Charlie Kirk was not a free speech martyr. He held racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, and transphobic beliefs. He dared college students to prove him wrong rather than actually being able to prove his points. He was condescending, manipulative, insulting, and would often rant when debating students.
Nonetheless, I do not in any way condone his murder.
As the country lurched further right and MAGA Republicans, podcasters, and Fox News ironically called for a war against Democrats, whom they blamed for his death.
When looked at in the larger context of attacks on education, women and minority rights, violations of due process for immigrants, ICE raids on workplaces, detention camps, and sending the military in cities with Black mayors, which are all part of Project 2025, the so-called martyrdom of Charlie Kirk becomes worrisome. What will his death be used to justify?
There are eerie historical parallels that can become a reality in America under Donald Trump. There was the murder of popular party leader Sergei Kirov in 1934 orchestrated by Stalin that became the pretext for the Great Terror. In 1938, the murder of Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath by a Jew became the excuse for Kristallnacht. How the murder of Kirk will play out under a Trump regime is worrisome.