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Monday night, a major effort to publicly identify, intimidate, and harass people viewed as celebrating the death of rightwing commentator Charlie Kirk received backing by the US Vice-President.

During a guest appearance on Kirk’s podcast, Vance stated that those who “see someone celebrating Charlie’s assassination” should publicly identify them”. Vance went on to say: “Hell, call their employer. We are opposed in political violence, but we strongly support in civility, and there is zero respect in the applause of targeted killing.”

Over recent days, numerous employees across various industries—including college staff to an commercial aviator—have been fired due to their comments about the commentator’s killing.

An anonymous online platform that began gathering submissions of anti-Kirk “political extremism” stated it had obtained more than sixty-three thousand submissions. Originally named “Expose Charlie’s Murderers”, the platform changed its name on Monday to the “Charlie Kirk Data Foundation”.

Allies of Donald Trump have sought to connect the assassination—without evidence—to what they describe as a organized progressive “extremist” movement that endorses targeted attacks. This has sparked fears of a draconian response on free speech.

During the podcast, Vance announced that the government would “aim to break down the organizations that promote aggression and extremism in our nation”.

Joining the Vice-President on the program was Stephen Miller, who also vowed to crack down on what he referred to as a “vast domestic terrorist operation” he blamed for Kirk’s death.

“With God as my witness,” Miller said, “we are going to use all available tools at the Department of Justice, DHS, and throughout this government to identify, undermine, dismantle, and eliminate these groups.”

Ideological affiliations of the assailant are not yet known, and the US has experienced a wave of attacks in recent years that has targeted both Democrats and conservatives.

However, the broad effort has also affected those who voiced criticism of the late activist, a Christian nationalist with a history of sexist and bigoted remarks. Some have only repeated Kirk’s own words or been targeted for failing to grieve his passing.

One individual affected was Army Lt Col Christopher Ladnier, who quoted Kirk on the date of his killing. This included Kirk labeling the landmark legislation as a “monster” that “has now turned into an discriminatory tool”, and his claim that certain firearm fatalities are the cost of the Second Amendment.

GOP-led states such as the Sunshine State, the Sooner State, and Texas have initiated investigations into educators alleged of making inappropriate statements following last week’s assassination. Meanwhile, the Armed Forces has invited citizens to report those who “applaud or ridicule” the killing, and stated that several service members have faced dismissal for their statements.

Calls for a crackdown by the Vice-President and additional Trump allies have brought back memories of some of the darkest chapters in US the past.

“The government involvement in this brings it nearer to looking like the Red Scare,” said a free speech advocate of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, evoking the historical effort to root out leftists that resulted in unfounded accusations and ruined careers. “That was hardly a shining era for open discourse.”

Democrats have themselves been targets of ideologically motivated attacks recently, such as the June assassination of a Minnesota elected official and her spouse, and the assault of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partner in their San Francisco residence.