Emptywheel: THE WHITE HOUSE BID TO TURN THE CHARLIE KIRK MURDER INTO THEIR ANTI-TRANS JIHAD

[Fiendish Thingy]

https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/09/14/the-white-house-bid-to-turn-the-charlie-kirk-murder-into-their-anti-trans-jihad/

Of course, even if Robinson’s roommate were trans, even if they were in a relationship, the current story would be that because a person who willingly implicated their friend in a death penalty eligible crime, doing the work Kash’s FBI was too incompetent to do, it gives Stephen Miller license to arrest all trans people (or at least Pam Bondi to disarm them), just like he used fraudulent claims about Tren de Aragua to detain hundreds of men with innocent tattoos and send them to a concentration camp in El Salvador.

The alleged trans person here is the only one whose actions are above reproach.

And all that’s before you consider how Kash Patel has done much to make any bid for the death penalty unsustainable (to say nothing about Federal charges against Westman), given his repeated evocations of love for Kirk, down to promising he would see him in Valhalla (wittingly or unwittingly repeating the words of the far right Christchurch killer).

Unless Robinson were to plead guilty (which would mostly likely only happen if law enforcement promised not to execute him), any such death penalty phase would be riddled with questions about the bias of Kash, Trump, and everyone else leading this case from the federal side. Frankly, the discovery would be epic — and badly discrediting to the FBI and the White House.

We don’t know what motivated Robinson, what turned him from the pro-Trump politics of his family or what appears to have distanced him from the Mormon Church (there has been little conversation about the significance of the fact that Robinson did not do a Mormon mission, but it may be the most important sign of rupture out there).

What we do know is that Stephen Miller wasted no time grieving his beloved friend, but turned immediately to politicizing his death. And Miller has never bothered to let truth drive his political jihads.

More at link

[Johonny]

1. He might plead guilty to be executed

Some people want to be a martyr and also a quick execution covers up any information they could have gotten from him.

He left a note, so it feels like he wasn't planning on living.

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. So much we don't know

So much yet to be revealed.

I think the point of the article is: don’t allow yourself to be manipulated by the WH narrative, the Governor’s narrative, or the media narrative that will parrot both.

Waiting, rather than speculating, is the rational thing to do.

[Kaleva]

3. Wise words

“Waiting, rather than speculating, is the rational thing to do.“

[Ocelot II]

4. There are some interesting points in this piece,

one of which is that, try as he might, Patel hasn't found a federal nexus to Robinson's crime, meaning that his trial, if there is one, will be in a state court in Utah, which televises its trials (the feds got jurisdiction over Melissa Hortman's killer on federal stalking charges). And the lovely Steve Bannon made these remarks, just to give us an idea where this might be going:

Did the ppl in the White House inform POTUS that one of his greatest haters, this goofball, girly man, weak governor of Utah, was going to sit there and do the entire briefing on the murder of Charlie Kirk and essentially give us almost no facts and just preach unity with the aggressively LGBTQ governor of Colorado?

Kash Patel is not just a colleague, he’s a very dear and close friend. I think the world of Kash. We don’t know what restrictions he’s under or even his ability to fully articulate what’s happening here. But whoever authorized one of the biggest Trump haters in this country, the governor of Utah, Cox, is a disaster. A true Trump hater, one of the worst in the Republican Party. Folks in Utah need to understand this man has embraced and pushed some of the most dangerous ideologies out there.

Steve seems to have his knickers in a twist because the governor of Utah did the briefing while BFF Kash had to just stand there looking like he was being anally probed by aliens, as he always does, and because the governor was being a Trump-hating girly man for - what? - Not advocating for the immediate murder of all trans people and Democrats, which are one and the same, I guess. The facts that the FBI had so far been as useless as a marzipan dildo and doesn't even have jurisdiction would have been beside the point. But obviously we can't trust any info that comes from the WH, and who knows to what extent they're leaning on Cox?

[BootinUp]

5. During times of maximum propaganda confusion

Someone like emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) is invaluable to sort out the facts from the beliefs.

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. Agreed

But I don’t recommend saying that around any members of the Blame Garland Brigade.

[BootinUp]

7. Check this one out.

Sure to be unpopular here

From Noah Smith. Liberal minded economist.

https://open.substack.com/pub/noahpinion/p/the-bluesky-ization-of-the-american