I don’t hate anyone. It’s not how I was raised. In debate, never attack the person, but ideas are always fair game. I think that’s what Charlie Kirk stood for and he was brave enough to do it openly on college campuses where many students (especially on the left) have been indoctrinated to be infantile and intolerant.
The left does not believe in civil debate, free speech and equal rights. This goes back at least to Herbert Marcuse in the 1960s, the father of political correctness (see his essay “Repressive Tolerance”). Marcuse, professor of political theory from 1952-1970 at prestigious universities like Harvard and Columbia, taught a fixed-pie view of the world in which there were “oppressors” and “victims.” Those who got a bigger slice of the pie must have used nefarious means, he reasoned. Therefore, their supposed victims should be allowed any means to even the score, including the use of violence.
From an ideas standpoint, Charlie Kirk had his faults. He, like most on the right, did not have a solid grounding in free market economics. E.g., he supported President Trump’s tariffs. (Trade is win-win. To oppose free trade is to fall back into the fixed-pie worldview of the left.) Kirk was far too political for my taste, and was willing to flip flop on issues so as not to upset Trump. He was the consummate politician, which meant he was willing to compromise. He was a political activist who impelled young people to vote for Trump in droves. He had a massive following. And in just 11 years, he would have been old enough to run for president.
Recently, Kirk disagreed with Trump on bombing Iran, and voiced his opinion in a meeting at the White House. This drew the ire of Trump. In fact, the right has been fracturing over the “forever wars” in the Middle East as well as unconditional U.S. support for the state of Israel. Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have been increasingly vocal in their opposition, and Charlie Kirk was now joining them. To them, this is the true “America first” foreign policy.
In fact, Charlie Kirk had long been a loyal supporter of Israel and had major pro-Israel donors all the way back to Turning Point USA’s founding 13 years ago. His backers had flown him to Israel many times. But something in him snapped after the October 7, 2023 massacre. Things didn’t add up and he was starting to ask questions. He invited Tucker Carlson to speak at his annual conference; when Carlson claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was controlled by the Mossad and running a sex ring to blackmail U.S. politicians, and everyone in DC knew it, the audience erupted in applause. Needless to say, Kirk’s pro-Israel donors were not amused, putting tremendous pressure on him to cancel Carlson and get back in line. Benjamin Netanyahu even invited him to visit Israel, but Kirk turned him down. Netanyahu also promised to line up more financial support. Kirk turned down the money.
This is what I will remember about Charlie Kirk: a man who believed in civil debate, got many ideas wrong, but had the courage to challenge long-held beliefs. That, and he left behind a beautiful family, a wife and two daughters, just 1 and 3.
Who killed him? We’ll probably never know with certainty, but it sure looks like a professional hit. I’ve added it to my Pearly Gates questions.
(This essay will appear in the upcoming issue of The Coffee Can Portfolio.)
