As all are aware, MAGA Activist Charlie Kirk, 31, was assassinated via long-range rifle shot on September 10. A few impressions arise, none terribly unique.
The first is my realization that as I decry MAGAs for staying within their own media silo, I clearly remain within my own. If you would have asked me on September 9 who Charlie Kirk was, I would only have been able to indicate that he was an alt-right influencer; I was not nearly as aware of him or of the outsized influence he apparently had on the MAGA movement as I am, for example, of Steve Bannon.
The second is the most important: no one should be a victim of violence, in the political sphere or otherwise. Mr. Kirk leaves a wife and two children. The terrible atmosphere of violence to which we have devolved need not be elaborated upon here. I understand that some on the right are loudly criticizing some on the left whom the rightists feel either haven’t shown sufficient remorse or perhaps indicated outright pleasure at Mr. Kirk’s demise. I don’t follow much in the social media sphere (quite an admission for a blogger 😉 ), but any expression of pleasure or satisfaction at Mr. Kirk’s passing is more than callous; it is barbaric. To the extent any such expressions have been made, those on the right are absolutely correct to condemn them. At the same time, although it is only human nature to feel more deeply the loss of those with whom one feels kinship, I would suggest that the rightists criticizing those on the left are entitled to expect the same level of regret from the leftists regarding Mr. Kirk’s passing that they themselves felt regarding the hammer attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, or the June shooting death of liberal Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, or the spring arson attack on PA Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The third impression is as ominous as it is predictable. I have seen reported that in a video following Mr. Kirk’s death, President Donald Trump denounced the “radical Left” for rhetoric that he claimed to be “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today” – while failing to mention the incidents involving Ms. Hortman and Messrs. Pelosi and Shapiro. The President reportedly added, “It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible.” (Mr. Trump’s hypocrisy is, of course, palpable.) Also on the day of Mr. Kirk’s murder, the New York Times reported that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tweeted, “All of us must now dedicate ourselves to defeating the evil that stole Charlie from this world.” [Emphasis Added] Coming from arguably the most partisan member of the Trump Administration, such an expression was chilling. It remains to be seen how aggressively the President and his acolytes will try to exploit Mr. Kirk’s assassination against their political opponents. In these situations, one rarely goes wrong assuming that they will proceed the most shamelessly.
Since Mr. Kirk’s assassination, I have become acquainted through various sources with a number of his pronouncements. Although Mr. Kirk was clearly an able, articulate, and bright man, I consider most of what I understand to be his positions to be abhorrent trash. I have seen one of his 2023 declarations, dealing with gun rights, quoted in several quarters, presumably because it is considered ironic by those who have cited it: “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.”
While I have now confirmed that I agreed with Mr. Kirk on very little, I will nonetheless take the liberty of paraphrasing him: it is worth the cost of having those with whom we vehemently disagree speak and move safely among us so that we can all enjoy the First Amendment Right of Free Speech to protect our other God-given rights. That Mr. Kirk was struck down is as great a danger to our democracy as the divisive views he espoused. I understand that he frequently proclaimed his Christianity. May he, as I pray I will, be judged by a merciful God.
McCoy's Noise 