Palmetto Bay councilman is asked to resign after ‘vile’ Charlie Kirk post

Steve Cody thought it would be clever to call the murder of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk a “fitting sacrifice.” It sounded to some like the Palmetto Bay councilman literally cheered a political assassination.
But it might have been political suicide. Because now, some residents and other elected, including Village Mayor Karyn Cunningham and Vice Mayor Mark Merwitzer, are calling for him to resign.
“As a mother and as your mayor, I am both saddened and disturbed,” Cunningham said in statement emailed Thursday afternoon about the “deeply troubling” social media post. This was after a crowd of protesters showed up at Village Hall to demand he resign.
“Violence has no place in our community or in our nation, and words that seek to diminish or make light of such tragedy are equally harmful,” Cunningham said. “With this in mind, I must call for Councilman Cody to step down,” she said.
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Cody, a loudmouth attorney first elected in 2020, is in the middle of a political dumpster fire after posting on his Facebook page that Kirk — the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder, shot and killed at a rally in Utah this week — was a “fitting sacrifice to our Lords: Smith and Wesson. Hallowed be their names.”
He followed it with a quote from Kirk in 2023 about gun violence: “I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
Too soon, Steve.
The backlash was immediate. Conservative activist Ryan Fournier, chairman of the national Students for Trump (and Kirk’s heir apparent), quickly circulated a screenshot of Cody’s post, urging his followers to “expose” the Florida Democrat. Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power called the remark “vile and hateful,” accusing Cody not just of mocking a murdered “patriot,” but of “ridiculing his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Yeah, because we need to bring that into it.
Power painted Cody as a “bully drunk on power” who has a history of harassing neighbors and shutting down dissent. And he dared other Florida Democrats to condemn their boy, warning that silence would make them “complicit in the behavior that is at the root of political violence.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, State Rep. Juan Porras and Congressman Carlos Gimenez piled on because, well Cody is a Democrat even though it’s a nonpartisan seat. Ladra doubts that a Republican council member in Hialeah would have gotten the same lashing.
“Absolutely mortified by Palmetto Bay councilman Steve Cody’s mocking of Charlie Kirk’s death in real time,” Gimenez posted on Instagram. “This is unbecoming of any elected official. Steve Cody must resign.”
That’s a lot of pearl-clutching, but Cody gave them the ammo.
And he’s not the only casualty of the Charlie Kirk murder aftermath. A reporter at MSNBC was fired and another journalist at Politico was suspended after asking a question some thought was insensitive. A member of the staff at Miami Country Day School resigned after his social media post, calling Kirk’s death “karma,” sparked outrage.
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Cody’s troubles also seem to be karma, in a way. The councilman got a former in hot water after he compared the Village’s eradication of “aggressive” ducks to the Holocaust. If Ladra remembers correctly, David Singer was fired after that.
Late Thursday afternoon, Cody tried damage control, deleting the post and offering the most half-hearted mea culpa possible: “I screwed up.” No kidding, Sherlock. He called the post a “serious error in judgment,” that did not reflect his values or beliefs.
“The language I shared could easily be read as trivializing the very real and painful toll of gun violence in our communities. That was never my intent, but intent does not erase impact,” Cody said in a statement a few hours after he removed the post. “I deeply regret posting it, and I take full responsibility for my lapse in judgment.
“I do not endorse the sentiment expressed in that quotation,” Cody said, and Ladra believes that was clear. The point of the post was to bring to light the irony, and the double standard in some circles, of Kirk’s own words in light of this heinous crime against him. But, as an elected, Cody might have crossed the line. Even he realized that.
“I believe public officials have a duty to engage thoughtfully, to show respect for differing views, and to never make light of issues that affect lives and families. To those who were offended or hurt by my post, especially the friends and family of Charlie Kirk, I sincerely apologize. I am committed to learning from this mistake, to exercising greater care in what I share, and to focusing my energy on the issues that matter most to the residents of Palmetto Bay.”
He did not indicate, however, that he would resign. In an interview with CBS Miami, he said he had no plans to.
“It was not the most well thought out thing I’ve ever done,” Cody said. “If I had thought about it longer I probably would have just kept that thought to myself.
In a short telephone interview with Political Cortadito, Cody said his remarks, while unfortunate and wrong, were being seized by his political enemies to hang him. Even though he knows he gave them the rope.
“I opened the door and waved them through,” Cody told Ladra. “This was an unforced error.”
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Merwitzer, Cody’s nemesis on the dais, did not think Cody’s apology was authentic.
“He got caught and now he’s pretending he’s sorry,” Merwitzer told Political Cortadito. “He cannot unring that bell with this community.
“It’s highly unbecoming of an elected official to mock the assignation of a political activist no matter what side he was on. An attack on any one political activist is an attack on every political activist,” Merwitzer added.
The mayor, who has been an ally of Cody’s since he first ran, is also a Democrat and told Political Cortadito that this “goes way beyond partisan politics,” and a public official is held to a higher standard.
“Political ally Steve is still a friend,” Cunningham told Ladra. “I represent 25,000 residents, And what he did was condone the assassination, condone killing!”
Well, not really. He just wanted to point out the irony in what happened against what Kirk has said in the past. Again, it was too soon.
And Cunningham may have had to say something. She said she and the municipality got “hundreds” of phone calls. And a group of about 40 residents marched on Village Hall Thursday afternoon to express their outrage and demand that Cody resign.
“When you represent 25,000 residents in Palmetto Bay and you put something out there that not just a majority of Palmetto Bay residents but most American disagree with, it’s a betrayal of public trust,” said Chad Heffernen who organized the protest. But he’s been complaining about Cody and his “anti-conservative” social media posts for months.
“He’s using it as a platform for his ideology,” said Heffernen, who voted for Cody in 2020, but not last year. “”He has been an embarrassment to the community for the last few years.”
The residents were joined at Village Hall by State Rep. Omar Blanco, who posted on his Instagram page that “Celebrating something this horrific has no place in public service.”
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Ladra doesn’t condone what Cody posted nor, of course, any of the political violence that has scarred our nation for years — and picked up recently. But as disgusting, tone-deaf, and flat-out cruel as Cody’s comment was, isn’t calling for his resignation over a Facebook post a little… unconstitutional? Cody didn’t order a hit. He didn’t plan an insurrection. He didn’t even yell fire in a crowded theater. He just showed the world that he’s a bit of a jerk with very little impulse control. Some people are not the least little bit surprised.
But that’s not a crime — it’s protected speech. The First Amendment covers ugly, offensive, vile opinions, too. And voters, not mayors, are supposed to decide when a politician goes too far.
Make no mistake: Cody’s words were beneath the office. He has embarrassed Palmetto Bay, Miami-Dade, and Democrats everywhere. But if we start booting electeds for distasteful speech, where do we stop? There are plenty of people in local government and even Washington, D.C., who have used painfully hateful, even inciting, rhetoric.
Maybe Cody will resign. Or maybe he’ll double down and dare his critics to try to force him out. Either way, the story is no longer just about one reckless councilman — it’s also about whether Palmetto Bay will trample the Constitution to save face.

Statement from Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham:
“Earlier today, I became aware of a deeply troubling social media post made by one of my colleagues on the Village Council in response to the tragic assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. As a mother and as your Mayor, I am both saddened and disturbed. Violence has no place in our community or in our nation, and words that seek to diminish or make light of such tragedy are equally harmful.
Regardless of political affiliation or public profile, acts of violence are never acceptable in a civil society. We must hold firm to the values that unite us: respect, compassion, and the unwavering belief that disagreements must be addressed through dialogue, not destruction.
“As public officials, we are entrusted to lead by example and to uphold the values of respect, empathy, and civility that form the foundation of our democracy. We must model the kind of peaceful discourse that we want to see reflected in our society.
“With this in mind, and with great respect for the office I hold, I must call for Councilman Cody to step down. The people of Palmetto Bay deserve leadership that reflects compassion, responsibility, and dignity in moments of crisis.
“My deepest sympathies go out to Charlie Kirk’s family and to the families and loved ones of anyone affected by a horrific act. In moments like these, we must come together, not as partisans, but as people committed to peace, understanding, and the shared dignity of every human life.
“Thank you to those that have reached out including our State Senator Alexis Calatayud. Thank you for your support.”

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