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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNo, Charlie Kirk Was Not Practicing Politics the Right Way
Tragedy is a powerful shaper of narratives. In the aftermath of the horrific assassination of MAGA champion Charlie Kirk, a husband and father of two, it was natural that his allies, including President Trump, lionized him as a patriot, free-speech advocate, and activist. And political opponents somberly denounced the terrible killing, as they should, with some hailing Kirks devotion to public debate. Theres a tendency in such a moment to look for the best in people or, at least, to not dwell on the negatives. That can be a good thing. Yet as Kirk is quickly canonized by Trump and his movementon Thursday Trump announced he would bestow upon Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedoma full depiction of his impact on American politics is largely being sidestepped.
In promoting a story on the murder of Kirkheadlined Charlie Kirk killing deepens Americas violent spiralAxios described him as a fierce champion of the right to free expression whose voice was silenced by an assassins bullet. New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein, wrote, You can dislike much of what Kirk believed and the following statement is still true: Kirk was practicing politics in exactly the right way. He was showing up to campuses and talking with anyone who would talk to him. He was one of the eras most effective practitioners of persuasion. Klein added that he envied the political movement Kirk built and praised his moxie and fearlessness.
Heres the problem: Kirk built that movement with falsehoods. And his advocacy was laced with racist and bigoted statements. Recognizing this does not diminish the awfulness of this act of violence. Nor does it lessen our outrage or diminish our sympathy for his family, friends, and colleagues. Yet if this is an appropriate moment to assess Kirk and issue bold statements about his participation in Americas political life, there ought to be room for a true discussion.
Kirk, a right-wing provocateur who founded and led Turning Point USA, an organization of young conservatives, was a promoter of Trumps destructive and baseless conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Two days before the January 6 riot, Kirk boasted in a tweet that Students for Trump and Turning Point Action were Sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/charlie-kirk-legacy-ezra-klein-2020-election-trump-turning-point/

SocialDemocrat61
(5,599 posts)Always loved David Corn. Ezra Klein is a jerk.
fujiyamasan
(653 posts)Theyre milking this for all they can. Its top of all headlines.
I think the readers mostly know that all this adulation and fawning over a dead white supremecist fascist like Kirk is absurd. Douthat is also insufferable. Worse than Klein.
Theres no way I would pay for access to that rag. Not sure why anyone does at this point.
Cha
(314,213 posts)Patriots.
They've abandoned the US Flag for the Confederate, Russian and Traitor Flags.
AXIOS is Full of Gaslit Shit.. .. Fascist Wing Bullshit.
TY for this...
J_William_Ryan
(2,986 posts)lawless killing shouldnt be used to conceal or whitewash the fact that he was a promoter of racism, bigotry, and hate; a conservative ideologue who was responsible for spreading all manner of rightwing disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies contributing to current political division and acrimony.
DFW
(58,862 posts)And he reaped the ultimate reward for his efforts.
harumph
(2,981 posts)Not hyperbole. Point by point there is little to no distance between the positions he promoted and what the Nazis espoused.
I have no doubt he would have felt very much at home in the party. Do I think it's OK that he was shot? No. Do I think
our national discourse will suffer from his absence? No. Just another self aggrandizing malignant carnival barker. I hope his story soon becomes yesterday's news.
Heidi
(58,689 posts)Last edited Fri Sep 12, 2025, 08:54 AM - Edit history (1)
Not for *the* right to free expression.
underpants
(192,816 posts)He spliced his appearances together to make it look like he owned the Libs.
Heidi
(58,689 posts)underpants
(192,816 posts)
SKKY
(12,646 posts)...How long before Erika Kirk and Corey Lewandowski are a couple?
cachukis
(3,428 posts)mimicking the ways of rush limbaugh and using the same audience. He full well knew what he was doing.
Sure he was in the public eye, but controlled the narrative.
It is normal to rue his violent death, but it is also normal to find fault with what he stood for.
Passages
(3,566 posts)Here he is a coward, and unable to state the reality that violence begets violence....through rhetoric and in Kirk's case, a deliberate practice in demagoguery.
Shame on Ezra.
harumph
(2,981 posts)Ezra has jettisoned his credibility. Our lefty version
of David Brooks. Spilling much ink, yet either saying nothing of value, or subtly supporting
the received wisdom handed down by our billionaire zoo keepers.
EdmondDantes_
(889 posts)We need people more involved politically, socially. I don't think we get to say it's only the right way if someone agrees with us. Part of what Trump and his counterparts in other countries are appealing to are the disaffected. Bringing them in is necessary. There's plenty of research showing a correlation between things like knowing gay people or minorities and not hating them. If we leave the disaffected outside to only stew in their anger, it just keeps boiling.
I get the anger towards Kirk because he was a hateful bigot, but I still feel banning that is a mistake. The ACLU defends nazis being allowed to march and all sort of theory.