I hate being angry, but I am really angry right now…

I agree. While we certainly shouldn't celebrate his death, we have to admit that Kirk was an awful human being who made our nation an objectively worse place. I don't celebrate his death, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, either.

Yep. And let's not forget that minutes after Jimmy Carter's death was announced, Scott Jennings was on CNN calling him a terrible president with a big ego. He wasn't fired.

After Paul Pelosi was attacked, FOX News hosts joked about it on air. They never apologised, they weren't fired.

After Charlie Kirk was killed, Matthew Dowd said on MSNBC that he was "divisive" and added that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions".

He apologized, but was still fired.

Always remember: Republicans cheer when their media thugs mock violence against liberals, but cry foul over accountability for their own, proving their "free speech" mantra is just selective hypocrisy.

To Republicans, free speech only goes one way.

This is my take on Kirk since his murder. Honestly, the only thing I can say is that his death was horrific, and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. At all. Not even him. I knew of the guy but didn’t really listen to much of what he had to say, and what little I did hear sounded abhorrent, granted, from short clips without full context. Even so, sometimes those clips reveal enough to understand the tone and priorities of his messaging. Sometimes the short clip is the context.

After listening to podcasts reflecting on Kirk, I’ve come away with the view that he is, to many young white Americans, what MLK, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers were to African Americans. I’m not claiming he is the same, just that that’s how some people see him. That’s their perspective, not mine. I see him more as a white supremacist (and I don't like using terms like these easily) who believed DEI programs took opportunities from white people. He couldn’t even frame it in a fair way, if he believed DEI hires took from qualified candidates, he never acknowledged that it could disadvantage talented minorities, particularly Black Americans.

What I find extremely difficult to square is that the same people who lionize Kirk have listened to him disparage MLK’s legacy, showing no regard for how it makes Black Americans feel, yet expect sympathy from those very people now. MLK wasn’t speaking about theory or grievance, he was living a harsh reality. He marched and faced vitriol in a system that denied him and his people basic human rights. He had no political power, only the moral weight of his voice, a hope, and a dream. Kirk, by contrast, debated college students and could leave college to actively help his favored candidate get elected. These are not even close. All Kirk delivered were hot takes on screen and college campuses, whereas MLK faced real oppression.

It is cruel in the extreme to expect empathy from those to whom you have given none. I condemn Kirk’s death fully, but people aligned with Charlie have no right to demand empathy from people Kirk afforded none to. And now the right calls the left demons for cheering (and cheering a death is awful), but let’s not pretend conservatives don’t celebrate death when it suits them, like the U.S. strike on a Venezuelan boat, justified by claims (not evidence) that the victims were drug traffickers, with Vance saying he didn’t care if the act broke international law. Perhaps the right should take the mote out of their own eyes first.

Moral consistency matters.

Well written.

I have never "celebrated" anybody's death. I instinctively look for reasons to empathise with human tragedy and today I find empathy with his widow and family.

I am truly shocked by your president's initial reaction and people jumping to politically conditioned conclusions before a suspect is even apprehended. This makes his death seem even worse than futile.

It may seem that I am getting close to crossing the line, in certain comments. Please note I am not. Only just giving the facts as they are coming in.

There's too much hate and division going on right now. Which could lead to further similar actions, by all parties.

In no way do I condone Kirk's actions. The man has too much filth covering all over his actions, including project2025, which I consider the most insidious.

Yet being against the death penalty, I as well can not condone what happened to Kirk.

No one's death is justifiable. Nor is death a way to pay for past actions. That's the easy way out of paying for a crime.

Kirk had never even begun to pay for his crimes against society. There should have been a real punishment.

Pushing hate is a crime against society, no matter in which direction that hate is pushed. No one's way is the only way.

Charlie Kirk became famous, because he acted as a public conduit to the people who espouse his message of hate, not the other way around.

I feel no empathy for him, but I don't condone the way he was silenced.

The millions who gave him a position of prominence will crown another spokesman.

On June 14, 2025, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated in a shooting at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, United States. Hortman, the leader of the state House Democratic caucus, was killed alongside her husband, Mark. Earlier that morning, state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot in their home in nearby Champlin and hospitalized. Police responding to the attack on the Hoffmans checked on the Hortmans' home, where a man fired at them. The shooter escaped, sparking the most extensive manhunt in Minnesota history.[3]

Where was trump's outrage and flags at half-mast for these two back in June eh?

It’s hard to be sad for a man who repeatedly said deaths by gun violence are necessary and acceptable in order to protect the second amendment meeting his end in gun violence. Seems fitting. I don’t condone the shooting, but I find no tears to shed either.

You're not alone in how you feel

I agree with you. Whilst i think it is awful that someone has been shot dead, in front of his pregnant wife and kids, for his political beliefs i do think that this is a testament to the culture that has been created by a very divided country.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

I’d never heard of Charlie Kirk, and I certainly didn’t want him dead.

But these people who support the people who want our streets paved with weapons are cancerous.

I agree

Indeed

Well said.

Thank you. That is all I can state on this topic.

I feel bad for his kids.
Not him.

People need to stop this "he was someone's child!". Yeah, so is every other human being unless immaculate conception can be demonstrated.

Now take the reactions we are seeing now, and multiply by one thousand if Trump suppenly caught a fatal bullet. As tempting as it is to wish that. Its just the excuse Project 2025 would want..😷

A martyr for the Trump administration ? 🤔

It's completely unhinged. School shootings don't ever get this level of sympathy from the right.