For Immediate Release:
Monday, September 22, 2025

Contact:
Erika Caldwell, Communications Director
press@ildcca.org

IDCCA PRESIDENT MARK GUETHLE BLASTS TRUMP’S DIVISIVE MEMORIAL REMARKS,
URGES STAND AGAINST POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND CENSORSHIP 

SPRINGFIELD, IL – President Mark Guethle and the Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association (IDCCA) issued a strong rebuke today to Attorney General Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump and others for their dangerous and misleading claims in the wake of the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk – claims that continued yesterday at Kirk’s memorial service.

“I’ve been increasingly troubled by the MAGA attempts to use a horrific tragedy to silence dissent, undermine free speech and vilify peaceful protest,” said Guethle, “I’d love to say I’m shocked that Trump followed Mrs. Kirk’s spiritual calls for forgiveness and peace with ‘I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them,’ but I’m not.”

Despite unanimous condemnation of political violence and widespread expressions of sympathy for Mr. Kirk’s family and friends from Democrats, President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, Vice President J.D. Vance and countless right-wing commentators and activists are weaponizing this tragedy to call for further division. Rather than calling for unity and calm, they are using the language of “cracking down on violence” as cover to actually provoke more of it — inflaming tensions, painting their opponents as dangerous, and laying the groundwork to strip away core constitutional freedoms. This is especially rich coming from a movement whose supporters have led most of the political violence we’ve seen in modern America — including storming the U.S. Capitol and plotting to kidnap a sitting governor.

“Let me be clear: sounding the alarm on fascist tendencies in our elected leaders is not inciting violence. Identifying a threat to our constitutional democracy as a threat is not inciting violence. Calling hate speech what it is — hate speech — is not inciting violence. The First Amendment protects our right to speak these truths, and our love for this country compels us to do it,” added Guethle. He continued, “Trump and Bondi seem confused, so I’ll make it very simple: the First Amendment gives right-wing extremists the right to use hate speech and it also gives us the right to call it out as hate speech.”

Last week alone, Republicans censored another late-night television host, threatened to remove left-leaning accounts from social media platforms, made clear their intention to investigate and prosecute their enemies regardless of evidence, attempted to incite violence by openly employing war-like rhetoric, and boldly proclaimed their hatred for half the country.

Guethle added, “What we need now is real unity, rooted in shared values and mutual respect — not authoritarianism staged like reality TV. President Trump’s remarks at the memorial weren’t a call for peace; they were a call to criminalize dissent and normalize the further stripping of rights from Americans. We must stand united against the un-American actions we have been bombarded with in the past week: political violence, censorship, and authoritarianism. All Americans can agree that these things go against the very core of who we are as a nation.”

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