SANCTIFYING CHARLIE KIRK
How He Became the Patron Saint of Friendly Fascism
First, a self-preserving disclaimer: Given the current climate of manufactured conspiratorial hysteria around Kirk’s killing, MAGA’s conflation of criticism with calls for political violence, and my own desire to avoid an involuntary vacation to a Salvadoran gulag, I must belabor the obvious. Refusing to canonize an odious cheerleader for neo-Nazi ideology and a committed hater of multicultural democracy is not the same as celebrating his murder.
Even those who utter the most vile speech should not be targeted for violence. Unlike Trump and his party, the self-appointed vigilantes and trolls who make up his nationwide lynch mob, and Kirk himself, no principled civil liberties advocate would argue differently. OK, end of disclaimer.
The Right loved Charlie Kirk because he could make outrageous neo-Nazi views seem like reasonable debate topics. As a congenial mouthpiece for fascist ideas, he became one of the “very fine people on both sides” whom Trump praised after the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, VA.
Back then, Trump’s effort to differentiate the good neo-Confederates from the bad white supremacists and Nazis rang hollow. Now, that sort of ambiguous and false distinction is no longer necessary. Unapologetic Nazis have found themselves welcome in Trump’s inner circle. MAGA conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson and Candice Owens are even making concerted and explicit efforts to rehabilitate Hitler. Right-wing conspiracy huckster Alex Jones now sports a Hitler moustache, which, he insists, has “had a wild effect on women. I thought they were about to start throwing their panties at me.”
Until his murder, Kirk was the superstar of fascist normalization. His fan base extended well beyond the Trump GOP. Modern neo-Nazi groups proudly claim him as one of their own. At a memorial for him in Huntington Beach, California, the fascist group Patriot Front chanted, “White men fight back!” They understand, just as Kirk did, who their enemies are.
Shortly after the assassination, it was revealed that Kirk’s killer was not some bloodthirsty racial justice warrior of color, born in the primordial ooze of some West Coast woke Gomorrah. Tyler Robinson was a political independent from a white, Christian, MAGA conservative, gun-loving family. He was such an unsatisfying culprit for the Right that Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox said, “For 33 hours, I was praying that if this had to happen here, it wouldn’t be one of us – that someone drove from another state, or someone came from another country. Sadly, that prayer was not answered the way I hoped for…”
Robinson’s sociopolitical milieu was a reality too complex, too counterintuitive to accept, because the right-wing worldview is founded on the notion that problems originate mainly from tribal outsiders. Immigrants and non-white citizens (aided by political liberals) exist as a kind of contaminant or infection in the culture. They “poison the blood,” as Trump and Hitler were both known to warn against. In Trump’s first term, the solution was building “the Wall.” Now, a more aggressive cleansing is required. Unlike Governor Cox’s begrudging acceptance of reality, Trump and his minions immediately rejected the view that the perpetrator of Kirk’s killing was a lone individual. Robinson was merely an expendable pawn in a vast conspiracy involving Antifa, liberals, comedians, George Soros, and Democrats. The Trump regime quickly adopted exterminationist rhetoric and called for collective punishment against anyone vaguely “left.”
The Method Behind Kirk’s Propaganda Success
Overlooked by apologists on the Left and the Right was the rhetorical strategy operating in plain sight that drove Kirk’s “debates” with young students. To debate with him about whether Black people are inherently murderous and low-IQ predators or whether LGBT people are pedophilic groomers is to validate those assertions. It’s the racist version of the Christian Right’s demand that biology classes in schools teach “both sides” of the concept of natural selection, evolutionary science and “intelligent design.” The very structure of a “debate” creates a symmetry between evidence-based positions and crackpot lunacy, elevating the latter to the status of the former.
Resolved: “Because God prefers rich, conservative, straight white people, they are entitled to dominate everyone else.” Prove me wrong!
Before the current whitewash of Kirk’s legacy bleaches out his actual history, it is vital to remember that he called for the murder of President Biden, rushed to the defense of the MAGA thug who fractured the skull of Paul Pelosi, and put crosshairs on the heads of professors whose speech he didn’t like. Many of those on Kirk’s “Professor Watchlist” continue to live with death threats from right-wing terrorists.
Kirk worship, mandatory in the red parts of the country, is the Confederacy’s “lost cause” refound. There is no need to bring statues of the fusty old slaver, Robert E. Lee, back into the public square. There is a more current savior of the white race. Sculptures of Saint Charlie will now be erected on college campuses in Texas and Florida, and likely elsewhere.
New York’s Cardinal Timothy Nolan described Kirk as a “modern-day St. Paul” and a “hero.” Those who failed to place Kirk in their pantheon of political deities have paid a hefty price for exercising free speech. Many across the country, including everyday people and celebrities, have been fired or otherwise punished. Non-citizens perceived as lacking a pious attitude toward MAGA’s fallen martyr have had their visas revoked and been deported.
Even well-meaning liberals like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and California Governor Gavin Newsom opted for hysterical blindness when it came to recalling Kirk’s character. When it mattered most, they sacrificed historical truth for the sake of illusory political harmony. Maybe they thought their encomiums to Kirk would somehow immunize them against being targeted in the promised holy war against liberals and Trump critics. Let’s hope they and the rest of us are not so embedded in wishful thinking that we let our passports expire.
Speaking of campaigns of vengeance against the innocent to rectify delusional grievances, stay tuned. My next Substack will explore the neuroscience of political revenge, the animating emotion behind MAGA, and why it’s as addictive as cocaine.