Self-proclaimed free speech advocate tells Newsmax ‘I do not want’ Charlie Kirk critics to ‘have free speech’

In the wake of the State Department stripping visas from at least six foreign nationals whom it accused of celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Newsmax guest Dennis Kneale said “to heck with them” and that he did not “want them to have free speech.”

A former Fox Business and CNBC anchor who now hosts his own podcast, Kneale said that he stood by that position even though he was typically “all for free speech.” In fact, on both social media and his What’s Bugging Me show, Kneale has portrayed himself as a free speech champion and advocate.

“The right to speak one’s piece is under attack both at home and abroad. The press, who should have the biggest dog in this fight, has somehow become cheerleaders for the censors,” he declared last year. “Elon Musk and his X social media platform have become a favorite target.”

“Free speech is everything. Stand up and be heard,” Kneale tweeted this past March while hawking his book The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk. A month earlier, he took issue with a human rights activist telling 60 Minutes that “free speech needs boundaries,” calling it “infuriating” while accusing her of “sacrificing someone else’s free speech” over language that makes others feel “scared and intimidated.”

During his Wednesday morning appearance on Newsmax, however, Kneale made the very argument he had previously raged against: that some people don’t deserve free speech if their views offend and anger others.

Earlier this week, the State Department announced that it was continuing to “identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk” while providing six examples of “aliens who are no longer welcome” in the United States. “The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the department noted while sharing censored screenshots of social media posts from visa holders that “mocked Americans grieving the loss of Kirk,” adding that their visas had been revoked over the comments.

“Aliens who take advantage of America’s hospitality while celebrating the assassination of our citizens will be removed,” the State Department’s X account wrote.

The deportations came weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio – in the wake of Kirk’s killing – declared that anyone who is “here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure” is “not welcome in this country” and should “prepare to be deported.” Meanwhile, as federal judges have already rebuked the Trump administration for using the threat of deportation to intimidate campus protesters into silence, the visa revocations have sparked outcry from civil liberties organizations.

During Wednesday’s segment, which RawStory’s Alexander Willis first flagged, Newsmax host Andrew Craft brought up the “intense vitriol” in the wake of Kirk’s murder, which he said was “so craven” because some seemed to “relish” in it. At the same time, Craft noted that the administration had “taken action against some of those people,” particularly “those who are foreigners” who are in the US legally.

“They said they were going to do this,” Craft continued. “We’ll see if any of those six foreigners contest it in court. It will be kind of an interesting free speech case that’s set up from that.”

Fellow Newsmax anchor Sharla McBride added that it is “really concerning when you have people who are here” as foreign nationals but are “praising someone’s death” and “celebrating a murder in broad daylight.” She further said that “revoking those visas is a good idea because these people could have violent tendencies,” something that Kneale appeared to agree with.

“They are trying to overturn the country that they were dying to come to. That they were dying to be accepted,” he exclaimed.

“On one hand, I’m all for free speech,” Kneale continued. “But if someone’s coming here and undermining the country and wants to topple our government, then to heck with them, I don’t want them to have free speech! I’m sorry, especially if they are here as our guests.”