Charlie Kirk's death and the downfall of Democracy

Back during COVID, a saying gained popularity on social media; "I'm tired of living through major historical events". In the past Destiny has said this is cringe, and for the most part I tend to agree with him. History is constantly happening, everyone is living through it all of the time, shut up. It's a stupid saying with little to no actual meaning. But on certain days, I think everyone knows EXACTLY what that phrase means.

Wednesday, September 10th was one of those days.

The Shooting

For those of you who have been in an extremely well-timed coma, on September 10th, popular conservative YouTuber Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at one of the stops on his "American Comeback Tour". On September 12th, 2025, after 33 hours of a wild goose chase conducted by the FBI, the alleged shooter, 22 year old Tyler Robinson, turned himself into authorities, following the advice of his father and a family friend. The shooter's motivations are still broadly unknown, with little solid evidence.

The biggest clues as to his leanings lie in his relationship with his roommate and his mother's assertions that he was pro-LGBT, a niche view only shared by about 70% of people in Gen Z. Groyper? Transtifa member? Or "oddly normal?", to quote my extremely apolitical sister. We really don't know the "why" of this shooting, and with the way the investigation has been handled so far there's a possibility we never will. But as the saying goes; "Don't let facts get in the way of a good story."

The Right's response

Before Kirk's body had even hit the ground, Republicans were out in full force crafting a narrative. South Carolina House Representative and "nasty ass bitch" Nancy Mace said soon after the shooting "Democrats own what happened today." Ketamine addict and Republican donor Elon Musk tweeted "The Left is the party of murder" before Kirk's death was even confirmed. President Donald Trump said in a statement (possibly generated by AI) "The radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals", placing direct blame on the left well before knowing anything about the shooter. While every single notable left leaning politician or influencer was echoing some variation of "political violence bad," the right were busy fanning the flames of discontent, hoping to further drive this country to the brink.

In the days since, not much has changed. Republicans have just dropped the facade of caring about "freedom of speech" entirely. They've launched a campaign to name and shame anybody "celebrating" Kirk's death, attempting to get people fired from their jobs and in some cases jailed. These "celebrations" include things like posting Kirk's own quotes, being scared of how the right will respond, or calling for Trump to cool tensions. Secretary of War (kill me) Pete Hegseth has promised to take action against service members critical of Kirk. Immigrants have had their visas revoked for "celebrating", according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Attorney General Pam Bondi has promised to target groups engaging in "hate speech", although she later clarified that she was only referring to groups that "unlawfully incite violence". I assume "hate speech" wasn't polling well with her audience. The fears of a crackdown by this administration not only seem well founded, but completely obvious to anyone with two braincells to rub together.

The Democratic Dilemma

How has the left responded? Well, it depends on who you count as "the left". Once again, every mainstream politician or influencer has said that political violence in any form is bad, no matter what side it's coming from. The vast majority of statements could be copy-pasted from any other time there's been some sort of political violence in the last 10 years. There have been a few who have called out the Trump administration's rhetoric directly, including Elizabeth Warren, Hakeem Jeffries, and of course, Steven "Destiny" Bonnell the 2nd, esquire. But, if you consider every random account on twitter that hasn't deep-throated Kirk's corpse the left, then you may be abhorred by the response. "How could people make fun of this?" says the side that has made light of every single incident of violence perpetrated by the right. From George Floyd to Melissa Hortman and her husband. From Trayvon Martin to Gretchen Whitmer. From Paul Pelosi to January 6th. If you can name an instance of political violence, you can probably find a republican official or pundit making fun of the situation, Kirk himself included.

My personal feelings

To get my minimum requirement taken care of; no, I do not condone political violence of any form. Last week's shooting was a truly disgusting act, and that type of violence has no place in a functioning democracy. It was in every sense of the word, a tragedy.

But let's be clear; it's not a tragedy because Charlie Kirk was a good guy. Kirk was a garbage human being, full stop. He made his career profiting off of furthering the political divide in this country and helped to elect an authoritarian to the most powerful office on Earth. No, it's a tragedy because it's a sobering reminder of that fact that we are NOT in a functioning democracy. That violence not only has a place in the hole where a functioning democracy once lived, it has a VIP seat at the President's table.

It's incredibly hard to feel bad for the guy when his life's work has led to this very outcome. Do I feel bad for his kids? Of course, I know the pain of growing up without a father very well. And their pain will only be exacerbated by the people in their lives who have deified Kirk. Conciliatory statements like "It's god's plan" and "he's in a better place now" messed me up for years and ultimately pushed me away from religion. I can only imagine what the discourse around their fathers death will do for Kirk's children, both from people trying to help and mean-spirited jokes at their father's expense. In an extremely fucked up way, the fact that his kids were so young may be a boon for their ability to heal from this incident. But grief does weird things to people, and only time will tell how they recover.

Whitewashing Kirk's legacy

I've had a plethora of discussions over this subject over the past week and heard a variety of opinions. One of the stances that bugs me the most is the idea that despite the fact that Kirk's views greatly differ from my own, that he should be seen as a good guy who just did his best to implement his world view. To quote a friend of mine; "The “sin” that Charlie Kirk committed is the same one that everyone who has ever fought to change the world for the better: To take on more responsibility than we are worthy to bear."

This is an incredibly stupid and irresponsible position to take.

As a fledgling political organizer myself, I do respect the work Kirk did. It's impossible to deny the success of Turning Point USA and their role in the re-election of Donald Trump. Gen Z men came out in droves for Trump, and Turning Point was a major part of that. He built a powerful vehicle for political advocacy, and that fact should be recognized. However, it is impossible to remove the damage that Kirk has caused from the calculus of whether or not he is a "good person". How many lives have been ruined as a result of Trump's deportation policies? How many Ukrainians and Gazan's have died or will die because of Trump's ineptitude? An estimated 14 million people will die as a result of USAID's closure by Elon's hand, how can you ignore Kirk's role in enabling that outcome? We can acknowledge Kirk's effectiveness as a political organizer without echoing sentiments that he was a virtuous or good person the same way you can acknowledge that Mussolini did in fact, make those trains run on time.

What's next?

Unsurprisingly, I agree with Destiny's position. An environment where one side of the aisle is expected to endlessly condemn violence and rhetoric from people not even associated with the party while the other can blow off violence directly attributed to their leadership and rhetoric from the President of the United States himself is just an impossible environment to navigate in. Is it easy to condemn violence? Yes, but continuing to do so without concessions isn't healthy. If Republicans can continue to the point the finger and get Democrats to admit that there is a problem, then they can frame it as if the problem only exists on one side. If Republicans can frame the issue as one-sided, then they never have to confront the very real issues with violence stemming from their base. How many of those in the center/right are aware that the attempts made on Donald Trump's life in 2024 came from registered Republicans? With the rise of the internet and the misinformation that comes with it, Republican lawmakers can just deflect back to Democrats, act like they don't know what you're talking about, or just outright justify the violence as a reaction to all the left wing violence that plagues our country. Never take responsibility and stay on the attack, it's a tried and true Republican method.

Should Democratic lawmakers condemn violence? Probably. But this is where liberal/left influencers and media should pick up the slack and say the things that lawmakers cannot say in their stead. Once again, look at the other side. How many Republican politicians have openly endorsed the Great Replacement Theory? Not many, but it's prevalence in rightward leaning spaces is undeniable. Let the podcasters and the pundits take the heat for your spiciest positions, you just focus on winning elections. Toss some support their way every once in a while, maybe a dog whistle here and there, and everyone is happy. It's a symbiotic relationship between two sets of parasites, and it is incredibly effective.

Democrats need to stop fighting ghosts for a moral high ground that doesn't matter and give Republican energy right back to them. Gavin Newsom started using the same tactics and Trump stopped tweeting in all caps. Destiny went hard on conservatives and caused Asmongold to self reflect for what seems like the first time in his life. These things work, and if we're to avoid the worst case scenarios for this country we need to do more than just be on the defensive. Some people have the idea that Democrats will be in power again soon, so we must do our best to be worthy of that power when it comes our way. Nothing about this administration's actions demonstrate that is the case. And in the words of Nancy Pelosi: "No one gives you power. You have to take it from them".

Let's get off the back foot and take it. Our country depends on it.