Charlie Kirk for a Better America

 Charlie Kirk for a Better America

When Charlie Kirk was assassinated I didn’t actually know who he was or what he represented. Social media was immediately awash with the things he stood for so I took the time to read about this troubled MAGA mind and why he is revered and abhorred by so many at the same time. 

Since he is a Trump ally and co-founder of Turning Point there was nothing about the man and his point of view that would be of value to my way of thinking.  He espoused the typical conservative agenda which includes gun rights, opposition to abortion and transgender rights.  

None of this is surprising as these are all in the normal range of conservative values. He is one of the conservative Christian nationalists who manage to blur the lines between Trumpism, patriotism, nationalism and Christianity.  Once these four concepts merge I believe one is in dangerous territory.  

Since Charlie Kirk was charismatic, articulate and intelligent he did an excellent job of selling his brand and promoting MAGA. Ironically, his support of guns is also the same vehicle that struck him down in the end; so in a very real sense he is the collateral damage of his own belief system.  

His policies and beliefs are a toxic combination of right wing populism with a multitude of strategies that work together to undermine democratic norms and thereby further polarizing the American population. He speaks like a patriot but one with facist leanings as with his unique and intelligent brand of double speak he can make his visions appealing to the unwashed.

Kirk and his organization are masters at disseminating false information on a variety of topics from election fraud to vaccines  while promoting culture wars, thereby fuelling the powerful distrust in American institutions that weakens the shared basis of facts that democracy depends on to thrive.  This process makes it possible for a man like Musk to disassemble American institutions on the basis of inefficiency and corruption to national MAGA applause. 

Kirk and many like him, including Fox News, lay the ground work making it easy for DOGE to do their damage unabated.  It has always amazed me how little trust Americans, as a whole, have in their own system.  I believe they have been exposed to so many layers of negative propaganda that the American “go-to” is that less government and in some cases no government is the ideal.  

In addition Kirk’s policies play heavily on inflaming divisions over race, gender, sexuality, and education.  His zero sum game of attack fosters hostility toward fellow citizens rather than promoting honest factual debate between them.  He may have presented well in his short and active life, but like Vance in the Vice Presidential debate he did not represent the inner anger and hostilities to fellow Americans that he constantly fostered.  

In his career he was a divisive force, the last thing a divided country needs at this point in their history.  He will be missed by MAGA and honoured by a bent president devoid of honour, truth and dignity, but the world, at least America is a better place now that this voice is silent.