The silence from the gop and the president when the MN state senator and her husband were murdered in their home was deafening. And they were killed by a rabid right-winger. Crickets. And we are being told now to pray for a person who spewed forth belief that empathy was a “woke” value (or some such BS) and what a tragedy. CK thought that a few lives lost was the cost of gun ownership. I guess he “got owned.”
Not just the silence from the GOP and president, but when Trump broke his silence when asked if he'd be calling Gov Walz, he said ""The guy doesn't have a clue. He's a mess. So, you know, I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?"
This list gives more of wisdom of Charlie Kirk, in quote form- from Zeteo today:
Black people
“Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.” (source)
Black pilots
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like, ’Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” (source)
Black women
“They're coming out, and they're saying, 'I'm only here because of affirmative action.' Yeah, we know. 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." (source)
Civil rights
“We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s.” (source)
Death penalty
"[Death penalties] should be public, should be quick, should be televised… I think at a certain age, it’s an initiation… At what age should you start to see public executions?" (source)
Democrats
“The Democrat Party supports everything that God hates.” (source)
Empathy
"I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made up new age term that does a lot of damage." (source)
Feminism
“Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You're not in charge." (source)
Gay people
“You might want to crack open that Bible of yours. In a lesser referenced part of the same part of scripture, is in Leviticus 18 is that, ‘thou shalt lay with another man shall be stoned to death.’ Just sayin’! So Miss Rachel, you quote Leviticus 19… the chapter before affirms God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.” (source)
George Floyd
“This guy was a scumbag.” (source)
Great Replacement Theory
“It's not a Great Replacement Theory, it's a Great Replacement Reality. Just this year, 3.6 million foreigners will invade America. 10-15 million will enter by the end of Joe Biden's term. Each will probably have 3-5 kids on average while native born Americans have 1.5 per couple. You are being replaced, by design.” (source)
Guns
“It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.” (source)
Jews
“Jewish donors have been the number one funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions and nonprofits. This is a beast created by secular Jews and now it’s coming for Jews, and they're like, ‘What on Earth happened?’ And it's not just the colleges. It's the nonprofits, it's the movies, it's Hollywood, it's all of it.” (source)
Martin Luther King Jr.
“MLK was awful. He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe.” (source)
Muslims
“They aren’t even hiding their intentions. Muslims plan to conquer Europe by demographic replacement. Will Europe wake up in time?” (source)
I was wondering how you’d be feeling after the horror you had to go through so recently. I’m in the UK and the first thing that struck me was the contrast between the reaction of those at the top towards this assassination and that of the murder of little kids in church. Trump is the worst person to have in charge, the arsonist in charge of the fire department, this won’t get better until he’s left office.
If any good comes from the summary execution of Charlie Kirk it might be the reminder of the reason we all should oppose summary executions, summary imprisonment and other summary punishments, i.e., without due process of law.
Trump and Hegseth recently publicly admitted that they summarily executed 11 people on a boat off the coast of Venezuela recently. We still don't know any such person's identity, citizenship or reason for being on that boat. Those people obviously were murdered by Trump and Hegseth for obviously political reasons. And Trump, Hegseth and Rubio publicly insisted we all should accept such murders as acceptable.
In a fairly famous SCOTUS decision, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), SCOTUS stated a warning about how and why crime is contagious. The Miranda opinion quoted the wise and great Justice Brandeis (joined by the wise and great Justice Holmes) dissenting in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928)). This warning was first offered just before SCOTUS (finally) started enforcing our First Amendment rights almost 100 years ago.
"Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."
You wrote “Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Whether he “deserved” it or not is irrelevant. No human being should die like that because as a society we should be better than that. Even if we think someone *does* deserve it! Thats why capital punishment should be abolished. That’s why we punish murder.
I make this point because I know there are people out there who think that Kirk *did* deserve it. Whether their opinion is right or not, it’s beside the point. Even loathsome people pursuing loathsome goals should not be shot down in public. The increased incidence of political violence harms our entire society
I don't feel from what you wrote that you don't feel anything. Nihilism is a killer, as is despair. I think you are disgusted as I am. There is too much to say. I am disgusted that Kirk was an influencer, celebrated, spreading hate and division. I don't celebrate his death and I would not celebrate or wish for Trump's. But I want to see this toxicity, the promotion of this, this betrayal of our country, gone from our politics, shunned in every way.
Horrific as this act of violence was, I'm very mindful of the penchant the anti-democratic right has for capitalizing on violence directed toward them. Yes, I'm thinking of Hitler, but also of Pinochet, Somoza, and a few dictators the U.S. once upon a time supported in the alleged interest of containing Communism.
I'm also thinking of the U.S., of the antebellum South and postbellum Jim Crow, of the violence directed against labor organizers in the late 19th century and civil rights organizers in the mid-20th. I'm thinking of the NRA's turn in the late 1970s from gun sports and gun safety to gun rights, and of the parallel rise of white supremacy. This violence didn't come out of nowhere, and "thoughts and prayers" aren't going to make it go away.
Thank you Aaron, well put, as usual. This is my reaction- similar to one I had a couple of years ago to "Trump inspired violence" ( he's been at it):
Context for the Kirk assasination: Trump as president for the 2nd time has filled us with his escalating hate blame revenge and retribution campaign causing deepening widening division as well as anxiety across the country. When Trump gets out this comes right out of his mouth, uninhibited. It's bad, unhinged, malicious. It echoes from there. This is the permission given from the bully pulpit… not to love but to hate to blame to disrespect *and to punish* those not MAGA, those not in his tribe, those not agreeing, those criticizing. We are seeing this acted out all over the country action- reaction -now with masked agents seizing people and deporting them without due process, now for the color of their skin. We see the National Guard’s threatening with their presence in only “blue” cities. This comes from our president and *his* chosen people, confirmed by *his* Congress, supported by *his* Supreme Court. The Congress is allowing this administration, Trump-Vance, to lead us down this path, approvingly or cowardly. We the *majority*, the maligned, the enemy, the betrayed, are saying it’s up to us now, up to the people to defend our democracy. Why are we so astonished and taken aback now at this act of violence by someone so craven directed towards this *influencer*preacher of division and hate to our youth ? What is astonishing is that this growing untenable situation just goes on and the violence is not worse. Not yet. The precipitating insanity of this all, of our politics, of our culture, is that at the top is this maliciously unfit man, celebrated by too many still, and his crew holding the most awesome power we have to give anyone. He abuses it grossly. "We the people…."
Joe Biden, just a few months ago, did not bring us to this point ever. This is the elephant in the room now- the huge elephant.
Hear, hear! The both sidesing sickens me. Saying the "radical left haters of America" that have called them Nazis and fascists are the cause of all political violence ignores the truth of those labels as well as all the demonstrated violence from the right, ignited and stoked by the figure at the top of the GOP & American government. True to form, Trump spoke from the oval office to list off a series of violent acts against Republicans, laying all blame on the Left, with no mention of attacks on Democrats and the inciting rhetoric of the Right, led by him. There's no question of who is most responsible for dividing and poisoning American politics, thinking and public discourse.
Thanks for sharing. It helps to hear this, that one can be horrified by the assassination while still abhorring the hateful message preached by the person killed. Ironic that he was discussing gun control as he was murdered.
Yes I am reading a lot of what reads like obligatory responses to this or hesitant criticism of what this person and others with this politics helped to bring on. Ironically or infuriatingly as well Trump, as president, was first out of the gate blaming the "radical left".. his boogyman. Where is this "radical left"...who, what, is this?
Ever since Trump rode down that escalator, he has brought out the worst in people. He has made it permissible to be a nasty, hateful human being and not suffer the consequences. When he mocked the handicapped reporter at one of his rallies in 2015, that should have been the end of him. I wonder that there were all these haters living here unnoticed by me. I had thought better of my fellow Americans. Now I feel stupid for not seeing what is now in front of my eyes. Stupid, yes, and very very sad.
I feel the same. I think people harbor this side for fear of shame and once it's given permission it comes out. It is brought out, dug out from what is buried in order to get along. When you don't have to, when it comes from the top it threatens the country. Trump and his people are an existential threat that we must overcome. They inspire hate and all those negative emotions that kill us.. including despair.
Thank you for your heartfelt letter. I’m so sorry for the losses you have recently experienced. I wish other public figures would react like you instead of inciting violence towards the left.
I think you captured everything well. I don't have much to add. Personally, I'm as scared for this country as I've been since the election results came in.
Thank you. I read you every morning before I look at the news. It reminds me that there are good people out there resisting the madness. The God I know doesn’t hate. People hate, when they are afraid, and bad people use that. Keep up the good work. Illegitimi non carborundum.
I feel for his family. His chidren's lives will be irrevocably split into: Life with Dad. Life without Dad. The same for his wife. Charlie said that a "few gun deaths" were acceptable to have the rights afforded by the Second Amendment. I have grieved the deaths from school shootings from Columbine to Uvalde to Colorado yesterday. I grieved Breonna Taylor who was killed by the Louisville police serving a no knock warrant. Let's work on bringing down the temperature on political division especially political violence and violent speech.
The irony of this horrific act is jaw dropping considering Kirk believed deaths were worth it to protect gun rights. But….Who “benefits” the most from his death? The argument could be made it will be the far, far right wing types who spew hatred every day. I’m terrified about where this is going to lead some people.
Great Points from your video. No one "deserves" to be murdered but when that someone spews hate and disgust for certain people constantly, it changes the sadness equation
Having a very hard time with the lionization ("America mourns Charlie Kirk" NYT for an example) of Kirk. His death was awful, I feel for his family and those who witnessed the shooting, and he was definitely an influential figure but this seems too much, too far for a figure who, whatever his good side, promoted truly awful, hateful positions on multiple subjects. Somehow even worse was Trump's inevitable reaction designed to only make things worse and make political gain from the tragedy.
It's presumptuous at very least for anyone to make pronouncements about how "America" feels. While I have sympathy for Kirk's family, and do not celebrate any violence, I do not mourn. Now we who did not support his ugly fanaticism will be subjected to flags at half-staff, over-the-top encomiums and posthumous awards.
Or maybe just "the other half asks 'is that Ben Shapiro or the other guy?'" Or perhaps better "A Divided America reacts to Kirk's shooting." But - yeah.
Yes, your second phrase is exactly what the headline should have said. Shame on Kingsbury -- and (needless to said) the editors of the NYT, who have done SO much to destroy our democracy.
The silence from the gop and the president when the MN state senator and her husband were murdered in their home was deafening. And they were killed by a rabid right-winger. Crickets. And we are being told now to pray for a person who spewed forth belief that empathy was a “woke” value (or some such BS) and what a tragedy. CK thought that a few lives lost was the cost of gun ownership. I guess he “got owned.”
Not just the silence from the GOP and president, but when Trump broke his silence when asked if he'd be calling Gov Walz, he said ""The guy doesn't have a clue. He's a mess. So, you know, I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?"
And WE'RE the problem?
This list gives more of wisdom of Charlie Kirk, in quote form- from Zeteo today:
Black people
“Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.” (source)
Black pilots
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like, ’Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” (source)
Black women
“They're coming out, and they're saying, 'I'm only here because of affirmative action.' Yeah, we know. 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." (source)
Civil rights
“We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s.” (source)
Death penalty
"[Death penalties] should be public, should be quick, should be televised… I think at a certain age, it’s an initiation… At what age should you start to see public executions?" (source)
Democrats
“The Democrat Party supports everything that God hates.” (source)
Empathy
"I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made up new age term that does a lot of damage." (source)
Feminism
“Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You're not in charge." (source)
Gay people
“You might want to crack open that Bible of yours. In a lesser referenced part of the same part of scripture, is in Leviticus 18 is that, ‘thou shalt lay with another man shall be stoned to death.’ Just sayin’! So Miss Rachel, you quote Leviticus 19… the chapter before affirms God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.” (source)
George Floyd
“This guy was a scumbag.” (source)
Great Replacement Theory
“It's not a Great Replacement Theory, it's a Great Replacement Reality. Just this year, 3.6 million foreigners will invade America. 10-15 million will enter by the end of Joe Biden's term. Each will probably have 3-5 kids on average while native born Americans have 1.5 per couple. You are being replaced, by design.” (source)
Guns
“It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.” (source)
Jews
“Jewish donors have been the number one funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions and nonprofits. This is a beast created by secular Jews and now it’s coming for Jews, and they're like, ‘What on Earth happened?’ And it's not just the colleges. It's the nonprofits, it's the movies, it's Hollywood, it's all of it.” (source)
Martin Luther King Jr.
“MLK was awful. He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe.” (source)
Muslims
“They aren’t even hiding their intentions. Muslims plan to conquer Europe by demographic replacement. Will Europe wake up in time?” (source)
Palestine
“I don’t think the place exists.” (source)
Transgender people
“You’re an abomination to God.” (source)
I was wondering how you’d be feeling after the horror you had to go through so recently. I’m in the UK and the first thing that struck me was the contrast between the reaction of those at the top towards this assassination and that of the murder of little kids in church. Trump is the worst person to have in charge, the arsonist in charge of the fire department, this won’t get better until he’s left office.
Agree that it's as though Trump was designed in a lab to be the worst person to try to respond to violence and tragedy.
If any good comes from the summary execution of Charlie Kirk it might be the reminder of the reason we all should oppose summary executions, summary imprisonment and other summary punishments, i.e., without due process of law.
Trump and Hegseth recently publicly admitted that they summarily executed 11 people on a boat off the coast of Venezuela recently. We still don't know any such person's identity, citizenship or reason for being on that boat. Those people obviously were murdered by Trump and Hegseth for obviously political reasons. And Trump, Hegseth and Rubio publicly insisted we all should accept such murders as acceptable.
In a fairly famous SCOTUS decision, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), SCOTUS stated a warning about how and why crime is contagious. The Miranda opinion quoted the wise and great Justice Brandeis (joined by the wise and great Justice Holmes) dissenting in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928)). This warning was first offered just before SCOTUS (finally) started enforcing our First Amendment rights almost 100 years ago.
"Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."
You wrote “Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Whether he “deserved” it or not is irrelevant. No human being should die like that because as a society we should be better than that. Even if we think someone *does* deserve it! Thats why capital punishment should be abolished. That’s why we punish murder.
I make this point because I know there are people out there who think that Kirk *did* deserve it. Whether their opinion is right or not, it’s beside the point. Even loathsome people pursuing loathsome goals should not be shot down in public. The increased incidence of political violence harms our entire society
I don't feel anything. I'm not glad he died. Murder is wrong. I don't feel a damn thing.
I don't feel from what you wrote that you don't feel anything. Nihilism is a killer, as is despair. I think you are disgusted as I am. There is too much to say. I am disgusted that Kirk was an influencer, celebrated, spreading hate and division. I don't celebrate his death and I would not celebrate or wish for Trump's. But I want to see this toxicity, the promotion of this, this betrayal of our country, gone from our politics, shunned in every way.
You're right. Thanks
Horrific as this act of violence was, I'm very mindful of the penchant the anti-democratic right has for capitalizing on violence directed toward them. Yes, I'm thinking of Hitler, but also of Pinochet, Somoza, and a few dictators the U.S. once upon a time supported in the alleged interest of containing Communism.
I'm also thinking of the U.S., of the antebellum South and postbellum Jim Crow, of the violence directed against labor organizers in the late 19th century and civil rights organizers in the mid-20th. I'm thinking of the NRA's turn in the late 1970s from gun sports and gun safety to gun rights, and of the parallel rise of white supremacy. This violence didn't come out of nowhere, and "thoughts and prayers" aren't going to make it go away.
Aaron,
I appreciate your thoughtful and human response to this.
I admit that my initial response was that Kirk was an evil person and the world is better without him.
He was hateful, selfish, narcissistic and manipulative, someone who added nothing to the greater good.
How many people have been hurt by the malice he has spewed, either by his own words or those who follow him? He embodied man’s inhumanity to man.
And yet, you remind me of the individual human scale of such brutality. I wish you solace as you and your family manage the ripples of gun violence.
Thanks Mark.
Thank you Aaron, well put, as usual. This is my reaction- similar to one I had a couple of years ago to "Trump inspired violence" ( he's been at it):
Context for the Kirk assasination: Trump as president for the 2nd time has filled us with his escalating hate blame revenge and retribution campaign causing deepening widening division as well as anxiety across the country. When Trump gets out this comes right out of his mouth, uninhibited. It's bad, unhinged, malicious. It echoes from there. This is the permission given from the bully pulpit… not to love but to hate to blame to disrespect *and to punish* those not MAGA, those not in his tribe, those not agreeing, those criticizing. We are seeing this acted out all over the country action- reaction -now with masked agents seizing people and deporting them without due process, now for the color of their skin. We see the National Guard’s threatening with their presence in only “blue” cities. This comes from our president and *his* chosen people, confirmed by *his* Congress, supported by *his* Supreme Court. The Congress is allowing this administration, Trump-Vance, to lead us down this path, approvingly or cowardly. We the *majority*, the maligned, the enemy, the betrayed, are saying it’s up to us now, up to the people to defend our democracy. Why are we so astonished and taken aback now at this act of violence by someone so craven directed towards this *influencer*preacher of division and hate to our youth ? What is astonishing is that this growing untenable situation just goes on and the violence is not worse. Not yet. The precipitating insanity of this all, of our politics, of our culture, is that at the top is this maliciously unfit man, celebrated by too many still, and his crew holding the most awesome power we have to give anyone. He abuses it grossly. "We the people…."
Joe Biden, just a few months ago, did not bring us to this point ever. This is the elephant in the room now- the huge elephant.
Hear, hear! The both sidesing sickens me. Saying the "radical left haters of America" that have called them Nazis and fascists are the cause of all political violence ignores the truth of those labels as well as all the demonstrated violence from the right, ignited and stoked by the figure at the top of the GOP & American government. True to form, Trump spoke from the oval office to list off a series of violent acts against Republicans, laying all blame on the Left, with no mention of attacks on Democrats and the inciting rhetoric of the Right, led by him. There's no question of who is most responsible for dividing and poisoning American politics, thinking and public discourse.
Aaron,
This explanation video might be of assistance as to why one does not have to feel sorry for MAGAts:
https://substack.com/@ragpad/note/c-154721509?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=czez
Thanks for sharing. It helps to hear this, that one can be horrified by the assassination while still abhorring the hateful message preached by the person killed. Ironic that he was discussing gun control as he was murdered.
Yes I am reading a lot of what reads like obligatory responses to this or hesitant criticism of what this person and others with this politics helped to bring on. Ironically or infuriatingly as well Trump, as president, was first out of the gate blaming the "radical left".. his boogyman. Where is this "radical left"...who, what, is this?
Exactly. Kind of a "Damned if you do & damned if you don't." To those who blame the "left", there is no response that they find satisfactory.
Their response is more hate:
https://krassencast.com/p/were-getting-dozens-of-death-threats
That is awful.
Ever since Trump rode down that escalator, he has brought out the worst in people. He has made it permissible to be a nasty, hateful human being and not suffer the consequences. When he mocked the handicapped reporter at one of his rallies in 2015, that should have been the end of him. I wonder that there were all these haters living here unnoticed by me. I had thought better of my fellow Americans. Now I feel stupid for not seeing what is now in front of my eyes. Stupid, yes, and very very sad.
I feel the same. I think people harbor this side for fear of shame and once it's given permission it comes out. It is brought out, dug out from what is buried in order to get along. When you don't have to, when it comes from the top it threatens the country. Trump and his people are an existential threat that we must overcome. They inspire hate and all those negative emotions that kill us.. including despair.
Thank you for your heartfelt letter. I’m so sorry for the losses you have recently experienced. I wish other public figures would react like you instead of inciting violence towards the left.
I think you captured everything well. I don't have much to add. Personally, I'm as scared for this country as I've been since the election results came in.
Thank you. I read you every morning before I look at the news. It reminds me that there are good people out there resisting the madness. The God I know doesn’t hate. People hate, when they are afraid, and bad people use that. Keep up the good work. Illegitimi non carborundum.
I feel for his family. His chidren's lives will be irrevocably split into: Life with Dad. Life without Dad. The same for his wife. Charlie said that a "few gun deaths" were acceptable to have the rights afforded by the Second Amendment. I have grieved the deaths from school shootings from Columbine to Uvalde to Colorado yesterday. I grieved Breonna Taylor who was killed by the Louisville police serving a no knock warrant. Let's work on bringing down the temperature on political division especially political violence and violent speech.
The irony of this horrific act is jaw dropping considering Kirk believed deaths were worth it to protect gun rights. But….Who “benefits” the most from his death? The argument could be made it will be the far, far right wing types who spew hatred every day. I’m terrified about where this is going to lead some people.
Michelle
Great Points from your video. No one "deserves" to be murdered but when that someone spews hate and disgust for certain people constantly, it changes the sadness equation
I’m reading this at 4:48 AM MTN time on September 11. A day of sadness for our country.
I find that the tune and words of “Try to remember a time in September…. comforts me.
Sad, but a reminder that Life does go on. Peace.
Having a very hard time with the lionization ("America mourns Charlie Kirk" NYT for an example) of Kirk. His death was awful, I feel for his family and those who witnessed the shooting, and he was definitely an influential figure but this seems too much, too far for a figure who, whatever his good side, promoted truly awful, hateful positions on multiple subjects. Somehow even worse was Trump's inevitable reaction designed to only make things worse and make political gain from the tragedy.
It's presumptuous at very least for anyone to make pronouncements about how "America" feels. While I have sympathy for Kirk's family, and do not celebrate any violence, I do not mourn. Now we who did not support his ugly fanaticism will be subjected to flags at half-staff, over-the-top encomiums and posthumous awards.
THE NYT WROTE THAT??!!!
That was the headline in my inbox this morning on Kathleen Kingsbury's editorial staff column.
WOW!!! She could at LEAST have written: "America is divided: half of the country mourns Kirk's death, while the other half celebrates it."
Or maybe just "the other half asks 'is that Ben Shapiro or the other guy?'" Or perhaps better "A Divided America reacts to Kirk's shooting." But - yeah.
Yes, your second phrase is exactly what the headline should have said. Shame on Kingsbury -- and (needless to said) the editors of the NYT, who have done SO much to destroy our democracy.