The assassination of Charlie Kirk changed our world. When something like this happens, it is important to allow a little time to pass to avoid reaching false assumptions. For example, many of us always assume that Republicans will eventually fold, again, allowing Democrats to gain another undeserved victory. Unfortunately, this pattern has been repeated many times. Every time there is a government shut down pending, Democrats refuse to bargain unless Republicans roll over and accept ridiculous spending demands. But this time a couple of things are different. One is that Donald Trump doesn’t play the game. When Democrats threaten him with shutting down the government, he says: “make my day.” But there is another crucial factor. The Mainstream Media (“MSM”) has lost much of its influence. Previously, regardless of the facts, Republicans were guaranteed to get all the blame. That is one important reason why Republicans caved so often.
The Charlie Kirk assassination exposed the hypocrisy of the liberal left and its supporters in the MSM in ways that cannot be overstated. The most important is just this simple. People willing to assassinate someone just because they don’t like what they are saying, are obviously willing to do anything to gain and keep power. People like this won’t hesitate to lie, to fabricate false stories, to blatantly distort facts, and to scream and holler if they don’t get their way. They never miss an opportunity to exploit a tragedy. This is why we saw all the BLM riots, the George Floyd riots, and the Michael Brown “hands up, don’t shoot” nonsense. It is why the same people are shrieking about right-wing rage, calling opponents Nazis, racists and referring to ICE agents as the gestapo.
I can find few incidents were conservatives demanded violence. If there are instances of referring to political opponents as Nazis, or racists, or the gestapo, where are they? If there have been violent riots because conservatives didn’t get their way, why don’t we know all about this? This is one reason Democrats and the MSM went all in on January 6th, calling it an insurrection, and describing it as an attempt to violently overthrow the government. They simply have nothing else that even comes close to the violence from the liberal left. It is another example of Democrats accusing Republicans of doing what they actually do. Sadly, with the cooperation of the MSM, they got away with this far too often.
So, what was so different about Charlie Kirk? Even though Kirk was publicly assassinated in the most shocking way possible, and a lot of people were furious, conservatives did not respond with calls for violence. There were no riots. No one turned over police cars or burned things down. Republicans didn’t go on television saying this was evidence that Democrats were the true Nazis, that they were the racists. Instead, they responded by holding prayer vigils, all over the country and the world. The only violence was by leftists attempting to interrupt these events. Charlie Kirk supporters organized a memorial service, which drew over 100,000 people and if one included adjacent venues, close to 200,000 people. The international viewing audience has been estimated at over 100 million. They wasted little if any time demonizing the people who assassinated Charlie Kirk. They were too busy worshiping, praising God, and singing together in joy. Then his widow somehow managed the grace to follow the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and forgive the unforgiveable.
The liberal left still doesn’t get it. People like Jimmy Kimmel deliberately lied and tried to blame the assassination on Trump supporters. Even though 100% of Republicans voted to condemn the shooting of Democratic politicians, over half of Democrats could not bring themselves to condemn the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Instead, they doubled down on blatant lies and misinformation. They continue to call ICE the Secret Police and the Gestapo. But they were too busy screaming to notice something incredibly significant. While there are always an unfortunate number of people who still swallow this nonsense, there are a lot less of them than before the Kirk assassination. Jimmy Kimmel is back on ABC, but a lot of ABC stations are refusing to broadcast his show. Turning Point is holding events with thousands of participants. There are requests for new Turning Point chapters all over the country. Meanwhile Gavin Newsom holds an event and about 15 people turn up, most of them paid to be there with professionally printed signs. ( I didn’t provide a link to this, because Newsom posts these videos himself)
The noise hasn’t changed. The nonsense hasn’t changed. The lies haven’t changed. That may never change. But what has changed is that a lot fewer people are listening. During his debate with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln said: “You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” This of course is frequently misquoted, but the meaning remains the same.
Douglas thought he won that debate, but Lincoln eventually won the presidency and is widely considered one of our greatest Presidents.
I have many friends who are liberal. Ever since the Charlie Kirk assassination they have become much more silent and restrained. None of them are bothering to repeat the nonsense from people like AOC, Jasmine Crockett, or Gavin Newsom. Just perhaps, for at least some of them, lesson learned.
TDM