In the wake of the September 10, 2025, political assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, an April study by Rutgers University’s Network Contagion Research Institute, highlighted by Kirk on a post on X (formerly Twitter) has taken on new relevance.
“Political violence targeting Donald Trump and Elon Musk is becoming increasingly normalized. Following the July 13, 2024, attempted assassination of President Trump, tolerance — and even advocacy — for political violence appears to have surged, especially among politically left-leaning segments of the population,” the report reads. “This pattern builds on a broader trend NCRI identified in two December 2024 reports, which analyzed how viral social media narratives were legitimizing political violence, particularly in the aftermath of the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s assassination.”
Additionally, the report found “widespread justification for lethal violence – including assassination – among younger, highly online, and ideologically left-aligned users. A spillover effect into offline domains is already occurring, as illustrated by a ballot measure recently submitted in California that is macabrely named “the Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act.”
According to the study, 31% and 28% of respondents said it would be “at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk and President Trump, respectively.”
The report said the effects were “driven by respondents that self-identified as left of center, with 48% and 55% at least somewhat justifying murder for Elon Musk and President Trump, respectively.”
Additionally, nearly 40% of respondents said it was “at least somewhat acceptable to destroy a Tesla dealership in protest.”
According to the report, the psychological and ideological correlations with assassination culture are highly correlated with each other, “as well as the justification of the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO and hyper-partisan, left-wing ideology.”
Moreover, the researchers said they hypothesized that “the support for violence is part of a broader assassination culture, underpinned by psychological and ideological factors.”
They also found that being heavily online is a factor in support for violence as well.
For example, they discovered that the use of X, an alternative to BlueSky — to which many on the left fled after Musk purchased Twitter — “plays a significant and predictive role in amplifying radical ideation.”
“Users are increasingly associating the memeification of Luigi Mangione with calls for political violence against Musk, Trump, and others, reflecting the growing cyber-social presence of assassination culture,” the report reads.
It is unclear whether Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, had a presence on BlueSky, but he was apparently very active on Discord chat rooms where discussion of political assassination was allegedly rife.
“What was formerly taboo culturally has become acceptable,” Joel Finkelstein, the lead author of the report, told Fox News Digital. “We are seeing a clear shift – glorification, increased attempts, and changing norms – all converging into what we define as ‘assassination culture.’”
To assess support for political violence, the researchers surveyed 1,264 U.S. residents, balanced to reflect Census data on race/ethnicity, gender, age, and education. Respondents were asked demographic information, political identity, several political and psychological scales, and questions concerning their acceptance of specific forms of political violence. A score of 1 meant that the respondent considered political violence completely unjustified. Scores from 2 to 7 indicated that they believed there was at least some justification for political violence, and, in the case of those choosing 7, that it was completely justified.
According to the report, over half of those who self-identified as left of center (56%) reported that if someone murdered Donald Trump, they would be at least somewhat justified — including 14.1% who said it would be “completely justified.” Likewise, 50.2% of those self-identifying as left-of-center said murdering Musk would be somewhat justified, and 10.7% saying it would be “completely justified.’
“These are not isolated opinions,” the report states. “They are part of a tightly connected belief system linked to what we call left-wing authoritarianism.”
BlueSky linked to extremism leading to assassination culture
According to the study, rather than being a “safe” alternative to X, BlueSky has become a hotbed of leftist extremism.
“BlueSky was modeled as a safe alternative to Twitter for the left, but what it’s become is an extremist platform,” Finkelstein told Fox Digital. “It functions today much like 4chan or Gab once did for far-right ideologies. These platforms are now lead indicators of violent real-world trends.”
Indeed, the researchers found troubling spikes in traffic around Mangione, Musk, and Trump on BlueSky.
“The matrix of opinions feeding into assassination culture that were highlighted in the survey data are also manifested in recent social media chatter,” the report reads. “A series of queries we ran on BlueSky containing mentions of Trump, Musk, and various formulations of Luigi Mangione produced over 200K results and over 2M engagements.
“Though the survey results indicate that time spent on BlueSky is a significant predictor in justification of violence, robust chatter on other platforms illustrates how assassination culture is trending across internet culture more broadly. A case in point is Reddit, which, according to reporting, has stepped up moderation efforts in a yet-unsuccessful attempt to clamp down on posts and communities that are either glorifying or even making concrete calls for acts of political violence.”
Ultimately, the report says there are “disturbingly high” levels of support for political violence.
“The data reveal a structured endorsement of political violence targeting figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” the report states. “These attitudes are not fringe — they reflect an emergent assassination culture, grounded in far-left authoritarianism and increasingly normalized in digital discourse. Cyber-social platforms — particularly BlueSky — play a strong predictive role in amplifying this culture. References to Luigi Mangione now function as coded endorsements of political violence, cloaked in irony, memeification, and plausible deniability. In these ecosystems, violence is not just justified — it is stylized, gamified, and embedded within a broader ideological narrative. Combined with psychological drivers such as external locus of control, these dynamics create a permissive environment in which users feel morally licensed to advocate or celebrate extreme acts.”
