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In reply to the discussion: Alexandria pastor's Charlie Kirk comments spark national debate [View all]Beacool
(30,459 posts)The Right is trying to whitewash, pun intended, Kirk by portraying him as a great Christian patriotic family man. In reality he was a loser who couldn't get into West Point and dropped out of community college. I found this interesting article from Baptist News Global.
In her book Raising Them Right: The Untold Story of Americas Ultraconservative Youth Movement and its Plot for Power, journalist Kyle Spencer sums up Kirks trajectory within the politics of resentment: His metamorphosis can be seen as a case study of the power of grievance politics and a reminder that resentment is an energizing fuel most potent when delivered by leaders who have felt it deeply themselves.
Kirks resentment was in full-bloom a few months later at the start of his freshman year under the new Obama presidency. Obamas career began in the same Chicago suburb where Kirk attended high school. While the first African American presidents political win was celebrated by most in the rapidly diversifying suburb, it was not celebrated by Kirk.
Whether it was Obamas continuance of George W. Bushs bank bailouts or his skin color, Kirk was not a fan. In response, he began building a contrarian political persona around his freshman interpretation of Reagan economics, the work of the economist Milton Friedman and gun rights.
Kirks classmates described him as rude, arrogant and as someone with a superiority complex. He called teachers with whom he disagreed neo-Marxists and often was belligerent in class. On the topic of gun rights, Spencer writes that Kirk once asked a teacher if guns make people violent, do forks make people fat?
https://baptistnews.com/article/how-charlie-kirk-went-from-college-dropout-to-trump-influencer-2/
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