Written by Aiden Sanchez Romero
Of all of Tyler Robinson’s bullet engravings, “Hey Fascist! Catch!” perhaps best depicts his motivations. Indeed, accusations of Fascism are commonplace in American Discourse, with many somehow accusing the Pro-Gun, capitalist, isolationist, civic-nationalist President of being one too.
Undoubtedly, Kirk was more right-wing than most. As fringe left-wingers celebrated his death, mainstream media obfuscated the reality of the assassin’s political ideology, such as Jimmy Kimmel’s false insinuation that Robinson was a conservative.
Mislabeling Kirk as a Fascist or someone who created “a hateful, intolerant America” may give those politically conscious great anxiety, fearing a repeat of historical catastrophe. Who wouldn’t have pulled a trigger to kill Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot, given the chance? In extraordinary circumstances, violence against political actors seems contemplable.
However, Charlie Kirk was not an extremist by virtually any parameters, and his death was as futile as it was tragic.
He was a Man who fought extremists such as Nick Fuentes, with Fuentes stating he was “complicit in the Israeli capture of the right wing”, whilst Kirk called Fuentes a “bad faith actor”.
He didn’t oppose emotion – he simply preferred the word Sympathy to Empathy, a minor semantic point misused to further demonise political adversaries as immoral. Kirk was a devout evangelical Christian, claiming “Jesus saved my life” – hardly the words of a violent reactionary. His opposition to the word empathy, then, seems more nuanced than a dislike of feelings.
He would not have applauded violence against ideological adversaries, acknowledging that “When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to want to commit violence against that group,” and “Violence is not an option”.
Many views and policies on the left wing of American politics are what I would consider radical and divisive. Joe Biden’s calling of 77 million Trump voters as “garbage” wouldn’t have united the nation. Kamala Harris’ support of taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants is divisive, yet her 2024 opponent faced far greater safety concerns, including three assassination attempts.
Zohran Mamdani, candidate for NYC Mayor, has repeatedly refused to condemn the “Globalise the Intifada” phrase, yet many on the left are complicitly silent in promoting political violence which supports their cause.
Charlie Kirk did believe his political opposition should have human rights, and he died bravely debating those he disagreed with. He knew that it is war, not politics, which asserts that ‘Might makes Right’.
As his Christian Conservative movement suffers a major setback, genuine Fascists have emerged, attempting to fill the void on the right. Will leftist phraseology moderate such a void, or will it further defeat their own goals? Reductio ad hitlerums have drastically increased in the past decade, yet the Republican Party has continued to dominate politics.
Charlie Kirk understood that “you can tell a lot about a person by how they react when someone dies.” He was controversial and opinionated, yet massively popular. Are we to presume our opponents are bad people or those trying to build a better world?
