General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Kirk "outdoor college debate" consisted of Kirk luring in naive
Students in a setting with dozens of cameras to record it and crowd of sadistic right wingers to cheer him on. . He'd toss out some old right wing zinger gotchas in order to humiliate the hapless questioner, juvenile shit like "can a woman have a prostate?" . He'd then use this shit as promotional and social media content.
He was a conman and a fraud. This wasn't discourse or debate it was defective rhetoric of the lowest order. There is no reason whatsoever that the shill should be getting any of this respect. It's a very slightly better world since he is now in a 'better place" - a freezer waiting to be put in a hole in the ground.

RockRaven
(17,956 posts)except to the particularly boring. He was not charismatic, except to the particularly off-putting.
He was a con man.
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)I don't think that very many people have any idea who that clown was or how he operated. You would have had to have been there to actually see how it worked, it was completely staged.
yellow dahlia
(2,969 posts)the nelm
(163 posts)There are so damned many of them and yet, for some reason, they think that have it all figured out. Where to start. Hannity, that ass that was gov of Wisconsin as I recall, Shapiro, Owens, Beck - that's just off the top of head. Obviously, a college level education isn't the be all, end all of such things, but when it comes to being an outspoken arbiter of the state of the country without having been exposed to other points of view, opinions, values, cultural backgrounds, etc. that one gets from such an education certainly has its limits shall we say.
msongs
(72,333 posts)Bluetus
(1,517 posts)Brenda
(1,777 posts)A debate includes at least one other person answering questions.
I saw a pic of him throwing red MAGA hats out to the crowd. Just another Chump soldier.
And it's disgusting that he made $330,000 at 31 years of age just for saying horrible Rush type shit.
How can he be awarded a Medal of Freedom for repeatedly saying that black women have low intelligence and thus steal white people's jobs, career women are mentally ill and depressed and can only have happiness having children and serving men, etc.?
No fucking freedom for black people and women and all the others he advocated for CHAINING.
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)Under an ez up with a sign that said "debate me".
He'd have the whole thing filmed and choose the best parts to put up on his feed.
Brenda
(1,777 posts)I saw the ez up had "Prove me wrong" in big letters.
I think his epitaph should be:
Someone proved him wrong.
ananda
(33,073 posts)All I've seen is constant spouting of hate
and rightwing jingoism.
Irish_Dem
(74,391 posts)regnaD kciN
(27,253 posts)
such as at the Oxford and Cambridge Unions, he got his ass handed to him.
Consider, for example, his exchange with Tilly Middlehurst of Cambridge, who said debating him was easy, because he relied on a predictable series of talking points which were easy to anticipate and counter.
Of course, that didnt prevent him from posting heavily edited clips from those debates (including the one above) with clickbaity thumbnails and titles like Charlie Kirk DESTROYS woke feminist!

Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)Even in that case he was humiliated and still was able to get mileage from it.
regnaD kciN
(27,253 posts)Debating a Republican is like playing chess with a pigeon: theyll just knock over the pieces, crap all over the board, then fly back to the flock to brag about their victory.
Johonny
(24,587 posts)It's easy to win the debate when you own the editing . . .
Having seen him live, much like Ben Shapiro, he comes off as incredibly stupid and easily fooled.
DET
(2,202 posts)Thank you. I learned something from that discussion.
reACTIONary
(6,693 posts)I appreciate the analysis, but if you just want to see how down went down, here it is
yellow dahlia
(2,969 posts)John1956PA
(4,441 posts)Question: "Do you know the number of transgender people who have committed mass shootings?"
Kirk: "Too many."
[audience applause]
Question: "Do you know the exact number?"
Kirk: "Gang or non-gang involved?"
[BANG]
End of Prove Me Wrong event
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)Rant about black, latino and immigrant violence.
He didn't get to it.
Gang mass shootings? At schools and shopping centers and churches? It was all a big show.
He was a wise ass.
proud patriot
(102,239 posts)
Hassler
(4,525 posts)Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)Will get eyeballs. But I'm sure he admires how Kirk was able to romance all that money from billionaires. Something that Ezra could only dream about.
azureblue
(2,559 posts)Until he crossed swords with Dean Withers, and Dean ate his lunch.
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)The Grand Illuminist
(1,891 posts)A non governmental polarized entity. We should all be rejoicing, because his words were that dangerous.
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)Nuff said.
skypilot
(9,043 posts)...then I came across a video, either here or on X, where he is "debating" a student about guns and the Second Amendment. At one point he declares that we could prevent school shootings by having armed guards at schools and that mass shootings don't happen at sports stadiums because of the armed guards stationed there. This, of course, completely ignores the fact that mass shootings don't happen at stadiums (at least not so far) because the general public cannot enter with any firearms, just as they can't board a plane or enter a courtroom or govt building with one. He was clearly trying to advocate for 2nd Amendment rights without acknowledging all of the instances in which those rights are quite rightly limited and how that also prevents mass shootings.
He struck me as a smug idiot who was not as smart as he thought he was but was older and more media savvy and slippery than the young college students he was addressing. Another JD Vance in the making.
I'm not sure this makes the point you were trying. Schools are also gun-free zones like planes or courthouses. Why do shootings happen increasingly at schools but not at courthouses or airports? The law is the same in both instances, so what causes killers to be able to enter schools but not stadiums?
skypilot
(9,043 posts)...shootings keep happening at schools. Maybe some schools aren't as vigilant as they could be (or think they are being). It's sad to think that the only solution is armed guards stationed around the whole school along with metal detectors. My high school days were over in the early 80s and none of this was an issue back then.
The point I was making was specifically about his attempt to imply that the 2nd Amendment as applied to authorized armed personnel at sports stadiums is the thing that saves everyone there from being shot when in fact prohibiting guns being brought in by the general public also contributes, and I stand by that. I don't know why school shootings persist despite schools being gun-free zones. It's truly a conundrum to me.
RussBLib
(10,107 posts)...there are a heckuva lot more schools (elementary, secondary, middle school, high school, etc) than there are sports stadiums. Posting armed guards at every school would become astronomically expensive. so most have very little, making them a rather easy target.
skypilot
(9,043 posts)That is a factor I had not considered.
Gliderguy
(2 posts)You dismiss the Charlie Kirks of this world at your peril.
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)There are more idiots than smart people now.
Yes, yes, yes. Everyone you disagree with is an idiot. College students are naive because...well they just are. Everyone knows they are!
Condescending to youth is how you lose the youth vote.
gay texan
(3,073 posts)I smell pizza
Jack Valentino
(3,200 posts)JT45242
(3,614 posts)Selling hate to make his nut like Clyde
John1956PA
(4,441 posts). . . members of the public into Halloween Season "Hell Houses" under the pretense that it will be a fun experience. At the end, the ministers deliver the "Hell and Brimstone" sermon in an attempt to gain new parishioners.
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)GoodRaisin
(10,500 posts)to young naive people. Kirk was educated in the art of speed lying the same way other Krasnov surrogates before him had been, surrogates like Kelly Anne Conway and other well trained Krasnov speed liars. In this case Kirk was Krasnovs speed lying traveling circus to college campuses, propagandizing young voters.
Klarkashton
(3,903 posts)Rants going back to the John Birch Society. It was all new to those kids.
The billionaire right wingers backed him thinking that a fresh face could put a new spin on the same old shit.