Charlie Kirk fiercely fought for unfettered free speech. The conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA was a leading voice of his generation because he was an indefatigable defender of the First Amendment. Kirk used words as weapons, and he used them well. He believed ideas, particularly foundational ideas, could and should be defended on the battlefield of vigorous debate.
The left has spent a lot of time and money trying to silence Charlie Kirk and the untold numbers of college students he inspired to stand up and speak out. On Wednesday, an assassin’s bullet cut short the life of Kirk as he, fittingly, greeted students on a Utah college campus and expressed his opinions during the first stop of “The American Comeback Tour.” He was 31.
Conservative speech has been under constant assault in the 21st century, especially so in the Trump era. Democrats and their allies in the deep state have stopped at nothing to stop President Donald Trump — from unconstitutionally attempting to keep the Republican off the ballot to indicting him and prosecuting him on trumped-up charges.
And last summer, would-be assassins tried to silence Trump for good. At a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, a shooter came within a fraction of an inch of ending the president’s life. The killer fatally shot a Trump supporter and seriously injured two others at the rally before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
The left’s silencing treatment has hit average Americans, too. Backers of the MAGA movement have been targeted for daring to speak out in support of Trump, as a lawsuit heading to oral arguments next week underscores.
Intimidation, Threats, and Coercion
The federal case is Butwin Jr. and Schmidt v. John Doe 1 and John Doe 2. Oral arguments are scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the U.S. District Court EDPA in Philadelphia. Two Pennsylvania Trump voters are seeking an injunction against individuals they allege anonymously threatened them for putting up pro-Trump signs in their yards in advance of last year’s presidential election.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue the threats amount to voter intimidation under the Voting Rights Act and the the Ku Klux Klan Act.
“Unless enjoined by this Court, Defendants, and those acting in concert with them, will continue to violate Section 11(b) of the VRA, by continuing to attempt to intimidate, threaten, and/or coerce voters and potential voters both in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States,” the complaint alleges.
The problem is, the identities of the menacers remain unknown, in no small part thanks to the failure of local police and the U.S. Postal Service to investigate or communicate their findings, according to the court filings. So the two plaintiffs, represented by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), are asking the court to allow third-party discovery to learn from authorities what they know.
“Trump supporters in Pennsylvania were threatened — and state officials made no arrests,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams in a press release. “If the targets had been Democrats, there’d be arrests by now. This double standard is unacceptable.”
The threats are particularly menacing, according to the complaint.
‘We Know Where You Live’
Robert Butwin Jr. and Janet Schmidt, both registered voters residing in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said they opened their mailboxes in October 2024 to find envelopes with their addresses written in “shaky, block lettering,” the complaint states. The envelopes contained typewritten letters threatening violence and dire consequences for their open support of Donald Trump.
“But more importantly, we know where you live, you are in the data base,” the letters warned. “In the dead of a cold winters [sic] night, this year, or next and beyond, there is no knowing what may happen. Your property, your family may be impacted, your cat may get shot. And more.”
The letters included a “reminder,” according to the complaint.
“[V]isible support comes with a price and at a cost. There will be consequences,” the mailings sinisterly advise.
“You tread on me at your peril, motherf- – – – -,” the letter threatens.
The full letter is an unhinged screed about Trump, including many of the Democratic Party’s heated talking point accusations, that the president hates minorities, immigrants, women, among them Taylor Swift, and “the rights of women to make decisions over their own healthcare needs.”
“Spend some time with your rabbi or pastor or what ever [sic] religion you follow and dig into the meaning of morality and reconcile the hate with your maker,” the letter, included in the complaint, scolds. “Question your commitment to a cult. He is the biggest threat to the country … Your vote for this guy is seen as treading on my rights.”
Ku Klux Klan Act
The complaint points to the Voting Rights Act, which states that “No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote…” Doing so is a federal offense.
PILF argues that the wording of the letters suggest that multiple authors were involved, making the acts a violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. The post-Civil War law makes it a federal offense for two or more people to “conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner, toward or in favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person as an elector for President or Vice President, or as a Member of Congress of the United States …”
The complaint notes that several other Pennsylvania Trump supporters received similar letters. News reports at the time noted voters in Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery counties in the Philadelphia suburbs were “getting tricks rather than treats in their mailboxes: threatening letters telling them not to vote for the former president.” The Delaware Valley Journal reported that the perpetrators could face up to seven years in prison, a $15,000 fine, or both.
‘Targeted Campaign of Death Threats’
As the complaint notes, the threatening letters arrived after the assassination attempt on Trump’s life in Pennsylvania.
Adams, of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, said his firm shouldn’t have to do the work of Pennsylvania State Police or the Post Office Inspector service to identify the sources of anonymous intimidation.
“There should be far more concern and action about the targeted campaign of death threats against Trump supporters in Pennsylvania,” he said in a statement Wednesday evening to The Federalist. “Political violence is something from other countries and other times, not America.”
As the assassination of First Amendment defender Charlie Kirk reminds us, political violence has become all-too routine in modern-day America.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
