{"id":159240,"date":"2025-09-15T20:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/159240\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T20:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:37:11","slug":"sen-coons-blames-internet-for-extremism-after-charlie-kirk-assassination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/159240\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Coons blames internet for extremism after Charlie Kirk assassination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">A Democratic senator from Delaware is blaming the internet for &#8220;driving extremism in our country&#8221; following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Sen. Chris Coons, D-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/northeast\/delaware\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Del,,<\/a> appeared on CBS&#8217; &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; on Sunday. He told host Major Garrett that Americans cannot let political violence drive the country further apart, calling Kirk&#8217;s assassination &#8220;brutal&#8221; while discussing &#8220;the importance of the First Amendment of free speech.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No matter how much I might deeply disagree with his political views, the idea that he would be killed in such a grotesque and public way has to bring all of us to reflect about how hard it&#8217;s getting because the internet is an accelerant,&#8221; Coons said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is driving extremism in our country. It&#8217;s driving us apart left and right,&#8221; he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/watch-charlie-kirks-death-sparks-bipartisan-warnings-from-capitol-hill-about-political-discourse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">FOLLOWING KIRK\u2019S ASSASSINATION, LAWMAKERS REACT TO LETHAL POLITICAL CLIMATE: &#8216;VIOLENT WORDS PRECEDE VIOLENT ACTIONS&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757968630_740_charlie-kirk-utah-valley-university.jpg\" alt=\"Charlie Kirk on Utah Valley University campus\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025 in Orem, Utah, prior to the assassination. (Trent Nelson\/The Salt Lake Tribune\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Kirk, 31, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/charlie-kirk-assassination-timeline-utah-campus-shooting-details-attack-manhunt-suspect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">was gunned down<\/a> at Utah Valley University on Wednesday during a stop on his &#8220;American Comeback Tour.&#8221; He was engaging in one of his signature debates with college students when a shot rang out. After being asked a question about transgender mass shooters, Kirk was shot in the neck. Authorities arrested suspected shooter Tyler Robinson on Friday after his father turned him in.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/im-democrat-charlie-kirks-murder-must-unite-all-americans-against-violence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">I&#8217;M A DEMOCRAT, AND CHARLIE KIRK&#8217;S MURDER MUST UNITE ALL AMERICANS AGAINST VIOLENCE<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/charlie-kirk-vigil-washington.jpg\" alt=\"Charlie Kirk vigil in Washington, DC\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>People hold candles and sing during a memorial and prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Washington.\u00a0 (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/p>\n<p>Sen. James Lankford, R-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/southwest\/oklahoma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Okla.,<\/a> appeared alongside Sen. Coons on the show Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/charlie-kirk-hospital-memorial.jpg\" alt=\"Charlie Kirk memorial\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>A memorial honoring Kirk at the Timpanogos Regional Hospital is flooded with &#8220;We love you, Charlie&#8221; posters, flowers and American flags. More signs and flowers have been placed for Kirk on Utah Valley University&#8217;s campus.\u00a0 (Fox News Digital\/Deirdre Heavey)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/apps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The algorithm on social media is always pushing who&#8217;s the angriest, who&#8217;s loudest, who says the craziest thing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So anytime that there is cogent dialog or an issue on something where people may disagree, but they&#8217;re having a civil conversation on it, that gets pushed aside towards someone that&#8217;s just angry and focused.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital&#8217;s David Spector contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Democratic senator from Delaware is blaming the internet for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[49204,2831,88,9600,111,720,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-159240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-charlie-kirk","9":"tag-delaware","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-oklahoma","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-senate","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}