The Atlantic staff writer David Frum joined PBS’s Amanpour and Company guest host Bianna Golodryga on Monday to react to the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk and used the opportunity to relight the Doomsday beacons that signify democracy itself is under threat from a president who would seek to mess with the 2026 midterm elections.
During his conversation with Golodryga, Frum claimed, “What I am concerned about is the president and his supporters are making it clear they intend to go after not violent extremists, but simply people who are fundraising to defeat them in elections. The great question that has been haunting America before this assassination is, will the president allow the 2026 midterm elections to be free and fair? Will he try to gerrymander? Will he try to use the power of government to stop his opponents from fundraising? Will he try to use his new asserted powers to detain people without due process against people who are campaigning against him?”
By “haunting America,” Frum really just meant haunting PBS, CNN (Amanpour originally airs on CNN International), or The Atlantic.
Frum added that, “Those are the issues that you have to worry about. It’s not about violent extremism today. Today what we’re worried about is, will we have free and fair elections? And as Stephen Miller indicated, as the president said in his nationally televised address, that’s the target they’re after.”
Here’s a quote from Miller himself, rather than a Frumian interpretation, “The organized doxing campaigns, the organized riots, the organized street violence, the organized campaigns of dehumanization, vilification, posting people’s addresses, combining that with messaging that is designed to trigger [or] incite violence and the actual organized cells that carry out and facilitate the violence.”
As it was, Golodryga wondered, “How does Kirk’s assassination directly, in your view, play a role in this plan that you’re concerned about, that you say is growing increasingly obvious from the rhetoric from the president and his advisers?”
Frum responded by trying to split Trump from Kirk and his fans by claiming the former will use the latter for his authoritarian purposes:
Look, after a terrible crime in the internet age, you will find any number of people or bots on the internet saying things that are reprehensible, stupid, provocative, unfeeling. And people who experience the world through online life will see those reprehensible statements and will have natural reactions. Of course, you get—if you liked and admired Charlie Kirk, you will be hurt by someone who makes light of the terrible murder. And your—that feeling of hurt is a powerful resource for a president who is afraid he’s going to lose the 2026 elections if they’re free and fair, and who has been looking from the beginning for ways to make sure those elections are not free and fair. So, the emotions of Charlie Kirk supporters are a resource that President Trump and Stephen Miller and those around them are hoping to use, not against criminals, but just against people who want to vote a different way.
After Kirk’s murder there was a great deal of discussion about turning down the temperature and dialing down the rhetoric. That’s all well and good, but just because PBS speaks with more hushed tones than other networks does not mean the substance of their rhetoric has changed. The 2026 midterms will happen, and they will be fair. The question is will PBS and The Atlantic accept that if they lose?
Here is a transcript for the September 15 show:
PBS Amanpour and Company
9/15/2025
DAVUD FRUM: What I am concerned about is the president and his supporters are making it clear they intend to go after not violent extremists, but simply people who are fundraising to defeat them in elections. The great question that has been haunting America before this assassination is, will the president allow the 2026 midterm elections to be free and fair? Will he try to gerrymander? Will he try to use the power of government to stop his opponents from fundraising? Will he try to use his new asserted powers to detain people without due process against people who are campaigning against him? Those are the issues that you have to worry about. It’s not about violent extremism today. Today what we’re worried about is, will we have free and fair elections? And as Stephen Miller indicated, as the president said in his nationally televised address, that’s the target they’re after.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: How does Kirk’s assassination directly, in your view, play a role in this plan that you’re concerned about, that you say is growing increasingly obvious from the rhetoric from the president and his advisers?
FRUM: Look, after a terrible crime in the internet age, you will find any number of people or bots on the internet saying things that are reprehensible, stupid, provocative, unfeeling. And people who experience the world through online life will see those reprehensible statements and will have natural reactions.
Of course, you get — if you liked and admired Charlie Kirk, you will be hurt by someone who makes light of the terrible murder. And your — that feeling of hurt is a powerful resource for a president who is afraid he’s going to lose the 2026 elections if they’re free and fair, and who has been looking from the beginning for ways to make sure those elections are not free and fair.
So, the emotions of Charlie Kirk supporters are a resource that President Trump and Stephen Miller and those around them are hoping to use, not against criminals, but just against people who want to vote a different way.
