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

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51698/tripodos.2026.60.04

Keywords:

hate speech, hate crimes, Populism, Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk

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.

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Author Biographies

Beatriz Rivera-Martín, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Communication at Rey Juan Carlos University. PhD in Journalism and Master's Degree in Communication for Social Change from Complutense University of Madrid. Her main lines of research focus on media and audiovisual analysis of content by and for vulnerable groups, including LGTBIQ+ people, children, people with disabilities, and migrants. She is also a member of the URJC's Office of Animal-Assisted Interventions, where she participates as a researcher in various projects and publications. Principal investigator of a competitive research project and researcher in two other projects at the URJC's Office of Animal-Assisted Interventions, as a specialist in communication and people with disabilities. She has co-directed a teaching innovation project at the URJC's Faculty of Communication Sciences. She has participated in a European research project at the UCM's Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. She belongs to the UCM's Social Identities and Communication Research Group and the Teaching Innovation Group for communication content in mobile journalism at the URJC's Faculty of Communication Sciences. As a result of these projects, he has published seven scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals indexed in JCR and Scopus, including Applied Sciences, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Animals, Prisma Social, Visual Culture Review, and Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics. He has published seven book chapters with academic editorial boards and peer-reviewed publishers such as Fragua, Gedisa, and Dykinson.

Eva Ireide Martínez de Bartolomé Rincón, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Doctorate (with honors) in Information Sciences and Bachelor's Degree in Advertising and Public Relations from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy also from the UCM. Pre-doctoral contract for Research Staff Training (FPI) at the UCM, thanks to which she began her first line of research on ethics in the field of information, which would culminate in the defense of her doctoral thesis. Accredited by ANECA as a Doctoral Assistant, Contracted Doctor, and Private University Professor, she spent five and a half years teaching and researching at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR), combining this with management positions as academic coordinator of the official degree in Marketing and the master's degree in Neuromarketing, as well as coordinator of the MBA and director of corporate academic development. She has taught courses in advertising and commercial communication, business communication, oral communication skills, ethics, and philosophy at various undergraduate and master's degree levels. She has developed teaching materials at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR) for courses in Personal and Organizational Communication and Advertising and Commercial Communication, among others.

She has published with prestigious publishers such as Dykinson, Egregius, and Fragua. She is currently Dean of the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Communication at UNIE University. She is the principal investigator (PI) of the Information and Communication in the Digital Age research group at UNIE University and co-editor of the journal UNIE Business Research. As a professional, she has worked in media outlets such as the newspapers Expansión and El Mundo, where she has developed communication and business training projects.

Lidia Ana García-Bouza García, UNIE Universidad

PhD in Journalism and Bachelor's Degree in Information Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). My solid academic background and early years of research focused on the field of Political Communication at the same university, where I completed postgraduate studies and participated in important projects. My research work in this field resulted in publications such as the book chapter “The use of hashtags on Twitter to defend the plurality and independence of RTVE: the case of @mujeresRTVE,” developed within the framework of the European Union's Erasmus+ program. Editorial Fragua. Currently, I combine research work with university teaching. I am a professor in the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Communication at UNIE University in the area of Communication. I teach in several degree programs, including Business Administration and Management, Business Analytics, Computer Science, and Marketing and Communication. In addition, I hold the position of director of the Master's Degree in Marketing and Commercial Management, where I also teach classes. My current lines of research focus on Digital Communication and Political Communication, fields in which I continue to develop relevant projects and studies. I belong to the research group on information and communication in the Digital Age at UNIE University and contribute to the journal UNIE Business Research.

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Published

29-09-2026

How to Cite

Rivera-Martín, B., Martínez de Bartolomé Rincón, E. I., & García-Bouza García, L. A. (2026). Hate Speech and Hate Crimes in the Trump Era: The Charlie Kirk Case as a Catalyst of Hate Rhetoric. Tripodos, (60), 04. https://doi.org/10.51698/tripodos.2026.60.04

Issue

No. 60 (2026): Donald Trump's Communication: Challenging Established Boundaries in the Political Arena

Section

Monograph

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