Rep. Derrick Van Orden, D-Wis., arrives before President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) has made several of inflammatory and pro-political violence posts on X in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder in Utah on Wednesday afternoon.

Even though the identity of the shooter is unknown as of Thursday afternoon, Van Orden has opted to sow even more political division and extremism to his followers, some of which blamed the assassination on Democrats and the media. On Thursday morning, Van Orden responded to a post about a civil war with “leftists,” urging his followers to remember how the last American civil war started and ended.

Van Orden also accused Democrats of “normalizing political violence,” and accused “the left” of leading America to a civil war. He said the left is “about to get a Right”, compared it to Nazi-aligned Brownshirts and said you cannot coexist with Democrats.

These posts come after van Orden said there is no room for political violence in America immediately after the confirmation of Kirk’s death. And Thursday morning, just six minutes after memorializing the victims, families and first responders of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, he said “the wind has been sowed” against the Democratic Party.

In response to Van Orden’s X tirade, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Devin Remiker called for a stop to the divisive rhetoric.

“At a time when everyone — Democrat, Independent, and Republican alike — should be coming together, Derrick Van Orden is doing everything he can to encourage more violence,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Devin Remiker. “His terrifying statements, which are inviting civil war and encouraging violence against Democrats and the media, are being completely ignored by Republicans in Wisconsin and in D.C.. They have a responsibility to tell Derrick Van Orden to stop pouring gasoline on an open flame, and I implore them to do so immediately.”

Van Orden has repeatedly displayed this pattern in wake of tragedies, including the assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman over the summer. Before the shooter was confirmed to be a conservative, Van Orden erroneously claimed to know the assailant’s motives and political ideology. Van Orden also called Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) a clown for mourning Hortman’s death. The congressman also implied that Democrats were responsible for the attempt on Donald Trump’s life last year, despite the motivations of the alleged shooter being unknown and his status as a registered Republican.