender rights.
The outcry over employees’ comments on Kirk, though, has posed a new challenge for employers, executives say.
“This is very different,” said Vanessa Matsis-McCready, associate general counsel and vice president of HR services for Engage PEO, which handles workplace functions for small and medium businesses. “I really don’t feel like there was a time when you could have an individual make a statement on their personal social media and have their employer receive thousands of phone calls.”
Employers including Washington law firm Perkins Coie, the Carolina Panthers and others have said they fired employees who made comments or posted online in ways that didn’t match their values. The Secret Service put an agent on immediate leave for a Facebook post that mentioned “karma.” ODP Corporation, the parent company of Office Depot, said it fired workers after a video appeared to show an employee refusing to print a poster for a Kirk vigil.
Private businesses are, in most cases, free to fire people for just about any reason or no reason at all. Certainly, drawing negative attention in a way that creates backlash among potential customers is not likely to sit well.
Some of these cases are easier than others. A low-level employee doesn’t have the right to refuse to do their job based on their political beliefs. But it’s troubling when low-level employees are fired over social media posts that don’t implicate their company. Especially when it’s a result of partisan lynch mobs actively doxxing them.
More obviously, it’s highly problematic for the Vice President to be leading the lynch mob. And more concerning still when the Attorney General is threatening the use of state power against these individuals.
Mediaite (“Pam Bondi Threatens Charges Over Office Depot Employee Who Refused To Print Charlie Kirk Flyers: ‘We Can Prosecute You’“):
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice is considering bringing charges after a now-fired Office Depot employee refused to print flyers advertising a vigil for Charlie Kirk.
“We’re looking at that,” she said on Fox News on Monday night.
[…]
Bondi appeared on Hannity, where Sean Hannity asked about the limits of freedom of speech. In her response, Bondi cited the case of an Office Depot employee in Michigan, who, in a viral video, refused a customer’s request to print flyers for the vigil. Office Depot issued a statement on Friday saying that “the associate involved is no longer with the organization.”
The attorney general said that the employee’s actions may constitute a prosecutable offense:
I think yesterday or today, Sean, a school board member right here in Virginia had to resign because she said horrible things about Charlie Kirk and that he deserved to die. That’s horrific. It’s free speech, but you shouldn’t be employed anywhere if you’re gonna say that.
And employers, you, have to have an obligation to get rid of people. You need to look at people who are saying horrible things. And they shouldn’t be working with you. Businesses cannot discriminate. If you wanna go in and print posters with Charlie’s pictures on them for a vigil, you have to let them do that. We can prosecute you for that. I have Harmeet Dhillon right now in our civil rights unit looking at that immediately, that Office Depot had done that. We’re looking it up.
It is unclear if Bondi was talking about charges against Office Depot, the former employee, or both.
There is no civil right to print a poster. It’s just asinine.
Regardless, it’s clearly not a one-off.
WSJ (“Trump Advisers Prepare to Target Left-Leaning Groups After Kirk Shooting“):
The White House is moving swiftly to galvanize the outpouring of support for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk into political momentum, as President Trump’s advisers weigh a slate of executive actions targeting liberal organizations.
Among the actions being discussed by the president’s team: reviewing the tax-exempt status of left-leaning nonprofit groups and targeting them with anticorruption laws, according to administration officials. The president could begin rolling out the actions as soon as this week, officials said, part of a bid to harness support for Kirk, particularly among young voters, ahead of the midterm elections.
Officials across the administration are working to identify groups suspected of targeting conservatives or causes conservatives support. That could include looking at attacks on Tesla showrooms earlier this year, as well as people who have retaliated against law enforcement carrying out Trump’s deportation campaign, the officials said, adding that perpetrators could be categorized as domestic terrorists.
The White House also plans to highlight what it sees as violent rhetoric from opponents, amplifying a law-and-order focus that has for weeks been a centerpiece of Trump’s political messaging.
It’s hard to see this as other than an abuse of power.
