Suddenly, the Tune Changes

Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕️

In the days before law enforcement officials announced that they had found a suspect for the murder of Charlie Kirk in 22-year old Utahn Tyler Robinson, prominent figures on the right were out for blood.

What they wanted, they said, were full-scale reprisals against the left. Chris Rufo, the influential activist, called for a crackdown of federal law enforcement on the opposition. Steve Bannon described Kirk as a “casualty of war,” adding: “we are at war in this country.” Stephen Miller posted a mini-manifesto on X, echoing the Gettysburg Address to call for the “defeat of this wicked ideology.”

That was all before law enforcement had identified a suspect. Nothing was known about the shooter apart from the fact that the person had successfully shot and killed Charlie Kirk. No motive, no identity, no background, no clues as to potential ideology.

Then, on Friday morning, FBI and Utah state law enforcement officials announced that they had arrested Robinson on suspicion of murder after his father turned him in. Robinson’s motive remains unclear, but early signs suggest its traceable more to the depths of online fever swamps than to an ideology that maps clearly on to either political party.

That’s prompted a turnaround, and some blame shifting. That’s partly fallen on FBI Director Kash Patel. Rufo wrote that he doubted whether Patel had “the operational expertise to investigate, infiltrate, and disrupt” violent movements. Bannon complained on-air that Patel had flown “thousands of miles” to praise “our great partnership in Utah.”

Bannon’s complaint had more to do with law enforcement not providing more details about Robinson and what had taken place; he kept calling the suspect “antifa.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) made the most obvious 180. On Wednesday afternoon, Mace was demanding the death penalty and calling the shooter — at that point unidentified — a transphobic slur. On Friday, after Robinson was announced as the suspect, Mace wrote that Kirk “would want us to pray for such an evil, and lost individual.”

One figure that maintained tonal consistency throughout it all was President Donald Trump. During a “Fox and Friends” appearance on Friday morning, he said that the focus needs to be to “beat the hell out of” what he described as “radical left lunatics.”

“The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” he said. “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.”

— Josh Kovensky

Here’s what else TPM has on tap this weekend:

• As red states incentivize their citizens to sue anyone who might have in some way helped with an abortion, California has passed a bill designed to protect doctors and pharmacies that prescribe the abortion pill from being targeted. More on the new law below.
• In remarks to Fox News on Friday, Donald Trump made it pretty clear that he has no idea how funding the government works and knows nothing about a little thing called the Senate filibuster.
• The Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on economic data and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ efforts to produce non-partisan data on unemployment in America continue.

California Passes Unusual Law To Protect Abortion Patient, Provider Identities 

The California legislature passed a new bill this week that would keep the names of the patient, provider and pharmacist off of abortion medication packaging, a move to protect those involved if the medication is traveling into an anti-abortion state.

In particular, anonymizing the provider and pharmacist will shield them from red state lawsuits for aiding and abetting the abortion. The new legislation will have nationwide implications, as many mailed abortion pills are prescribed by pharmacies based in California.

It’s a direct response to the atmosphere of anti-abortion surveillance in red states, where partners of women getting abortions have been deputized to turn them and their providers over to state authorities. In one such case out of Texas, a Collin County woman was admitted to the emergency room to address bleeding. A nurse allegedly told the man she was with that the woman had been pregnant, leading the man to search the house for evidence that she’d taken medication to end the pregnancy. Information on the packaging led to a state lawsuit against New York doctor Maggie Carpenter, who has thus far been protected from prosecution by New York’s shield law.  

The new bill is expected to be signed by California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

— Kate Riga

The Trump Admin’s Attack on BLS Data Continues

It’s still unclear how exactly the Bureau of Labor Statistics will operate under the new Trump administration, but a barrage of federal economic data released this week made it a hot topic. 

The Department of Labor is investigating how the BLS collects and reports “closely watched economic data,” CNN reported on Wednesday. Leadership at the Department of Labor initiated the investigation after data from a BLS annual revision showed U.S. employers added nearly 1 million fewer jobs between March 2024 and March 2025 than previously reported, prompting Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to criticize BLS data practices. The Friends of the BLS, an advocacy group made up of some former BLS commissioners, shot back in a statement, saying that underfunding by Congress and the administration, not skill or political bias, is the real problem at BLS.

Chavez-Deremer’s own Labor Department released data Thursday showing new weekly unemployment claims hit their highest level since Oct. 2021, while last Friday’s monthly BLS jobs report showed spiking Black unemployment and stagnant hiring.

This all comes against a backdrop of public anxiety that by politicizing the science of statistics, Trump risks compromising the U.S. economy. His pick to head BLS is Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, whom experts on both sides of the aisle have called unqualified. And a CNN report from late last week uncovered Antoni’s now-deleted X account where he espoused homophobic, misogynistic, and otherwise offensive views, including a sexually explicit post about former Vice President Kamala Harris, and one mocking late Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) death.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) could stand in the way of Antoni’s Senate confirmation. A member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee before which Antoni will have a hearing, Murkowski told Bloomberg she has “extreme reservations” about his candidacy and said some of his comments “are disqualifying.”

— Layla A. Jones

President Trump’s Filibuster Problem 

President Donald Trump dismissed congressional Democrats’ demands in exchange for their votes just weeks ahead of the deadline to fund the government for the next fiscal year. A failure to do so, of course, would result in a government shutdown.

“Don’t even bother dealing with them,” President Trump said of congressional Democrats during a Friday Fox News interview. “We will get it through because the Republicans are sticking together for the first time in a long time.”

This, of course, is an unrealistic statement if Republicans actually want to keep the government open past Sept. 30. What the president may not be realizing — or possibly ignoring because he likely wants a shutdown he can try to blame on Democrats — is the reality of the filibuster.

As I have reported many times over the past few months, any legislation — whether it’s a CR or a series of appropriations bills — to fund the government is subject to the filibuster in the Senate. Meaning Senate Republicans will need several votes from their colleagues across the aisle to avert a shutdown.

President Trump’s statement also brings to mind Office of Budget and Management Director Russell Vought’s recent remarks calling for the appropriations process to be “less bipartisan.” 

— Emine Yücel