Dick Durbin Has an Important Message for His Party After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., gave one concrete piece of advice for members of his party who truly seek to mend America’s divisions and turn down the temperature after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

Kate Bolduan, a host of “CNN News Central,” noted on Tuesday that many Americans are engaging in “finger-pointing” about whose rhetoric may be responsible for Kirk’s death. She asked Durbin about how America can “try to make this moment—a tragic moment—of positive change, through a lot of people calling [for] bringing the temperature down.”

“Just looking inward rather than outward going forward, do you think Democrats, if you believe that Republicans have done this, do you think Democrats have also gone too far in some of their rhetoric in demonizing the other side?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Durbin, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, responded.

“I mean, this notion that we’re going to characterize MAGA as Nazis, for example. On the other side, the Republicans would characterize the Democrats as the party of murder or evil—I mean, the outrage is coming from both sides and is unacceptable in both instances,” he responded. (MAGA refers to the “Make America Great Again” movement behind President Donald Trump.)

“So yes, both sides can learn a lesson here, and the loss of Mr. Kirk is a good reason to do it,” Durbin added.

In his opening remarks at a Senate hearing Tuesday, Durbin attacked FBI Director Kash Patel for previously calling Democrats evil.

“Let’s be clear: Republicans are not Nazis and Democrats are not ‘evil,’ as Mr. Patel has claimed,” Durbin said. “Democrats are not responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk, as Republicans were not responsible for the murder of [Minnesota Democrat state Rep.] Melissa Hortman. Our political opponents are not our enemies. We are all Americans. And we should be working together to keep the American people safe and protect their constitutional rights.”

Calling MAGA Nazis

Democrats and left-leaning media figures have repeatedly compared Trump to Adolf Hitler and his supporters to members of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Party.

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign compared Trump to Hitler in a post on X.

In June 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., accused Trump’s first administration of running “concentration camps” along the U.S.-Mexico border. She used the term “never again,” suggesting a comparison between migrant detention facilities and the Holocaust.

She defended her use of that language, saying, “I don’t use those words lightly. … A presidency that creates concentration camps is fascist and it’s very difficult to say that.”

Earlier this year, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, compared the Trump administration to the Nazis, saying the administration uses a similar “authoritarian playbook.” Pritzker recently said, “I have never called Republicans ‘Nazis.’”

A Michigan Democratic Party county chairman called Trump’s second inauguration in January a “Nazi rally.” When asked about Trump’s supporters, Bill Swift said, “You support and uphold the president and the GOP party that openly put Nazism on display and cheered that Nazism at the heart and center of our republic. You have made your stand. You stand with Nazis. We don’t owe you respect.”

Then-CNN host Don Lemon compared Trump supporters to both Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan in 2021. In December 2023, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow compared Trump to both Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

‘The Party of Murder’

Following Kirk’s assassination, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated Sunday, “The Left is the party of murder.”

“You see how much violence there’s on the Left, with our friend Charlie Kirk getting murdered in cold blood this week, and people on the Left celebrating it openly,” he said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called the Democratic Party “flat out evil” following the assassination attempt against then-former President Trump.

“We are in a battle between GOOD and EVIL,” she posted in July 2024. “The Democrats are the party of pedophiles, murdering the innocent unborn, violence, and bloody, meaningless, wars.”

Republicans in Connecticut are demanding the resignation of Fairfield Town Committee Representative Melissa Longo after she called Democrats “faithless, God hating evil, vile people.” Longo refused to resign, accusing her fellow Republicans of “cowardice” and hypocrisy.

Durbin’s Past Comparison to Nazis

In 2005, Durbin apologized after comparing American interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to Nazis.

Durbin announced in April that he will not be running for reelection.

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