Rachel Maddow devoted just 22 seconds of air time to Charlie Kirk’s assassination on Monday — the first episode of her once-a-week hourlong talk show on the left-leaning MSNBC cable channel since the grisly murder took place last week.
Maddow, the Comcast-owned channel’s marquee talent and ratings draw who pulls in an annual salary reported to be north of $20 million, called Kirk’s murder “horrific” — before quickly pivoting to speculation over whether Trump administration officials might use the assassination to justify broader crackdowns.
“Hey, once you`ve got an enemies list, no reason to keep it short,” Maddow began. Her comments were reported by the news site Mediaite.
Maddow made just one mention of Kirk on her Monday show.
Maddow then read verbatim a New York Times headline of a story about the White House planning a “broad crackdown of liberal groups.”
In June of last year, Kirk denounced Maddow for a segment “calling me a racist,” which he described as a “typical leftist smear.” Kirk’s X post has attracted more attention following his assassination.
“Rachel Maddow spent an entire segment last year calling Charlie Kirk a racist,” commented the official X account of OutKick. “Yet in her first show back since his death, she spent just 22 seconds on his assassination.”
Maddow’s terse treatment of Kirk comes after top executives at MSNBC and its parent company Comcast, moved quickly last week in issuing a company-wide memo that condemned violence and urged employees to uphold civil discourse across its platforms.
“The tragic loss of Charlie Kirk…reminds us of the fragility of life and the urgent need for unity. Our hearts are heavy…there is no place for violence or hate in our society,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, President Mike Cavanagh and incoming Versant CEO Mark Lazarus wrote in the memo.
The statement stressed that while employees may “disagree, robustly and passionately,” debate must be conducted with respect.
Versant is the company that will hold MSNBC, which will rebrand to MS NOW, once Comcast completes its spinoff of its cable assets later this year.
The memo was circulated just days after MSNBC fired analyst Matthew Dowd after suggesting Kirk’s rhetoric contributed to his murder.
Comcast called Dowd’s comments “insensitive” and “at odds with fostering civil dialogue.”
Dowd later apologized on social media, saying he did not intend to imply Kirk was responsible for the attack. He also wrote that his comments were “misconstrued” and made before it was known that Kirk was an actual target of the attack.
Stay up to date on the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk
Maddow continued at length to speculate on a Trump crackdown on Monday night’s show.
“They’re saying now they will use the horrific murder of pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk last week as a justification for some undefined whole of government attack on what they always describe very vaguely as the left in this country,” Maddow said.
Maddow went on to opine that “there`s no uncertainty” or “ambiguity” about the Trump administration’s “agenda,” which she labeled the “textbook agenda of every right-wing strongman everywhere.”
“They all do the same thing,” Maddow said.
Maddow went on to accuse the administration of “tell[ing] people there is an enemy, an enemy within that demands emergency measures” and an “enemy within that’s nefarious and is responsible for all the terrible things.”
“And so therefore, we must have emergency powers and toughness, and we must take off the gloves and break the rules, right? That’s textbook stuff,” she said.
The Trump administration has floated sweeping measures after a gunman fatally shot Kirk on the campus of a Utah university last week, vowing to investigate and prosecute progressive groups it claims fuel political violence.
Senior aide Stephen Miller called the effort a fight against a “vast domestic terror movement,” while Attorney General Pam Bondi floated using RICO and conspiracy charges to target organizations accused of spreading “hate speech.”
Vice President JD Vance urged Americans to report anyone celebrating Kirk’s murder, and the State Department announced visa revocations for foreign nationals who did so.
Congressional Republicans have also proposed a special committee to probe funding of liberal groups, as Trump boosts security and casts the “radical left” as a domestic threat.
The network’s swift dismissal of Dowd mirrored actions at other companies, where staff were suspended or terminated for mocking or dismissive posts about Kirk’s death.
Employees at the Carolina Panthers, Office Depot, American Airlines and even a Secret Service agent faced discipline over online remarks.
The Post has sought comment from MSNBC, Comcast and the White House.
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