From Friday, Sept 12, 2025:
‘Civil War’ Mentions Surge Online After Kirk Assassination
The term has increasingly been invoked on social media after major political moments, highlighting divisions among Americans.
Mentions of “civil war” on X
Data includes posts, reposts and replies from July 1, 2025, to 7:45 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 11, 2025.Source: Tweet Binder by AudienseBy The New York Times
Sheera FrenkelStuart A. Thompson
By Sheera Frenkel and Stuart A. Thompson
Sept. 12, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET
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Minutes after the shooting of the right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk in Utah on Wednesday, calls for civil war began appearing online.
The term “civil war” was mentioned on Wednesday more than 129,000 times on the social platform X, according to an analysis by The New York Times. On Thursday, it was mentioned at least 210,000 times. That was up from a daily average of around 18,000 in previous months. Many of the posts that included the phrase were reposted on other platforms, including Truth Social, TikTok and Instagram.
The talk of civil war came largely from Republican lawmakers, right-wing media personalities and conservative podcasters, according to a review by The Times. Some questioned whether America was already engaged in a civil war over its values, while others called for violence after Mr. Kirk’s death.
Among those who used the phrase were Alex Jones, the creator of Infowars, a right-wing media platform; Chaya Raichik, who is behind the prominent LibsofTikTok social media account, which frequently attacks the L.G.B.T.Q. community; and Andrew Tate, the right-wing influencer known for his misogynistic views.
“Civil war,” Mr. Tate wrote in a two-word post on X after Mr. Kirk was shot. It has been viewed more than 16 million times.
The surging use of the term highlights the divisions among Americans and continues a familiar pattern of inflammatory language. In recent years, civil war has been increasingly mentioned on social media after major political moments in the United States, especially those that involve President Trump, according to a Times analysis of data from Tweet Binder by Audiense, a social media analytics company.
Rising “Civil War” Rhetoric
Online conversation about “civil war” in America took off after several recent political moments, including the F.B.I.’s raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022, the assassination attempt against him in 2024 and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Two-day total mentions on X
Data includes posts, reposts and replies from July 1, 2025, to 7:45 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 11, 2025.Source: Tweet Binder by AudienseBy The New York Times
After a 2022 F.B.I. raid on Mar-a-Lago, which was part of a Justice Department inquiry into Mr. Trump’s attempts to stay in office after the 2020 election, mentions of civil war on X rose to more than 118,000 over a two-day period. In July 2024, when a gunman tried to assassinate Mr. Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, more than 260,000 mentions of civil war appeared on X over the next two days, the analysis found.
Often, the phrase was used in warnings suggesting that right-wing Americans are being targeted in a civil war or goaded to start one. Other times, “civil war” was a call to action.
Jared Holt, a researcher at Open Measures, a company that monitors influence operations online, said mentions of civil war on major social media platforms show that the term is “not fringe.” Conversations on mainstream platforms increasingly resemble the kind of extremist content he sees on far-right social media sites, he noted.
“The real risk,” he said, “is that it creates a permission structure for threats and violence against perceived political enemies.”
The term “civil war” began rising this week with right-wing personalities and influencers and Republican members of Congress. On Wednesday, Representative Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin posted on X: “The left and their policies are leading America into a civil war. And they want it.”
Others did not use the words “civil war” but called for a federal crackdown on the left or for people to take other actions. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted on X on Wednesday that she was “praying that this country rises up and ends this.” Matt Forney, a right-wing influencer, posted that “every Democratic politician must be arrested.”
A memorial around a post features American flags and a sign that says “Pray for America!”
A makeshift memorial in Orem, Utah, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Mr. Kirk was speaking at a university in Orem when he was shot.Credit…Kim Raff for The New York Times
Elon Musk, X’s owner and the most-followed person on the platform, had one of the most widely shared and liked posts evoking war after Mr. Kirk’s death.
“If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is fight or die,” he wrote. His post was viewed more than 1.7 million times and liked over 37,000 times.
By Thursday evening, some prominent right-wing figures had pushed back on the divisive language and called for calm.
David Brody, a commentator with the Christian Broadcasting Network, said that while the shooting of Mr. Kirk raised the potential for civil war in the United States, he prayed that it would never turn violent.
“We’ve got to be praying like we’ve never prayed before,” he wrote.
Sheera Frenkel is a reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area, covering the ways technology impacts everyday lives with a focus on social media companies, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Telegram and WhatsApp.
Stuart A. Thompson writes about how false and misleading information spreads online and how it affects people around the world. He focuses on misinformation, disinformation and other misleading content.
See more on: TikTok, X (Formerly Twitter), Elon Musk
From Saturday, September 13, 2025:
Charlie Kirk’s Widow Breaks Silence: “You Have No Idea What You Just Unleashed Across Nation”
video – 00:30:51 – https://youtu.be/e5SHpvRYg_o
Commenting on Eirk’s powerful speech, Steve Bannon wrote on Gettr, “Next Man Up is a Woman: Erika Kirk just gave one of the most powerful set of remarks I have ever heard anywhere —simple, direct,unrelenting—an incredible reminder of the Spirit that emanates from Turning Point because of Charlie and Erika Kirk.”
Thank God Charlie Kirk’s Assassin Was Captured ALIVE – by Scott Pinsker, 12Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/scott-
(Now if we can just keep him from being oswald-ed or Epstin-ed in jail – jlr)
1 In 9 Americans Still Believe Political Violence Is Sometimes Justified – by Tyler Durden, 12Sep2025
https://www.zerohedge.com/
Sorry, Lady, but Docile, Unarmed Jews Make Good Targets, Not Safe People – by Tom Knighton, 12Sep2025
https://bearingarms.com/
No one should have to carry a gun. We shouldn’t need to carry one. But we can and, if you’re part of a group that’s likely to be targeted because of who you are, then you probably should.
Leftists Panicking Online as MAGA Turns Their Own Tool Against Them – By C. Douglas Golden, 13Sep2025
https://www.westernjournal.
A database called Charlie’s Murderers — registered the night of Kirk’s assassination — publishes information about those who decided Kirk’s death was time to celebrate or expressed the teeniest amount of remorse before saying, y’know, the guy kinda had it coming…“Charlie’s Murderers,” Wired said, is “posting identifying details about people they view as celebrating or glorifying the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The campaign has been swift and widespread and has already led to at least one person losing their job and others receiving death threats.”
Who are we??? – by OldNFO, 13Sep2025
https://oldnfo.substack.com/p/
We’re supposed to ‘stand’ in unified opposition to the senseless killing, according to those on the left. But we aren’t unified. We’ve been called sexist, fascist, racist, bigoted, anti-vax, ad infinitum. Oh, and the general insult, a threat to democracy, because we won’t kowtow to the left’s mantra. The last time ‘we’ stood united was after 9/11. Since then, America has been in a decline driven by political differences…
College is broken — here’s what to do instead
https://www.collapselife.com/
Forget college debt. Forget dead-end jobs. Matt and Maxim Smith share the blueprint for becoming capable, courageous, and even dangerous in today’s world.
embedded video – 01:04:19 –
Jihad Rep Ilhan Omar Says People Remembering Charlie Kirk Good Qualities Are “Full of Shit” – By Pamela Geller, 12Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/
I believe peace in our times is not possible. – by Miguel Gonzalez, 13Sep2025
https://miguelgg.substack.com/
rcd via e-mail
From Smears to Murder – They Took His Life, But Not His Voice – by Act for America, 12Sep2025
https://actforamerica.
“When leaders and media figures brand innocent Americans as Nazis or fascists, they are not engaging in debate—they are issuing a license to hate, a permission slip for violence.”—Brigitte Gabriel
Fascist regimes, rooted in authoritarian collectivism, harbor a visceral hatred for dissenters, stopping at nothing to silence them through vicious tactics that crush free thought and individual liberty.
Why It Matters: Office Depot Refuses to Print Charlie Kirk Vigil Poster – by Catherine Salgado, 13Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/
The Office Depot employees wackily asserted that the vigil poster was “political propaganda” and refused to print it. “It’s propaganda, I’m sorry,”
*
Office Depot Actually Does Right Thing After Employees’ Rejection of Charlie Kirk Memorial Poster – By Bob Hoge, 13Sep2025
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/
Office Depot apologized for the encounter and said it has since fired the employee involved and reached out to DePerno to rectify the situation. (Why weren’t ALL employees on duty at that time fired – jlr)
PattyMI@PattyLovesTruth – That’s great, but there were TWO employees, the “print supervisor” and “manager,” who BOTH refused to print the posters for Charlie Kirk’s prayer vigil in Portage, MI. Why weren’t BOTH of them fire https://x.com/PattyLovesTruth/
Dehumanization: How the Left Justifies Killing Conservatives – by Tim O’Brien, 12Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/tim-o-
The Historical Relationship Between Political Violence and Insufferable Morons – by Kevin Downey Jr., 12Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/
Insufferable Morons= “usful idiot”. Historically, the term “useful idiot” has referred to a naive or unwitting ally of a ruthless political movement especially a communist movement. Supposedly, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin used this expression contemptuously of non-communists who aligned themselves with their political positions. https://quoteinvestigator.com/
Jay Leno Comments on Charlie Kirk’s Death, Warns It’s the Death of Free Speech – By Cole Harrison,
https://americanjournaldaily.
“It’s not a random shooting. It’s the death of free speech! To think that you are so illiterate and so stupid you can’t answer verbally, and you have to shoot somebody with a gun to ‘win the argument.’”
Unbelievable: Nancy Pelosi Defends Dems’, the Left’s Violent Rhetoric After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination by By Katie Jerkovich, 12Sep2025
https://redstate.com/katie-
Nancy Pelosi DEFENDS violent rhetoric & REFUSES to take any accountability for championing movements that led to the assassination of Kirk.
“People don’t have any intention of saying something that leads to something dangerous. We cannot take responsibility for the minds.”
video – 00:00:23 – https://x.com/townhallcom/
Powerful video showcasing the just how far the Democrats’ violent rhetoric has gone. They must stop.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/
Democrats Want a Free Pass for Their Violent Rhetoric – by Matt Margolis, 13Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/matt-
From Dignity to Blasphemy: How Words Became “Violence” – by Jamie K. Wilson, 13Sep2025
https://pjmedia.com/jamie-
Across history, societies that treat words as violence do not stay free.
In the Roman Republic and Empire, slander could be punished as assault, satire as sedition, and even jokes as treason under the maiestas laws. Words were often treated as deeds.
In the medieval world, blasphemy was a capital crime: speech was violence against God.
In honor cultures, insults were duels: speech was violence against reputation.
In totalitarian regimes, dissent was sabotage: speech was violence against the state.
In today’s United Kingdom, people have even been jailed for tweets and online posts that the government criminalized as “hate speech.”
(In Briiian today you can be arrested for flying the Brittish national flav, unless authorized to do so)
(long, very long – but more than worth the time to read it – jlr)
it’s time to talk about charlie – the passing of a good man and the turning point to come by el gato malo, 13Sep2025
https://boriquagato.substack.
i did not always agree with charlie kirk. often i did, sometimes i did not. but i respected him. i deeply, seriously respected him. i respected charlie because he was a real, genuine human, true to himself and courageous in his convictions. and we need more like him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kirk Assassin Tyler Robinson Was “Really Leftist,” “Left On Everything” – By Pamela Geller, 12Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/
Panicked left rolls with misinformation campaign on alleged Charlie Kirk gunman – by Chris Donaldson, 13Sep2025 |
https://www.bizpacreview.com/
Leftists are in panic mode after one of their own allegedly acted out in the most extreme way by assassinating Charlie Kirk, and the gaslighting machine has been fired up to deceive the American people about the alleged shooter’s political views…leftists do what they always do: they lie. And efforts to portray Tyler Robinson as a Trump supporter who assassinated the country’s leading young conservative figure because he wasn’t conservative enough have been spread on social media.
New Evidence Emerges on Kirk Assassin’s Political Views, Countering Attempt to Paint Him As ‘Right-Wing’ – By Bonchie, 12Sep2025
https://redstate.com/bonchie/
Wajahat Ali, vile left set their sights on grieving Erika Kirk – by Chris Donaldson, 13Sep2025
https://www.bizpacreview.com/
Just because there is nowhere too vile for leftists to go, they are now smearing Charlie Kirk’s grieving widow…One user on Bluesky, the left’s preferred online cry room and echo chamber, called for Mrs. Kirk to also be murdered in a revealing post that shows that there can never be any “unity” with such people who have been driven mad by their hatred of President Donald J. Trump and his supporters. “can erika kirk be next? then the two children can be placed with foster parents who will have them properly educated and growing up hating their parents,”
David Kurtz
nseordtpSoug8g3930a4ch643ll845
I asked ChatGPT to write me a speculative statement of what Charlie Kirk might say upon his death. My exact request was: Take what you know about Charlie Kirk and tell me what he would want to tell people after his death based on what you find.
This is the result:
BLM Activist Arrested with Concealed Weapon After Disrupting Charlie Kirk Vigil in Boise
https://istandforfreedom.com/
they discovered Wilson was carrying a concealed firearm and marijuana—bringing weapons and drugs to crash a candlelight vigil for a murdered father of two
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today’s “Let’s scare the sheeple” hysterical event
Strange Structures Surrounding 3I/ATLAS Revealed as it Begins Glowing Green
New polarization data on 3I/ATLAS has come out revealing intriguing new details about the structure of the huge cloud of dust, gas, and plasma surrounding this third ever observed interstellar object. Should we still classify 3I/ATLAS as a comet in light of this new data and all the other oddities (early anti-sun tail, HUGE extremely CO2 enriched coma, tremendous velocity, high nickel to iron ratio, rare orbital trajectory) observed with it thus far? Is 3I/ATLAS going to just pass through the Solar System, or perhaps is it here to stay? And now it’s glowing GREEN?! Geophysicist Stefan Burns reports…
video – 00:29:02 – https://youtu.be/TxNjy_jvkmI
I’ve seen this movie before – it doesn’t end well – jlr
“To Serve Man” is the 24th episode of the third season of the anthology series The Twilight Zone, and the 89th overall. It originally aired on March 2, 1962, on CBS. Based on Damon Knight’s 1950 short story,(To Serve Man (short story) – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
From Monday, September 15, 2025:
Yes, the Left Wants Us All Dead – By Robert Spencer – on 13Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/
(It is NOT rhetoric, it never has been, believe them, they overtly tell you what they want to do – jlr)
Turning Point For The Radical Left – by Mark E. Jeftovic, 13Sep2025
https://bombthrower.com/
Senior Trump Official Declares War On Far-Left NGOs Sowing Chaos Nationwide – by by Tyler Durden, 13Sep2025
https://www.zerohedge.com/
As the Left-Wing Narrative Around the Kirk Shooter Fully Collapses, the Press Goes Full Bird Box – By Bonchie, 14Sap2025
https://redstate.com/bonchie/
With the evidence now overwhelming, how has the left shifted its narrative? Hilariously, we are now being told that, yeah, the roommate is trans, but he’s a hero for helping “catch the shooter,” and that the shooter is still “a heterosexual white dude” even though he was dating…a guy. You can’t make this stuff up.
the time machine hitler fallacy – and the high-move look ahead sorting hat – by el gato malo, 14Sep2025
https://boriquagato.substack.
Charlie Kirk Assassination Prompts Record Fundraising for Family As Fundraiser for Suspect Is Removed – By Noah Stanton, 13sep2025
https://istandforfreedom.com/
Someone attempted to create a GoFundMe for the alleged assassin’s legal defense, claiming Robinson “did what the Democrats told him to do.”
GoFundMe swiftly removed it, stating their terms explicitly prohibit fundraisers for violent crimes.
UTAH (Again): Muslim Terrorists Arrested For Planting A Bomb Under FOX News Truck – By Pamela Geller, 14Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/
FBI Investigating Co-Conspirators in Charlie Kirk Assassination – By Pamela Geller, 14Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/
The FBI, in coordination with state agencies, has formally opened investigations into multiple leftist organizations in Utah for possible advanced knowledge of the Charlie Kirk incident
Charlie Kirk Assassination Just The Latest Shooting Committed by Transgenders – By Pamela Geller, 14Sep2025
https://gellerreport.com/2025/
You’re Not Alone – by John Wylder – 15Sep2025
https://wilderwealthywise.com/
“civil war “ is another distraction to make people waste time debating it.
if We the People decide war is the answer we won’t be posting on “social” media.
“social” media isnt..
How far into the article did you have to go before they admitted the term “civil war” was being used in a cautionary manner, as a warning? Way too far. And, that is why I hold the media complicit in any political violence. Only read the first half dozen paragraphs, and you get the impression everyone on the right is actively calling for a hot civil war.
.
And, Curby is 1,000,000,000% correct. If a hot civil war actually breaks out, it will not be announced on social media, if social media is still active after the first day of it.