This is not a moment for dishonesty. Contrary to the hurried efforts of some Democratic leaders to eulogize Charlie Kirk, we don’t need to pretend the far-right activist engaged in earnest politics “across ideology, through spirited debate” as California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post on X paying tribute to Kirk.
Kirk, the founder of the far-right movement Turning Points USA, was committed to organizing America’s white young men, from college campus to college campus and beyond, into a politics of revanchist, resentment-fueled, patriarchal white nationalism.
At the time of writing, the person responsible for shooting Kirk has not been apprehended or identified. That didn’t stop Trump from delivering an official address unequivocally blaming the “radical left” for Kirk’s death in the broadest terms possible.
The Trump administration is a weaponization machine; it will transform all manner of things into an ideological arsenal to use against its opposition. Anti-genocide activism is antisemitism; immigrant workers are “the worst” criminals; addressing white supremacy is discrimination; war crimes are peace — all of these fascistic transmutations have become grimly common in the last eight months.
The missed shot? The one where the gunman got lucky to still hit his target, because the wind could have just as easily blown the shot a little further to the right and missed entirely?
Look I get it was convenient, and I dunno why the gunman did it, but I really, really don’t want to live in a world where the FBI wrote “notices bulges OwO what’s this?” on a bullet in order to implicate leftists. I have to assume they are legitimate.
There’s really nothing to indicate this wasn’t a legitimate left-wing lone wolf hunting enthusiast that decided they wanted one less breathing Nazi.