Charlie Kirk as a martyr

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

Eric Trump trying to make this about his book? Grifters gonna grift but geez.

 

[nycfan]

Trump's anti-Democrat rhetoric is increasingly extreme today ... but he clearly sees the Kirk assassination as tightening GOP/MAGA bonds for now.

"...“There is something wrong with them,” Trump said about Democrats in a rare in-studio “Fox and Friends” interview. “If you gave them every dream right now ... they want to give away money to this or that and destroy the country. If you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it.”

“Don’t even bother dealing with them,” he added. “We will get it through because the Republicans are sticking together for the first time in a long time.”

... “Here is the problem,” Trump quickly added, “the Democrats have: They’re sick. There is something wrong with them. Schumer is at end of the rope.” ..."

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/12/donald-trump-shutdown-democrats-00560031?utm_content=politico/magazine/Politics&utm_source=flipboard

 

[nycfan]

 

[superrific]

Who knew Stephen Miller was capable of introspection. He's describing his boss, right?

 

[Heelsandeers]

Explains to a large degree why we lost the election. Both that folks don't know how many people are looking for that content and that the Left has no equivalent.

I've been saying this since the election. The left is not connect with a large portion of the general public. As long as a large percentage of Americans are getting their "news" from TikTok, X, and Charlie Kirk/ Joe Rogan manosphere podcasts, the left doesn't stand a chance. Dems have to figure out a) what their message is and b) how to reach people where they are.

I think the Democratic party is fundamentally hostile to a large percentage of things young men in particular, and low information voters, find compelling. So it's actually impossible to produce a "Joe Rogan of the left"

And it isn't just white dudes like Kirk and Rogan producing this stuff. A lot of popular platforms from people whom you might expect to vote Dem at the ballot box, all feeding their audience anti-liberal stuff

But yes, the broader Left has zero answer in this space. That's not to say they can't/don't need to do a better job of cutting through the noise where they can

 

[lightbluenc]

The left has no answer in that space also because the conservative brain feeds off of fear. They are obviously opposed to change, it frightens them. Critical thinking is not a strong suit. There's a reason why charlatans, grifters and scammers can so easily manipulate these folks into conspiracies, snake oil, and fantastical religion. They will believe anything that makes them feel better, regardless of facts.

 

[superrific]

I've been saying this since the election. The left is not connect with a large portion of the general public. As long as a large percentage of Americans are getting their "news" from TikTok, X, and Charlie Kirk/ Joe Rogan manosphere podcasts, the left doesn't stand a chance. Dems have to figure out a) what their message is and b) how to reach people where they are.

What if "where people are" is antisocial racism?

My son, at University of Michigan of all places, constantly runs into idiots who say the n* word, sometimes in group efforts that they apparently think is funny. They talk approvingly about Nazis. They scrawl swastikas on Jewish students' doors. It's not a majority of the campus but it was really surprising to me.

If you have any ideas how you reach those people where they are without sacrificing every one of our ideals, I'd love to hear them.

 

[lawtig02]

THIS is the big story here. Kirk's death is a tragic story and I'm very glad his killer has been caught and will be punished, but that story PALES in comparison to statements like this from a man who sits right next to the Oval Office and has more power than pretty much anyone in the nation right now.

I don't care what random people say in response to Kirk's death. I wouldn't even care much if Miller said something like this at a time when Pubs were out of power. But I do care what people in positions of power say about Kirk's death. And I REALLY care what people like Miller, who have extraordinary, unprecedented power to upend the guardrails of our democracy, have to say about it.

We are in this bizarre world where the right wing recoils from comparisons to the Nazis and blames that rhetoric for Kirk's shooting, but conservatives themselves then invoke the Reichstag Fire immediately after Kirk's death, and the most powerful people in the country then AMPLIFY the Reichstag Fire rhetoric. Statements like this are completely unacceptable, but not a single person on the right will hold Miller to account for it.

 

[4thgenheel]

THIS is the big story here. Kirk's death is a tragic story and I'm very glad his killer has been caught and will be punished, but that story PALES in comparison to statements like this from a man who sits right next to the Oval Office and has more power than pretty much anyone in the nation right now.

I don't care what random people say in response to Kirk's death. I wouldn't even care much if Miller said something like this at a time when Pubs were out of power. But I do care what people in positions of power say about Kirk's death. And I REALLY care what people like Miller, who have extraordinary, unprecedented power to upend the guardrails of our democracy, have to say about it.

We are in this bizarre world where the right wing recoils from comparisons to the Nazis and blames that rhetoric for Kirk's shooting, but conservatives themselves then invoke the Reichstag Fire immediately after Kirk's death, and the most powerful people in the country then AMPLIFY the Reichstag Fire rhetoric. Statements like this are completely unacceptable, but not a single person on the right will hold Miller to account for it.

exactly.

"bUt tHe DeMs aRe JuSt aS bAd!!1!!!" - zenmode

 

[nycfan]

 

[CFordUNC]

Impossible. We were assured by certain members of this very community that liberals were declaring civil war on everyone to the right of Mao.

 

[lawtig02]

Impossible. We were assured by certain members of this very community that liberals were declaring civil war on everyone to the right of Mao.

They sure did disappear quickly after Wednesday, didn't they.

 

[CFordUNC]

They sure did disappear quickly after Wednesday, didn't they.

They always do!

 

[nycfan]

 

[Zoo_View]

THIS is the big story here. Kirk's death is a tragic story and I'm very glad his killer has been caught and will be punished, but that story PALES in comparison to statements like this from a man who sits right next to the Oval Office and has more power than pretty much anyone in the nation right now.

I don't care what random people say in response to Kirk's death. I wouldn't even care much if Miller said something like this at a time when Pubs were out of power. But I do care what people in positions of power say about Kirk's death. And I REALLY care what people like Miller, who have extraordinary, unprecedented power to upend the guardrails of our democracy, have to say about it.

We are in this bizarre world where the right wing recoils from comparisons to the Nazis and blames that rhetoric for Kirk's shooting, but conservatives themselves then invoke the Reichstag Fire immediately after Kirk's death, and the most powerful people in the country then AMPLIFY the Reichstag Fire rhetoric. Statements like this are completely unacceptable, but not a single person on the right will hold Miller to account for it.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

“It is one thing to condemn, as we all should, the brutal murder of Charlie Kirk or, for those who cared about him to mourn his death.

It is quite another to turn Kirk into a MAGA saint, or to use his death as a Reichstag fire-like justification for increasing Trump’s authoritarian chokehold on America.

… But what is happening is far worse than simply devoting our national resources or devaluing our national reputation through the elevation of an unworthy individual.

In tributes from across the political spectrum, Kirk is being praised as a champion of “free speech.” He was not. He mercilessly attacked those with whom he did not agree. He was an enemy of truth and of equity. Kirk perverted the idea of our First Amendment rights to suggest they required universities to embrace lies, as though there were some obligation to present unfounded idiocy and malice simply because some special interest or political group supported them.

… Trump and Vance and Hegseth and Rubio and Patel and Loomer may be truly shocked and appalled by Kirk’s murder—as we all should be—but they also instantly saw it as an opportunity to accelerate their campaign to attack our democratic institutions and to demonize all those who do not agree with them.

… This is not merely about an outpouring of emotion and over-the-top responses to the grief of a horrible moment.

Nor are they the usual spin of partisans. They are something far more dangerous: the monstrous opportunism of those who have been planning for a moment like this all along, a moment that rather than making America great again, is seized in the hopes of making the America we once knew, an America for all of us, the America that guys like Charlie Kirk have long sought to undermine, cease to exist once and for all.“

 

[mynameisbond]

Meghan's dad is spinning in his grave right now. Civil discourse has become a relic of the past.

 

[bassydude77]

What if "where people are" is antisocial racism?

My son, at University of Michigan of all places, constantly runs into idiots who say the n* word, sometimes in group efforts that they apparently think is funny. They talk approvingly about Nazis. They scrawl swastikas on Jewish students' doors. It's not a majority of the campus but it was really surprising to me.

If you have any ideas how you reach those people where they are without sacrificing every one of our ideals, I'd love to hear them.

Unfortunately, I have none...

Are all of these people actually racists (all MAGA, everyone that voted for Trump)? Certainly many are and many have been brainwashed by the endless stream of nonsense they feed into their brains from 4chan, etc. At some point in their lives, some of those people weren't racists/ weren't radicalized. Can you reach young adults before their lost, because I agree that most of the people that voted for Trump a 2nd time are not coming back from crazy town. They'll just double down. I do have friends that I know are not racist, but will vote for the Pub every time. The whole small government, low taxes, tired of the takers nonsense that pubs have been selling and not practicing for 40+ yrs. I've got know answers, but I don't think we gain anything by continuing to just write-off everyone that voted for Trump.