The group’s letters come after the Trump administration threatened to crack down on left-leaning, liberal, progressive organizations.
Charlie Kirk’s wife Erica delivers her tearful address
Erica Kirk gave a tearful speech, where she vowed that her husband’s message would only be amplified by those who sought to silence him.
- Over 120 progressive organizations have signed letters defending political violence and freedom of speech.
- The letter follows the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the Trump administration’s pledge to crack down on left-leaning groups.
- Those who signed the letter include prominent groups such as the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.
More than 100 mostly progressive organizations have written open letters denounced “acts of political violence” after the Trump administration vowed to pledge to crack down on left-leaning groups in the wake of the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
A September 17 letter published on Medium states that the United States is “built on the premise that everyone has the right to express themselves, even if others agree or like what they say.
The letters written by 124 groups including the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, The Tides Foundation and The Schmidt Family Foundation, said letters written by 124 groups including the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, The Tides Foundation and The Schmidt Family Foundation, which included the Omidyar network funded by Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar.
The letter also opposed the Trump administration’s recent criticism of liberal activists, saying that organizations should not be attacked to carry out their duties or express their values.
Last month, President Donald Trump said in a true social post that billionaire George Soros, the leading funder of Open Society Foundation and other progressive causes, should face prosecution, claiming Soros supports violent protests. The social foundations known as Trump’s accusations were called “outrageous.”
Their liberal group’s letter comes a week after 31-year-old podcaster and organizer Kirk was fatally shot while holding a rally in Utah on September 10th.
Vice President JD Vance, guest host on Kirk’s September 15 podcast, claimed that “left extremism” was part of the reason why Kirk was killed. Vance calls Kirk a September 12 article, which calls him “an unrepentant racist, transphobe, homophobic and misogynist” because of his harsh criticism of civil rights law, the gay rights movement and feminism.
“I read the story in a national magazine about my dear friend Charlie Kirk,” Vance said on the podcast. “The George Soros’ Open Society Foundation funds the magazine, as well as the Ford Foundation and many other wealthy Titans in the American Progressive Movement.”
In the same episode, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told Vance that the Trump administration is chasing free non-governmental organizations or NGOs and “using “all resources” across the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and this entire government to “identify, destroy, demolish and destroy networks.”
According to the Washington Post, neither the Ford Foundation nor the Open Society Foundation appears to have given the country money in the past five years.
Many moderately conservative organizations and nonprofits signed a September 17 letter that includes the MacArthur Foundation, Knight Foundation, Bush Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation.
Tyler Robinson, 22, suspected in Kirk’s murder, was charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of firearms, obstruction of justice, tampering with eyewitnesses and violent crimes in front of children.
Prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty.
The Trump administration calls for crackdowns on progressive groups
The group’s letter comes after the Trump administration threatened to crack down on left-leaning, liberal and progressive organizations that it believes are promoting violence and terrorism. Trump said he asked Attorney General Pam Bondy to consider prosecuting protesters for crimes under the RICO Act.
“We reject attempts to misuse political violence to misunderstand our good work or limit fundamental freedoms, such as freedom to speech or give,” the letter said. “Efforts to silence speeches, criminalize opposing perspectives, misrepresent and limit charitable contributions will undermine our democracy and hurt all Americans.”
The goal of the letter is likely to be to mitigate conflict between the Trump administration and left-leaning charities and nonprofits, given the White House’s recent actions against universities, law firms and other prominent institutions.
“In moments when we are fragile and plagued, we must rise to a higher standard than everyone collectively wants,” the group’s letter states.
“Now is the moment of leadership that drives unity rather than soaking further division,” the letter concluded. “Our organizations will continue to focus on supporting, healing, thriving and living peacefully for people of all backgrounds, communities, ideological and belief systems, protected by the freedoms guaranteed by our constitution.”
