The US right claimed free speech was sacred – until the Charlie Kirk killing

Rightwingers had long complained of a censorious leftwing cancel culture' but seem happy to now reframe that as consequence culture'

In the emotionally and politically charged days since the killing of Charlie Kirk, the conservative youth activist who was a close ally of Donald Trump, one statement has loomed large. On Monday, the US attorney general - the official in charge of the rule of law in America - said that the Trump administration would absolutely target" those who espouse hate speech" about Kirk.

Unlike in many other countries, hate speech is protected by US law unless it incites imminent violence or constitutes a true threat. But that did not deter the nation's top law enforcement officer, who also suggested that - for example - a print shop employee who refused to print flyers memorializing Kirk could be prosecuted".