Hate Speech and Hate Crimes in the Trump Era: The Charlie Kirk Case as a Catalyst of Hate Rhetoric.

Abstract

Hate speech against groups with distinctive characteristics has intensified in the contemporary public sphere, driven by the logic of social media dissemination. In the United States, the Trump era has marked a turning point in the visibility and normalization of this rhetoric, with documented effects on the evolution of hate incidents and crimes. This article analyzes hate speech and its relationship to hate crimes during Donald Trump's second term, using as a case study the speech of Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on September 10, 2025. The work combines analysis of hate speech and populism with content analysis and the performativity of language through critical discourse analysis (CDA). With this framework, it examines how the political rhetoric of Donald Trump and his allies constructs the internal enemy and dehumanizes the other, amplifying their message on digital platforms such as X and generating climates of hostility that correlate temporally with spikes in hate crimes. The Kirk case allows us to trace the transition from discourse to violent action and discuss the ethical and democratic implications of the instrumentalization of hate in polarized contexts.