Joan Walsh: Let's Not Forget Who Charlie Kirk Really Was

[Nevilledog]

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/charlie-kirk-assassination-tragedy/

*snip*

Liberals were not the only ones who disdained Kirk. Proud Boy leader Nick Fuentes had long feuded with him, and recently attacked him for supporting the war in Gaza and flip-flopping on the Epstein files. (Like Fuentes, Kirk once was outraged by the administration’s failure to release them as promised; when Trump leaned on him and others he backed off, Kirk said Epstein was a dead issue.)

Many on the right are frustrated with Trump’s coddling of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump’s inability to end the siege of Gaza. Kirk was a diehard Israel hawk. A few days ago, Laura Loomer attacked him for criticizing Trump’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. There are many threads of right-wing thought that could have led a conservative to pick up a gun; by the way, they have most of the guns.

But instead of fighting back, many liberals seem to be trying to mollify the right-wing crackpots. Maybe the worst thing I’ve seen today is Ezra Klein’s smarmy “Charlie Kirk practiced politics exactly the right way” in Thursday’s New York Times. “He was showing up to campuses and talking with anyone who would talk to him,” Klein wrote. “He was one of the era’s most effective practitioners of persuasion. A taste for disagreement is a virtue in a democracy. Liberalism could use more of his moxie and fearlessness.”

Author Mark Harris said it better than I could on Bluesky: “You can write this only if, by virtue of your income, identity, or both, you are utterly removed from the consequences of politics. To pretend that the racist, misogynistic, anti-gay vileness that Kirk spent his life spreading is secondary to the fact that he spread it ‘the right way’ is appalling.”

Klein is not the only one to pretend that Kirk was a gentleman and a scholar who was open to all views, took all comers, and because of his skill, generally wound up beating them in the public square. In fact, Kirk mostly debated people he set up and knew less than he did, and he often played their views for laughs. Just because he and Gavin Newsom had a nice conversation on the governor’s podcast doesn’t make him a role model for our sons left or right. He may well have been a fine friend and family man, but he was also a vicious troll.

*snip*

[odins folly]

1. I'm pretty convinced

That the reason the establishment maga are having a sad is because he was a donation cash cow and he was turning young people to the party.

Otherwise they could give two shits who or why a person was shot.

Two in the thoughts, one in the prayers…

[TheProle]

6. I agree that most GOP will only care in a performative way.

But it's worth remembering (despite the DU proclamations that they've never heard of him) that he is widely credited with turning out young voters for Trump.

It remains to be seen if the flock he shepherded scatters into apathy, migrates towards the Democrats in the mid-terms, or are galvanized by his "martyrdom" and double-down on TrumpWorld.

[Alice B.]

9. The third option is the one I'm most worried about.

n/t

[Miles Archer]

11. And that IS literally the WHOLE ball game.

1). he was a donation cash cow and
2). he was turning young people to the party.

Trump "successfully" cross-pollenated every last one of them with his own "Ask NOT what your country can do for YOU, ask what YOU can do for ME" discernment system.

...and there's no more gullible target than a young male MAGAt with roid rage.

Trump revs 'em up, they whip out the plastic, "everybody wins."

Kirk could do that. He put a lot of money in a lot of unethical MAGA dudes. If he hadn't he'd have been on the outside, looking in.

[odins folly]

13. And, not to mention

All of the icels who followed him and his ideal of what women should be doing instead of thinking for themselves and wanting independence.

Fuck that tradwife, shut up and make babies (as long as they’re white) and obey your husband bullshit.

[Miles Archer]

21. Many of them disfigured by plastic surgery in pursuit of the "Mar-a-Lago Look"

Obviously, what a woman chooses to do with her body is her business.

In terms of my appreciation level for the plastic surgeons above, I stand by "disfigured.

But it DOES give them all a pretty immediate, instantly recognizable "look."

[UTUSN]

2. K&R

[malaise]

3. Mollify is right

Joan nailed it - a vicious troll..

[dalton99a]

4. Kick

[demmiblue]

5. K&R (I see she corrected the Proud Boy error) n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

7. I've always admired Joan Walsh -- too bad I haven't seen much of her for awhile. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Kirk reverted. It is reported that on Sep 8, Kirk was interviewed by Megyn Kelly and pushed for release then. . . . . nt

[Celerity]

15. The interview was on July 11, 2025, not September 8th. There is a tonne of disinfo being pushed on social media about the

date of it.

Here is the timeline of events:

The Kirk/Megyn Kelly (discussing the Epstein files, etc) video being pushed as very new is actually from Friday, July 11th, 2025, at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa FL.

https://www.sas2025.com/

https://backend.tpusa.com/sasagenda/

Here is the original source July tweet video that multiple disinfo pushers are claiming was from a handful of days ago:

Link to tweet

Trump called Kirk on Saturday, July 12th, 2025 to complain about it:

Link to tweet

Laura Loomer started having a go at Kirk after the July 11th event, in multiple tweets pushing the false narrative those messages (from Loomer) are from Saturday, July 12th and Sunday, July 13th 2025.

On Monday, July 14th, 2025, after talking to Trump 2 days beforehand (Saturday, July 12th), Kirk (on his own show) backed off and said he was done talking about Epstein.

Charlie Kirk Announces He’s ‘Done Talking About Epstein’ After Trump Called Him

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/charlie-kirk-announces-hes-done-talking-about-epstein-after-trump-called-him/



Pro-Trump student organizer and MAGA influencer, Charlie Kirk, told his podcast audience on Monday that he was done talking about the so-called “Epstein Files” – a day after President Donald Trump called him. Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, hosted its Student Action Summit in Florida over the weekend, which saw several speakers hammer the administration over its conclusion that the various conspiracy theories surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are all false CNN’s Kristen Holmes reported on Sunday night, “President Trump called Charlie Kirk Saturday to express his support for Bondi after being shown a clip of Kirk seemingly supporting Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino over Bondi at Kirk’s Turning Point USA conference in FL.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi has been on the receiving end of an avalanche of vitriol over her apparently contradictory statements on the Epstein case, which she has worked in recent days to clarify. Late last week, several reports revealed that Bongino is threatening to quit his role at the FBI unless Bondi is removed as attorney general, adding fuel to the fire engulfing the MAGA base.

The rhetoric at Turning Point’s summit got so heated, at one point, comedian Dave Smith received loud applause while accusing Trump of “actively covering up a giant child rapist ring” – referring to Epstein. Kirk told his audience, “Plenty was said this last weekend at our event about Epstein. Honestly, I’m done talking about Epstein for the time being. I’m gonna trust my friends in the administration, I’m gonna trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done, solve it, ball’s in their hands.”

After briefly addressing some of the other news of the day, he added, “But let me just say this again – everyone knows my opinion about the Epstein thing, the messaging fumble. I would love to see the DOJ move to unseal the grand jury testimony. I think that would be a big win. I would love to see that.” “And I’m gonna trust my friends Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, my friend Pam Bondi. All these guys, Todd Blanche, I’m gonna trust them to solve it. Ball’s in their court. I think that there was plenty of, let’s say, speeches that were directed towards this topic this last weekend. So we don’t need to spend our valuable time on this program relitigating it,” Kirk concluded.

snip

also see: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMGcTOyRWOk/

I have seen the Kirk/Kelly July 11th 2025 video being posted all over social media with multiple claims that the video was from just days before Kirk was killed.

That is false, and as far as I am aware (I welcome anything showing differently), after the Trump call, Kirk backed off the entire Epstein thing and has not pushed it since.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Good job tracking this down. Thank you. . . . nt

[progressoid]

10. Rec.

[jgmiller]

12. Multiple things can be true at the same time

Kirk could be someone who spreads lies and hate and at the same time he could be a skilled debater that knew how to talk to youth and he could be one that lets both sides talk. However regarding that last point he only allowed it so that he could "prove them wrong" and thereby legitimize and amplify his version of the world.

After thinking about it I really think the reason so many in power on the right are shaken by this and rasing him to the level of a god is that in many of their minds he was the heir apparent of MAGA. Vance can pretend he can run MAGA but he has the charisma of a rock and so do most of the others or they are just act even crazier than Trump. Kirk because of his skill and his ability to build a huge following meant he would have been a powerful force in 2032 if he decided to run.

I heard some on the right compare this to the JFK assasination and I actually think for the right that's exactly what this is. It's the death of a dream they had just started to imagine could come true.

[calimary]

17. Terrific post, jgmiller!

I think you nailed it - to any wall you find.

One can only hope it marks the death of that dream. But we always have to remain on guard, and on watch - for others who may try to make that despicable dream live again.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. I agree with calimary. Great post. . . nt

[Paladin]

14. See Doktor Zoom's column on wonkette.com today.

He absolutely eviscerates Ezra Klein, Ari Melber and Gavin Newsom for their repulsive tributes to Charlie Kirk. Shameful soft-shoe treatment of a vile, racist, antisemitic scumbag, by people who damn sure ought to know better.

[BaronChocula]

16. That person was a dangerous white nationalist

He legitimized hate in public forums always assailing the intelligence, capabilities, and intentions of non-whites as well as all the other favorite targets of the white nationalist movement.

Not that any of this is news, but this is what made him famous. But MSM dare not describe him as "white nationalist charlie kirk" in their headlines. One of their guiding principles is "don't piss off the very worst of white people." It's actually an American tradition.

[GoCubsGo]

18. I guess Klein knows nothing about Kirk's "Professor Watchlist"?

Charlie Kirk started the Professor Watchlist, which caused friends of mine and their families to be terrorized by right-wing assholes. So, you know, fuck everyone trying to find some nugget of decency in that shitpile.

— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T11:32:59.070Z

He did politics the "right way"???? Yeah. Sure, Ezra. Or, did you mean "right-wing"? Because that's the only thing "right" about this shit.