Donald Trump has not been seen in public for six days, and the increasingly costly martyrdom of Charlie Kirk
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I don’t know the answer to the question of, how unusual is it for a president not named Donald Trump to be completely out of public view for six days in the 24/7 media age? but I suspect the answer is “very.”
Something that I have puzzled and puzzled over, like the Grinch on the summit of Mt. Crumpet, is how TrumpTod will be handled by the media, especially if that joyous day should happen before Trump fades somewhat from the national scene, assuming that’s even possible at this point.
What seems almost certain that there will be VE-Day like celebrations all over the nation, especially in large cities, that will be very difficult for the media to cover, given that such things will be extraordinary breaches of Norms regarding how to treat the death of a major political figure in America. I can see the media going the America is a land of contrasts route, especially if there are significant displays of grief, whether real or manufactured for the occasion. What if Trump’s funeral procession in DC (you know he will demand some JFK-style type affair, if not something more explicitly pharaonic) is pelted with garbage and other projectiles by protestors, as could easily happen? Oh the more in sorrow than in anger columns from the reactionary centrist pundits! David Brooks probably has one already pre-written.
Speaking of which, remember when all those people got fired for quoting Charlie Kirk’s own words? (This is the right wing definition of libel). Well a few of them at least are cashing in now, and we can hope that many more will:
Settlements totaling more than $1.5 million have been reached so far with people who lost their jobs over social media posts that were critical of prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination. . .
It’s “not surprising to see this flurry of settlements,” Aaron Terr, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s director of public advocacy, told USA TODAY. “I think the size and frequency of these settlements shows that violating the First Amendment is expensive.”
USA TODAY reported a little more than two weeks after Kirk was killed, at least 50 people had lost their jobs in the education sector alone. A Reuters investigation also found that 600 people were fired across the private sector for posts they shared about Kirk. . . .
His death sparked impassioned responses across the political spectrum. Some lauded the 31-year-old as an almost messianic figure, while others compared him to a Nazi.
Many of the posts that criticized or failed to memorialize Kirk were picked up by those on the right and used as fodder in a highly charged culture war.
Front and center in that battle was Vice President JD Vance, who served as guest host of Kirk’s eponymous podcast five days after his killing. During the episode, Vance said that people should report anyone who was “celebrating” Kirk’s death to their employer. . . .
Lawsuits, settlements pile up
In the eight months since Kirk’s death, First Amendment lawsuits have piled up across the country, from South Dakota to Florida and Tennessee to Texas. Here are just a few of the most recent settlements.
Suzanne Swierc
Ball State University agreed to pay $225,000 to its former health director, Suzanne Swierc, after she was fired for making a critical social media post following Kirk’s assassination, according to reporting from IndyStar, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Swierc and the American Civil Liberties Union sued Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns last September in federal court, claiming her firing was a violation of her First Amendment rights.
“I never regretted the post,” Swierc told IndyStar. “I have just as much right to say that as anybody else, and I don’t regret it because I still believe the things that I wrote.”
As part of the settlement, Ball State did not admit wrongdoing. In an email sent to university leadership after the settlement was agreed, Mearns stood by his decision to fire Swierc. He said her post resulted in threats to withhold donations and enrollment, and that it was “extraordinarily damaging” to the university’s reputation and “exceptionally disruptive to our mission and our people.”
Brittany Brown
Florida will pay nearly half a million dollars to Brittany Brown to settle a free speech lawsuit after she was fired from her state job for a social media post criticizing Kirk after he was killed, per reporting from USA TODAY.
Brown, a biologist who worked for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, filed a lawsuit after she was fired just days after Kirk was slain. She had reposted another account’s post to her private Instagram story.
The post that got Brown in hot water read: “the whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all.”
At the time, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Brown’s post “made light” of Kirk’s killing. “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards the promotion of violence and hate, and we will not stand for such behavior,” the agency said in a post on social media on Sept. 15.
An agency spokesperson declined to comment on the settlement, which includes a $485,000 payout to Brown.
Gary Edinger, an attorney representing Brown, said the case is the result of Brown’s “refusal to accept that the government gets to decide which opinions its employees are allowed to hold.”
“These concerning practices underscore the extent to which political pressure from Tallahassee is influencing our state agencies,” Brown said in a statement. “FWC employees deserve better, and so do Floridians.”
Larry Bushart
A settlement was reached in the case of Larry Bushart, a former police officer in Tennessee who was arrested Sept. 22, 2025, and charged with making threats of mass violence after posting a photo of a quote from President Donald Trump in the Facebook comments of a local community group page.
He was held on $2 million bail for more than a month. The charge was dismissed in late October, and Bushart subsequently filed a lawsuit against Perry County, Sheriff Nick Weems and the investigator who secured the arrest warrant.
His incarceration caused him to lose his job in medical transportation and to miss his anniversary and the birth of his grandchild, according to his lawyers.
On May 20, an $850,000 settlement was reached in the case in exchange for dismissing the complaint, according to a news release by Terr’s organization FIRE, which represented Bushart. The settlement does not include any admission of wrongdoing on the defendants’ behalf.
“I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” Bushart said in the statement. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy. I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.”
There are a number of lawsuits related to speech about Kirk’s assassination that are still ongoing.
FIRE is also representing a state employee whom the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance fired for a comment on a friend’s Facebook post saying, “The way you tap dance for White Supremacist should be studied!”
In case you’d like to send a message to Ball State University president Geoffery Mearns about his view that exercising core first amendment speech rights to engage in political speech creates a valid ground for firing a public employee if that speech arguably inconveniences a university president’s fundraising efforts, his public email is: [email protected]. (I have done so).
As this is 2026, I expect the Widow Kirk to birth J.D. Vance’s Damien-like vice-demon right around the midterms.
Don’t forget to subsidize the composition of even more tasteless and hurtful comments of this sort during the penultimate day of our annual fundraiser (today):