13/09/2025
Charlie Kirk didn't deserve this. Neither did Melissa Hortman, the Democratic Speaker of the Minnesota State House who was assassinated just 3 months ago by a MAGA extremist. These killings follow the attempted assassination of Pennsylvania's Jewish Democratic Governor, the kidnapping and murder plot against Michigan's female Democratic Governor, and last year's attempted assassinations of Donald Trump. We must never condone political violence in America.
Let's afford Charlie Kirk's family the grace and empathy he did not afford others. Charlie Kirk said in 2022, "I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage."
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-empathy-quote/
At the same time, we absolutely must not canonize Charlie Kirk. Kirk was a shock jock, someone who intentionally said terrible things in order to build a following. He was a bigot, not a truth-teller. Here's just a small sample:
"Black women do not have the processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person's slot."
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-black-women/
"If I see a black pilot, I'm going to be like, 'boy, I hope he's qualified.'"
Source: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/fact-check-real-charlie-kirk-214400078.html
"We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s."
AND
"Actually MLK was awful. Ok? He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe."
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-mlk-awful/
Charlie Kirk blamed "Jewish money" for ruining American culture.
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-jewish-money-quote/?collection=471193
After white man bludgeoned Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer and nearly killed him, Charlie Kirk advocated that the man be freed: "Why has he not been bailed out? By the way, if some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out."
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-bail-pelosi-attacker/?utm_source=mail.snopes.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=5-rumors-about-charlie-kirk-fact-checked
"Death penalties should be public, should be quick, it should be televised. I think at a certain age, its an initiation...What age should you start to see public executions?" [He and his talk show guest went on to talk about having kids as young as 12 watch public executions.]
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/charlie-kirk-death-penalty-public-executions-1873073
These quotes are just the tip of the iceberg - pointing at the myriad ways that Kirk sought to advance extremism and hate.
But going back to the empathy he denied to others, let's not be like him. At this moment, there are two young children who lost a father and a wife who lost her husband. I hope we can empathize with their grief even while we do not canonize someone who would never do this for those with whom he disagreed. And let's condemn political violence regardless of the victim or perpetrator.