Charlie Kirk in 2023: "I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.
That is a prudent deal. It is rational."
gizmodo.com/charlie-kirk…— Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Per the local Deseret News:
… Deseret News reporters Emma Pitts and Eva Terry were covering Kirk’s UVU rally. About 20 minutes after Kirk appeared at noon, he engaged in a Q&A with students.
The reporters then heard a gunshot from behind them, and it appeared Kirk was struck in the the neck during during a Q&A with students…
Pitts called it a “terrible irony” that the question Kirk was responding to at the time of the shooting was about mass shootings in America.
“The first question was if Kirk knew how many mass shooters were transgender,” she said. “He said, ‘Too many.’”
A second question on the issue was asked. Before he could answer, he was shot, Pitts said…
Political violence disproportionately hurts people with less power, not people with more power. Political violence will disproportionately hurt people of color and women and LGBTQ people. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it works. Celebrating political violence means at best indifference to that.
— Stand With Chicago Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Wise words from Ken White:
/2 We can, and should, discuss whether political violence is inevitable, or whether we’re fooling ourselves because we’ve been swimming in it for a long time. You can note that political violence against the Left (like Melissa Hortman) is treated differently than political violence against the right
/3 We can also call out who has encouraged and normalized political violence and made it government policy. We can note the irony of it in many cases. But celebrating it — yelling “hooray” — is like celebrating going to war. People will die and it won’t be fun.
/4 But it’s perfectly reasonable to point out that the people who will wave the bloody shirt over this — the people who support Charlie Kirk — are evil hypocrites who endorse and excuse violence every day. Refraining from celebrating doesn’t mean tolerating bullshit.
/5 Watch for the response to be, barely disguised, “they’re doing to us what we want to do to them and that’s not fair!”
/6 Also: if a Left-wing activist even remotely as strident as Charlie Kirk had been assassinated, Charlie Kirk would have smirked and applauded, as would have many of the people who are going to be loudest about Charlie Kirk. Don’t buy the hypocrisy.
/7 Also: I’m not saying “violence has no place in America.” Violence is as American as cherry pie and has always been rampant. I’m speaking to whether it’s wise or helpful to good goals to encourage this kind of violence.
(See, for example, the general right-wing response to Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman’s murder.)
When a right-wing man murdered Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, progressives asked MAGA to tone down the rhetoric to prevent more violence. Within hours of Kirk’s murder, motive still unknown, the right is demanding that the government wage a campaign of violence against their enemies.
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 5:13 PM
===
As stated earlier by others, it does not matter what you post or do not post here. The right wing has their narrative they’re going to push, because they understand they are at war with democracy and that propaganda *works.*
— Chris Kluwe (@chriswarcraft.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
===
That both of Turning Point USA’s founders are dead from public health crises their organization worked hard to enable is a parable for our time.
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 6:04 PM
(The cofounder Bill Montgomery died of COVID in 2020)
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 6:05 PM
===
Every accusation a confession…
"When do we get to use the guns? To k*ll these people"
asks Charlie Kirk supporter (2021) Universal warning— Chris⚖️Justice (@chrisjustice01.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 5:04 PM
HeleninEire
Yes. This is horrible. But if you live by the sword you die by the sword.
HeleninEire
@HeleninEire: Also please put someone else on MSNBC. Jen Psaki is the absolute worst person on there.
Albatrossity
Thanks for reminding me that Jason Chaffetz is the absolute scum of the earth.
Interesting Name Goes Here
…What else needs to be said?
Live your life in such a fashion that people don’t find lunch/dinner arrangements more interesting after you’ve taken a high-caliber round in the neck while at a public function.
Jeffro
@HeleninEire: THANK YOU
My mom has up a FB post quoting the Governor of Utah essentially both-sides-ing (at best) the shooting and violence and political rhetoric with her note that “the nation is hurting” and it’s tough not to just lay it alllll out for her.
“The nation” is not hurting after Charlie Kirk’s shooting any more than it did after Melissa Horton’s, nor any more than it did after Paul Pelosi’s beating, etc etc etc.
It’s just that Charlie being the victim made it real to her (and them) for once – it broke through.
Never mind that Charlie a) was a complete dick b) was completely fine with X level of gun casualties as long as his blessed view of his blessed 2nd Amendment prevailed and c) lied constantly to the next generation in search of new MAGA voters.
Also, fuck Gavin Newsom for lionizing Kirk. Every Dem who folds and makes this into a tragedy bigger than, oh, say, pardoning a couple thousand cop-beating violent J6 rioters can go pound sand.
Give me Liz Warren when asked for a comment today: “what? how about trump’s never-ending stream of violent rhetoric?” (paraphrased)
Anne Laurie
@Albatrossity: As a Masshole, every time I see Jason Chaffetz mentioned, I think of Kitty Dukakis (RIP). During her first marriage to Jason’s father, she had a son, who was later adopted by her second husband. When you compare Jason to John (ex Chaffetz) Dukakis, well…
mrmoshpotato
mrmoshpotato
@Albatrossity:
@Anne Laurie: I’d forgotten about Chaffetz. Will try to again.
Bupalos
My prediction is that people will be shocked how much of a nothingburger this assassination turns out to be in terms of follow on effects. The only thing that will create oxygen for it is if the shooter isn’t found.
Trump will drop this like a hot potato because he won’t be able to stand people acting like Kirk was somehow important.
Juliet
I’m from minnesota and Melissa hortman represented part of my city. I have two thoughts for Charlie. 1. FAFO 2. Too bad so sad, said with a shrug of my shoulders.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Bupalos:
I actually hope the shooter isn’t identified or found because I don’t want them to be directly linked to say, LGBTQ+ folks, etc.
If they are identified and caught, I hope they turn out to be a right-winger who killed Kirk because he wasn’t extreme enough
I hope you turn out to be right that it ends up being a nothingburger
SpaceUnit
My theory is that he was killed because of his demands to release the Epstein files. It was a warning to all MAGA voices who still won’t drop it.
Yeah I’m going with that.
Leto
I like to think about the contrast between what ole Popehat is saying above, with what’s been happening in Nepal, and the responses that Adam received. It’s continually interesting who always talks the most about limiting political violence.
Jackie
@Bupalos:
WRONG! FFOTUS will milk this as long as he can. For the simple reason that no one’s talking about Epstein.
Now if the suspect is captured – dead or alive – and happens to be anti Kirk, BUT not anti FFOTUS… (they DO exist) then, and only then will FFOTUS become his petulant must-have-ALL the attention normal self.
PsiFighter37
FAFO
Also the Yankees held a moment of silence for this person, and as a nearly lifelong Yankees fan, I think I’m done rooting for the team. I know George Steinbrenner was a Republican, but apparently Hal and the rest of the family living off the teat are even worse.
They Call Me Noni
Daughter and I were watching the video (with the worst part blurred out) and she told me to watch the guy behind CK. He’s wearing a white baseball cap and has his phone held up recording. He touches the bill of his cap and then touches his ear right before the shot. Apparently there’s a theory that he was signaling someone.
satby
Charlie Kirk Died Doing What He Loved. Yes he did. Smarmily arguing with people about guns and mass shootings being the price of freedom. Isn’t it ironic?
PsiFighter37
@They Call Me Noni: Everything is a conspiracy theory if you make it out to be. I don’t think this country is that far down the rabbit hole (yet)
Jackie
@PsiFighter37:
SERIOUSLY?!?! I hate the Yankees, and this made me realize I have another degree of hate level I didn’t realize I was capable of.
Of course this was ordered by ownership, not the players, but… I hate the Yankees.
Leto
Anyways, back to actual important issues:
House GOP advances bills to remove elected D.C. AG, overhaul justice policies
mrmoshpotato
@PsiFighter37: Did the Yankees have a moment of silence for Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
Jackie
@They Call Me Noni:
Let’s not start rumors, please. There’s enough going around as it is.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Leto:
Shit like this makes me glad the Senate filibuster is a thing
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mrmoshpotato:
Or the slain Minnesota Dem state senators?
mrmoshpotato
@They Call Me Noni:
Fixed that for you.
Marc
I thought for just a brief few years that we lived in a country that would celebrate students like these, rather than one that celebrates Charlie Kirk, guns, and snipers. Killings of immigrants or non-white people by whites are so routine, once again, that the national news media is happy to move on to more important things. I doubt most white people would even care.
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): True.
Jackie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
No. And No.
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato: Thank you.
ExPatExDem
He also said that children should be made to watch public executions.
He was able to see this wish fulfilled with his own children.
Mark
A good guy with a gun. Looks like Charlie wasn’t very well prepared. He was supposed to shoot back. He didn’t have any body armor on. Completely in over his head.
Eric S.
@HeleninEire: I was in classes all day and when my friend texted me the news I said the exact same.
mrmoshpotato
@ExPatExDem:
SpaceUnit
@ExPatExDem:
The monkey paw has extended its middle finger.
Jackie
@ExPatExDem:
One should always be careful for what one wishes for.
Not that I would have wished his babies to have witnessed this.
MisterForkbeard
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They’re trying very hard to make the nation think this is a thing thay we NEED to care about.
Ishiyama
I only watched a video taken from far away, which didn’t show any gore. But if he was hit in the neck, I’m going to assume that the shot was intended for his head, and the sniper miscalculated the gravity drop. Who aims for the neck, not the head?
oclday
Very effectively turned the page on Jeffry didn’t it.
Was this a conspiracy?/s
Mark
I heard that Utah passed a law last year making it legal to open carry on a university campus. It was already legal to conceal carry. All of those thousands of people at the event and nobody fired back. Winning.
Jackie
@Mark: The Good Guys didn’t think they needed to carry, being a college campus and all. //
rikyrah
NewsToter (@NewsToter) posted at 8:14 PM on Wed, Sep 10, 2025:
Charlie Kirk Anti-Black Quotes.
1) “Prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people — that’s a fact.”
2) “If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like, ‘boy, I hope he is qualified.’”
3) “George Floyd was a ‘scumbag.’”
4) “[MLK was] just a man … a very flawed one at that … a mythological anti-racist creation of the 1960s.”
5) “The ‘Great Replacement’ is not a theory, it’s a reality.”
6) “If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman… I wonder, is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because [of] affirmative action?”
7) Leaders “won’t do what is necessary, which is arresting Black criminals.”
8) “Black crime is a major issue in our country.”
9) “What is the real problem exactly? The real problem is that Black fathers abandon the women that they impregnate.”
10) “The problem is Blacks that kill themselves a lot — kill each other in inner cities.”
11) “Black crime is a huge problem no one wants to talk about. It’s not racism.”
12) Black Lives Matter wants to “fan the flames of a race war in our country… This is an outright threat. A full frontal domestic terrorism in our country.”
13) “A BLM-incorporated leader drove through the holiday parade” (re: Waukesha).
14) The alleged Waukesha attacker was a “Black supremacist terrorist.”
15) Juneteenth “threatens the fabric of our country.”
16) “Juneteenth should not be a federal holiday.”
17) “We should not be like… ‘you’re acting like a Trayvon’… ‘you’re a Shaniqua.’”
18) (About Yusef Salaam of the Central Park Five) he “once took part in the gruesome gang rape of a jogger in Central Park… after getting away with gang rape…”
19) “Affirmative action does not address the real problem… Black crime… Black fathers abandoning their children.” / “Black crime is a huge problem no one wants to talk about.”
20) “More than six hundred white women a year are murdered by Black men… by Blacks
t.co/NS1dp6xlqe
(https://x.com/NewsToter/status/1965947126682472859?t=dak-rnBRTqBRoU3wlUpAhg&s=03)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@oclday:
Who says it turned the page on the Epstein files?
@MisterForkbeard:
Yeah, it’s gross. We don’t have to condone political violence, but how about we don’t honor/lionize a POS either just because he was killed?
It leaves such a bitter taste in the mouth the more I think about it. They’ll do this because why? He was a conservative/right-wing white man who was an ally with Trump?
And then largely ignore the political violence done by the state (ICE, NG invasions, etc) or against Democratic pols?
It’s such bullshit
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Agreed.
Jackie
Interesting.
We shall see. I personally doubt it.
Gretchen
@oclday: Schumer is insisting they won’t pass the budget deal without voting on the Epstein release.
Are there really that many people who aren’t hardcore MAGA or political junkies who know who Charlie Kirk was?
Gretchen
@Jackie: They thought it was all fun and games when it was just Democrats endangered. It’s different when they themselves might be at risk.
Shalimar
@Jackie: Notice the “change” Johnson is contemplating is more protection for members of Congress. He absolutely will not do anything to control guns or protect the rest of us.
Shalimar
@Gretchen: Kirk spent a lot of time touring college campuses and working with politicians on voter turnout, so I assume his name recognition was a lot higher with those under 25 than with the general population.
prostratedragon
But there’s no need to worry, recalling the newest anti-terrorism appontee.
Mark
@Gretchen: I had never heard of him until today.
Kelly
@Mark: Mrs. Kelly hadn’t heard of him before today
Jay
Charlie Kirk is suddenly awfully quiet about how gun violence is good for America.
Jackie
@Jay: Damn you! It’s not funny, but still, you made me laugh.
pacem appellant
Charlie Kirk dying while doing what he loved does not concern me. This does:
Shooter dead, 2 other students in critical condition after shooting at Colorado high school: Sheriff
Jackie
@prostratedragon: Jeezus. That’s terrifying. 22 yrs old.
Splitting Image
@Shalimar:
Kirk was probably as responsible as anyone else for delivering so much of the youth vote to Trump last year. That narrows the list of suspects down to anyone who was hurt by Trump’s election.
There can’t be that many of those, now. Can there?
Jackie
@pacem appellant:
This concerns me, too. Politicians politicking and attracting violence is horrible enough.
Innocent students targeted by gun violence is another thing.
The problem is – who will the Republican Congress react to more viscerally?
dc
What if this shooting wasn’t political, but personal? These right-wing hate grifting assholes lead personal lives in which they revel in doing what they accuse others of doing.
prostratedragon
@Jackie: Helps the case that deliberate destruction is going on.
Jackie
@dc: That’s an interesting question. And, definitely worth thinking about.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Splitting Image: The last time there was a spool of anything long enough to compile a list like that, Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy could curve bullets.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
The fired SLC bureau chief:
Sister Golden Bear
Kirk’s last words were inciting the crowd with false accusations that mass shooters are disproportionately trans people. So he died as he lived.
SpaceUnit
I’ve heard rumors that Kirk may have at one time unknowingly passed a counterfeit twenty dollar bill or rolled through a stop sign.
He was no angel.
different-church-lady
I feel that this is the right way to honor Kirk’s memory.
different-church-lady
@Jackie:
What, half of them started drooling with pleasure?
different-church-lady
@SpaceUnit: He’s no angel now either.
Jay
@dc:
Charlie Kirk was “big” as a pro-Dolt45/47 influencer on “The Epstein List” promotion. He was one of the one’s who got the “big show” of the White Binder’s Release of bupkis.
When he realized that they got “played”, for a brief period he went off on the FBI and the DOJ, (Bondi, Patel, et al) but not Dolt 47.
When the Wapo released the “love letter” story from the Pedo-Files, Kirk went all in on his “boy” Dolt47, full attack dog/savage mode on any MAGgot or QAnon person dissing the “not release” of the Epstein/Trump files after years of Dolt45/47 dangling them as bait.
So the “suspect” list is vast.
different-church-lady
Charlie Kirk Died Doing What He Loved: being a complete fucking asshole.
Jay
@different-church-lady:
“Moses” Mike (R-Pornhub) and a bunch of his fellow ReThugs, have realized that the anger, hatred and Second Amendment “Solutions” that they stoked in their Base against “The Other”, given they can’t even hold Town Halls, in person or virtual anymore,
That “they” might be the targets of angry hate filled and armed violent MAGgots.
different-church-lady
@Jay: They want us to live in fear. Now it’s their turn to wear that shoe.
prostratedragon
Gizmodo:.”Top Democrat Calls for Congressional Probe Into Ties Between Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel”
hitchhiker
I don’t know. I’m trying to muster some kind of emotion, but all I got is distaste.
I’m just sick of it. The second I saw that he’d been shot in the neck, I could predict how the rest of the day would unfold. He wouldn’t survive. Right wing people would blame everybody but themselves, with no evidence. Dem politicians would make over-the-top declarations of sympathy and mourning.
The story is, a young guy who made himself rich by smugly hating Black people and showing contempt for women got killed by a gun in broad daylight in front of a crowd of college students. He wasted his life.
A year from now, his wife will be remarried, his kids will have a new dad, and the people rending their garments will be talking about someone else. He wasted his life, and it’s stupid that we cannot have a rational conversation in the USA about anything at all.
different-church-lady
@hitchhiker: Distaste is an emotion.
Bupalos
Trump had Kirk killed because he agitated for release of the Epstein files.
Mark
@hitchhiker: His kids won’t remember him either. Just a picture in a photo album.
Mai Naem mobile
@Mark: when I first heard he died I felt sorry for his kids but I was assuming they were over 6 years old but they’re 1 and 3. I still feel bad for the kids but at least they’re at an age where the memory isn’t going to be that strong within a few years especially if the mom remarries and they have essentially have a new dad.
I can’t believe MSNBC fired Matthew Dowd for calling Kirk divisive and rhar he kept on pushing hateful rhetoric. It’s not like Dowd said he deserved to be shot. His phrasing didn’t even really say Kirk brought this on himself. He just said the guy kept on pushing divisive rhetoric. FOX and Newsmax do this every week and nobody gets fired.wtf.
Mark
Here’s a quote from Charlie Kirk’s wife:
December 2024
The former Miss Arizona USA celebrated a beach trip with her family, including their son, who was born in May 2024.
“That’s the excitement about obedience, you find out later what God had in mind,” she wrote on Instagram. “Reframe and refocus your mindset, if you have to, but always find joy in the surrender.”
We all get to see what God had in mind for the Kirk’s.
Ramalama
@Mark: Gross.
Shalimar
@Mark: Sounds like her goal is to become a dog. I don’t think she can ever be as obedient and loyal as the family dog is.
MagdaInBlack
@Mark: Oh boy, she does the “trad wife” thing.
Mark
@Shalimar: Young mother, two toddlers. She’s probably lucky in that Charlie left her in good shape financially speaking. For most women though, that would be a disaster. The USA isn’t very generous to single mothers. Charlie was out there pedaling these ideas to the gullible.
Shalimar
Florida Reporter Suspended After Texting MAGA Congressman to Ask If He Still Supports Campus Carry After Kirk Shooting
Exhibit 27416 of never ever ever talk to Republicans.
Baud
@Shalimar:
Yeah, that’s a lame excuse. It’s not like he texted Kirk’s wife.
Baud
@Shalimar:
I don’t care about people’s personal kink. I just hope we can convince most young women not to go down that road.
LAC
@rikyrah: Thank you for highlighting all the reasons why my give a fucks are on vacation when it comes to this guy. I choose when, where and who I extend my compassion and empathy to. That gummy hatemonger ain’t it.
Anyway, Bretagne was lovely this time of year.
Deputinize America
Query – if you get an opportunity to eliminate Julius Streicher or Joseph Goebbels in 1933 or 1934, do you take advantage of the moment?
AM in NC
@rikyrah: Replace the word “black” in those statements with the word “male” (where the statistics are even more stark).
Why didn’t Charlie have a problem with male predation, violence, “affirmative action”? ‘Tis a mystery
ETA – NOT to take away from the racist puke that defined Kirk. Just pointing out that his in-group has a far worse record on violence and predatory behavior than the ones he constantly attacks, and yet, crickets from the formerly alive Charlie Kirk.
Paul in KY
@Bupalos: I think they’re going to try to HorstWesselize him.
Paul in KY
@Jackie: Fuck the fuckin Yankees!!! (RIP, Steve)!
Paul in KY
@Ishiyama: Could be.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: He was a cruel man.
artem1s
I’m perfectly happy to help stoke the conspiracy paranoia of those who were perfectly fine with the Pizzagate lies. Given the cravenness of TCF and his lackeys I find it perfectly plausible that they worked hard to have Kirk assassinated because he called for releasing the Epstein files. We know they aren’t above sending their minions to do their dirty work (J6). When someone tells you who they are, I tend to believe them.
As for the evangelicals weeping their Jimmy Swaggart tears, maybe they should consider that God was sending a message to those MAGAts and Opus Dei enablers who continue to consort with pedophiles and rapists and money changers. They might want to reconsider who they are condemning from their pulpits the next time a natural disaster hits.
JML
@prostratedragon: really tired of Thiel naming all his shit with Tolkien references. That psycho billionaire is trying to taint something cool with his stink.