It’s clear that Donald Trump would much rather we talk about political violence today than his quickly failing economic policies or his 15-year close personal friendship with notorious pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. So we do him the favor of discussing both at the top of today’s BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
From there, it’s on to our central story. On yesterday’s show, we covered the news of the killing of rightwing activist and longtime Trump ally Charlie Kirk, as reports of his death were just breaking. Today, as the manhunt continues for his seemingly well-prepared killer, we’ve got more details on both the shooting and the investigation and, with 24 hours of perspective, well-considered analysis of what all of this may mean for the nation as we move ahead.
There is still no known motive for the uncaptured and still-unknown shooter. Yet, a huge portion of the MAGA Right — from wingnut social media trolls to wingnut billionaires to wingnut elected officials, including the President of the United States — are, in some cases literally, declaring “WAR” on “the radical left Democrats”.
Trump took to the airwaves last night after the murder, conspicuously covering up his right hand in a pre-recorded Oval Office tantrum, in which he condemned political “violence and murder” by “the radical left” as the “tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree, day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible.” (Hmmm…Can we think of anybody else who might have demonized those with whom they disagree, day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible?)
“My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges and law enforcement officials,” vowed the President who has said the most despicable things about federal judges and pardoned — on his first day in office — more than a thousand of his own supporters for their political violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, where hundreds of them literally and physically attacked law enforcement officials.
Trump also failed to mention the violent attacks on elected officials in his four-minute revenge screed, like the ones against the Speaker of House in Minnesota, Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated along with her husband in the middle of the night in their own home less than three months ago by a far-right MAGA dude. The same man also gunned down MN State Senator John Hoffman and his wife in their home that same night, as part of a planned string of attacks against dozens of Democratic elected officials.
Let’s also not forget Trump’s repeated hilarious jokes over the years about the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, whose skull was bashed in with a hammer by a guy hunting down Nancy Pelosi. Trump, his sons, and his supporters, have issued jokes about that violent attack for years. Just as Utah’s Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee did on social media earlier this Summer to make light of the shootings at the homes of Hortman and Hoffman in Minnesota.
But now, things are different, apparently. While political violence against Democrats doesn’t seem to count, with Kirk dead there will be consequences and retribution. “THIS IS WAR,” declared the Trumpers on Twitter. “The Democrat Party must be classified as a domestic terror organization and their members and leaders treated accordingly,” warned a bunch of them.
“The Left is the party of murder,” pronounced Elon Musk, the man with the most Twitter followers in the world. “If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is fight or die,” he tweeted, joining Trump and the others in trying to increase the blood lust, rather than working to cool it down.
At the same time, Democrats — as they did when their own were attacked — have been calling for an end to the growing epidemic of political violence and gun violence in this nation. We call for the same.
Among those whose comments or writings over past 24 hours are cited, either positively or negatively, on today’s program…
- Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT)
- Donald Trump
- Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)
- Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ)
- Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL)
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
- Heather Digby Parton
- Josh Marshall
Finally, as Trump and his duplicitous Administration are now, officially, taking credit for U.S. infrastructure improvements made under Joe Biden‘s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report where, whaddaya know? While Trump is working hard to kill the U.S. wind and solar energy industries on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, the rest of the world is quickly moving to clean, cheap, renewable energy. And China, not the U.S., is making a mint off of it…
When shocking news about how soon civilization might collapse is overshadowed by Taylor Swift’s engagement, we might have a problem (Link).
Not that it’s any big deal, with all the big news of this week, but, uh, they discovered there was probably life on Mars.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/...ls-rock-sample
Epstein WHO?
Not to mention (It is Sooo Newsy).