We're more than a week out from the assassination of Charlie Kirk and all but the most die hard online leftists have come around to the fact that his shooter was on the left and seems to have been motivated by left-wing political concerns. Frankly, it's not clear if the truth has penetrated to the party's base. As of last weekend, many of them were still convinced the shooter was right-wing. Given the partisan bubble they live in, many of them may still believe that even now.
To say that reality isn't going down well on the left is putting it mildly. It has been a tough 10 days for many of these folks, not just because of the assassination but the reaction to their celebratory responses to it as well. People are being expelled from schools and losing jobs. The most prominent example is Jimmy Kimmel who was pulled off the air this week. That prompted a small protest at an ABC affiliate in Sacramento:
On Thursday, about 15 people had joined the protest outside the ABC 10 offices after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was taken off-air, following pressure from the Trump administration after remarks Kimmel made related to the slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week in Utah.
The following day, Friday, someone fired three bullets through a window at the same station. This happened in the early afternoon while there were people working inside the building, but fortunately no one was hurt. A 64-year-old man named Anibal Hernandez-Santana was arrested and Variety dug into his background.
Hernandez-Santana is a former health policy analyst for the California Rural Indian Health Board. In 2019, he sued the non-profit group for discrimination and retaliation, alleging that he was terminated after being denied time off to care for his disabled son...
A LinkedIn account matching that name indicates he previously was a legislative director for the California Federation of Teachers, and is now retired and engaged in “full time parenting.”
An X account matching that profile contains a steady stream of anti-Trump commentary.
“The authoritarian oligarchy is now complete,” the account posted in July. “CBS+ caving, big law firms in DC, the subservients FBI and AG, university presidents stepping down, fan boys SCOTUS, public radio, ICE goons. We are going to have to ‘fight like hell’. Rules don’t apply if election was stolen. FIGHT!”
The X account identified by Variety contains a lot of angry commentary. Here's the tweet they reference:
The authoritarian oligarchy is now complete. CBS+ caving, big law firms in DC, the subservients FBI and AG, university presidents stepping down, fan boys SCOTUS, public radio, ICE goons. We are going to have to "fight like hell". Rules don't apply if election was stolen. FIGHT!
— Al Hernandez Santana (@AlHSantana) July 18, 2025
Some more recent tweets from the same account.
I think the word empathy, that made up New Age term, did a lot of damage to CK's carotid artery.
— Al Hernandez Santana (@AlHSantana) September 12, 2025
Where is a good heart attack when we need it the most?? Please Join in my thoughts and prayers for the physical demise of our fearful leader.
— Al Hernandez Santana (@AlHSantana) September 18, 2025
Here he is suggesting Pam Bondi should be executed:
In the words of her very own hero Charlie Kirk, she ought to be executed for treason and for corrupting the AG's office. If not right now, sooner or later she will trample on the law and violate her duties, because all her loyalty is owed to one man and not the US Constitution.
— Al Hernandez Santana (@AlHSantana) September 17, 2025
This one seems especially relevant.
I started carrying a gun when trump was elected president, the FIRST time. Still do
— Al Hernandez Santana (@AlHSantana) September 18, 2025
He hasn't been charged much less convicted yet. Like everyone else he's innocent until proven guilty. And the police say the motive for the shooting at the ABC affiliate in Sacramento is still under investigation. In other words, they haven't connected the bullets fired to the pro-Kimmel protest or anything else.
I'm all for police doing a thorough investigation but I think it's pretty clear what this individual's politics are and what might have motivated someone with these views to do what he's been arrested for allegedly doing.
This incident aside, how many more angry left-wingers are out there who are in danger of escalating? Are we done with the political violence or just getting started? We've seen this sort of thing before. Violence seems to be contagious. After one school shooting that gets a lot of media attention we sometimes see copycats a few days or weeks later.
With that concern in mind, here's another story making news today.
An armed man who was posing as a member of law enforcement was arrested by Secret Service agents at the Arizona stadium where Charlie Kirk’s funeral will be held Sunday, according to reports...
“The individual was approached by Secret Service and stated during the encounter that he was a member of law enforcement and that he was armed. The individual is not a member of authorized law enforcement working the event and is currently in custody,” Guglielmi said.
Maybe he was harmless, but given the sheer number of people who will attend, including two plane loads of White House officials, I really hope the Secret Service is going over everything very carefully.
“We’re actually taking two planes full of white House staff,” Leavitt told Fox News. “That just speaks to how many people [Kirk] touched at the highest levels of our government. And he will surely be honored and remembered tomorrow.”...
The event is expected to draw 100,000 mourners and will include remarks from President Trump and many other high-level government officials.
I'm hoping things settle down this coming week after the memorial service. But the country has felt very unsettled on both sides of the aisle. People are angry and angry people are capable of doing unhinged, and sometimes violent, things. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.
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