The Truth of the Matter by Geoff Carter

Illustration by Michael DiMilo

By Geoff Carter

The shocking assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was horrifying and despicable, but—unfortunately—not all that surprising, considering the catalog of political violence over the past several years, including the murders of Minnesota lawmakers Melissa and Mark Hortman; the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi; the conspiracy to kidnap Governor Gretchen Witmer; the attempted arson of Governor Josh Shapiro’s home; a shooter peppering the CDC with gunfire; an ICE officer shot in Texas; a mass shooting at a WalMart in Texas; the two attempts to assassinate President Trump; and, last but not least, the January 6^th Capitol riot.

And of course, there have been many more recent incidents of threats, violence, and intimidation against judges, election officials, and even school board members, too many to be listed here.

No. Kirk’s murder is not surprising. This is not an isolated incident. This is an appalling national trend which shows no signs of abating. And why would it? With the ready availability of firearms and the divisive and hateful rhetoric that has plagued our political discourse over the past few years, political violence seems to be a foregone and inevitable conclusion.

According to Cynthia Miller-Idriss, the director of the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University, “When you have political rhetoric that consistently positions us versus them in existential terms, when people online are celebrating the assassination of a United Healthcare executive, for example, that kind of violence being valorized, not just seen as a last type of solution, but as an acceptable or even preferable one (PBS).”

What is just as unsurprising—but disgustingly appalling—is the misleading and cynical manipulation of the narrative concerning the legacy of Charlie Kirk. While the taking of any human life is an unforgivable act, the eulogization of the deceased tends to be an eminently forgiving act. And so it is with Charlie Kirk, who, according to all accounts, was a loving and husband, father, and friend who started Turning Point USA, a conservative political group.

President Trump counted him as a personal friend and close political ally. He went so far as to posthumously award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The president personally announced Kirk’s death on Fox News and Vice-President Vance transported his casket to his home state of Arizona on Air Force 2. Flags were ordered to be flown at half-staff. All these were honors befitting a hero or a statesman. With a few exceptions, stadiums at NFL games held a moment of silence for the fallen media star.

At risk of speaking ill of the dead, I feel compelled to say that Charlie Kirk was neither a hero nor a statesman. He was a media presence known for his extreme and provocative statements about DEI, race, trans politics, immigration, and abortion. Here’s a sampler of his quotes published in The Guardian:

“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.”

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 23 January 2024

“The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.”

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 March 2024

“If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. Now they’re coming out and they’re saying it for us … You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 13 July 2023

“I think it’s worth it 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. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”

– Event organized by TPUSA Faith, the religious arm of Kirk’s conservative group Turning Point USA, on 5 April 2023

Unfortunately, the last statement turned out to be tragically ironic, but to call these statements inflammatory and divisive would be an understatement. This is the man who Trump and MAGA Republicans are hailing as a hero. Yes, he had every right to speak his mind. Mr. Kirk, like every other American, is protected by First Amendment rights, but the fact that he used that right to destroy reputations, damage our national institutions, and further his own political ambitions through hate, fear, and lies does not make him a hero, even if the present administration and MAGA Republicans want to do so.

The Kirk death narrative is fittingly (in racial terms) a whitewash being perpetrated by the party that utilizes the same hateful and divisive tactics as Charlie Kirk. His rhetoric about DEI, race, and replacement theory is designed to drive wedges between segments of our society. His views of women’s rights and abortion were positively medieval. His advice to Taylor Swift to “submit to her husband. He’s in charge” to one of the wealthiest and most successful women in the world is not only misogynistic, but also primeval.

The political right’s immediate attempt was to politicize Kirk’s death, to lay blame on the other side. Trump blamed “the radical left” before any evidence about the shooter had come to light—probably a reflexive reaction. This accusation was immediately echoed by White House Aide Steven Miller and Trump henchman Lindsay Graham. According to ABC News , Graham said he saw Kirk’s murder as another example of “an effort by the radical left to dehumanize the MAGA movement.”

Others pointed fingers at Democrats until investigators announced the shooter’s parents were Trump supporters and gun enthusiasts and that the shooter himself thought Charlie Kirk was not extreme enough, but these MAGAs were not about to be deterred by something as trivial as the truth.

Posing him as a martyr to First Amendment Rights, MAGA Republicans are having at least some sort of success in whitewashing Kirk’s image, and, in acts of extreme and shameful cowardice, some institutions are retaliating against those who have the gall to criticize Kirk. According to The USA Today Network, a Secret Service agent was “put on leave for posting disparaging remarks about Charlie Kirk”, a Middle Tennessee State University dean was fired for posting that she had “zero sympathy” for Kirk. The U.S. Marines, MSNBC, the University of Mississippi all fired employees posting anti-Kirk sentiments. It seems as if the First Amendment applies to only one side of the political spectrum.

Whether or not their smear campaign against Democrats will work, and how far it will go, is still in question.

Charlie Kirk’s death is a tragedy. No one deserves to be murdered. The truth deserves to live, too, but in this case, it is being bent, obscured, and painted over to make it seem as if Charlie Kirk was more than what he was—a would-be demagogue who modeled himself after Rush Limbaugh, the king of media divisiveness and hate. Unfortunately, his MAGA allies—and a large chunk of corporate America, refuse to acknowledge that. They would have us believe that this vitriolic brand of rhetoric is normal, and even necessary, to keep America great.

Of course, nothing is farther from the truth, but unlike other presidents, Mr. Trump has done nothing to heal the ever-growing rifts in our political discourse. Why should he jeopardize his greatest political strength—his divide and conquer strategy?

MAGA Republicans want us to love and revere Charlie Kirk as a hero and a patriot, but nothing could be farther than the truth. He was neither.

MAGA wants us to feel the pain and grief they are experiencing—which has turned out to be Kirk’s final, most devastating irony.

“I can’t stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage.”

–Charlie Kirk from (The Hindustan Times)

In this case, he might just be right.