When Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was gunned down in Utah a year ago, some leftists warned the killing could backfire for them.

Far-left blogs and forums discussed how President Donald Trump would escalate law enforcement “repression” in the weeks following the arrest of allegedly left-wing suspect Tyler Robinson in the Sept. 10, 2025, shooting. White House advisor Stephen Miller promised that month that the government would “destroy” extremist networks “in Charlie’s name,” while Trump declared, “We have radical-left lunatics out there, and we just have to beat the hell out of them.”