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When news broke that conservative commentator Charlie Kirk had been murdered, nurses at Englewood Health say horror and sympathy filled the room — except for one surgeon who allegedly laughed and said Kirk “had it coming” and “deserved it.” A brave nurse, Lexi Kuenzle, called him out on the spot for celebrating political violence and later posted about the incident on her personal social media. What followed should alarm every American who believes in free speech and professional standards: Kuenzle says she was called into a meeting the next day, suspended without pay, and told to prepare for the end of her career.
Kuenzle’s account paints a chilling picture of double standards inside our institutions: a physician allegedly celebrating an assassination in front of patients, and a nurse who objects being punished. According to reports, the surgeon named in the suit, Dr. Matthew Jung, allegedly made the comments in a nurses’ station while a patient lay on a stretcher and multiple staff overheard. The nurse’s decision to speak up was less about politics and more about basic human decency and the Hippocratic oath — a duty apparently lost on some of our supposed healthcare professionals.
Instead of commending Kuenzle for defending human life and professional ethics, hospital administrators initially suspended both staffers pending investigation and, according to her lawsuit, singled her out for punishment. Kuenzle has filed suit in Bergen County, alleging retaliation and violation of her sincerely held religious beliefs after she was disciplined for reporting what she believed was illegal and unethical conduct. This is exactly the kind of institutional punishment conservatives have warned about: speak up and you pay the price, even when you’re standing up for victims and core professional values.
Patriots should be reassured that pushback works. After public pressure and scrutiny, the hospital moved to reinstate Kuenzle and later announced that the surgeon resigned — an outcome that vindicates her courage and the power of speaking truth to power. Still, the fact that she had to sue to get justice is a warning sign: our institutions are quick to protect powerful insiders and slow to protect everyday Americans who defend decency. It’s an expensive lesson in why we need stronger protections for workers who report wrongdoing and for people persecuted for their faith and views.
Legal advocates on the right have rightly taken up Kuenzle’s cause, arguing this was unlawful retaliation and a violation of state protections for religious belief and free expression. Her lawyers contend no nurse should ever be forced out for upholding the oath to protect patients and the integrity of medicine, and they’re demanding unspecified damages for the harm she suffered. Conservative legal groups and grassroots activists should keep the pressure on to ensure this case becomes a milestone, not an outlier, in the fight against ideological purity tests at work.
This incident did not happen in a vacuum. It took place amid a nationwide scramble where employers, universities, and public agencies have been quick to suspend or fire employees for comments tied to the tragedy surrounding Charlie Kirk’s death. The pattern is clear: far too many institutions are treating political speech as a firing offense while pretending to defend “respect” and “safety.” That hypocrisy is dangerous and un-American; it chills speech and incentivizes silence in the face of real wrongdoing.
Lexi Kuenzle’s appearance on conservative platforms, including Glenn Beck’s program, reminded millions that ordinary Americans still have the courage to stand up when the powerful get it wrong. She did what nurses are supposed to do — protect patients and call out cruelty — and the public response helped turn what could have been a career-ending punishment into a public rebuke of institutional bias. Let her story be a rallying cry: defend your neighbors, defend your faith, and demand accountability from institutions that too often put ideology over integrity.
