Charlie Kirk Shot Dead: The CEO and co-founder Turning Point USA (TPUSA) was shot and killed at Utah Valley University yesterday. His last debate was captured on video.
“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” a person in the crowd asked.
“Too many,” Kirk said.
Five, the person said. He then asked Kirk how many mass shooters there’d been in the last 10 years.
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk said.
“Great,” someone said, just before the crack of a gunshot. Kirk slumped right, blood spouting from his neck. His white shirt said “FREEDOM.”
Who Was Charlie Kirk? It’s not hard to understand a man who extensively documented his life and views. Kirk was 18 when he founded TPUSA, a profoundly influential far-right student organization that has more than 800 chapters across the country. Kirk had close ties to Trump and the Trump family. He was key to Trump’s 2024 ground game in battleground states. After the presidential election, Trump leaned on Kirk to vet candidates for the top jobs in his administration.
What Did He Stand For? Kirk believed Christians should run American society. He promoted the racist great replacement theory, promising Trump would “liberate” the country from immigrants, or as he put it, “the enemy occupation of the foreigner hordes.” He accused Democrats of purposely “diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America.” He said transgender people were “against the natural law,” that birth control “screws up female brains,” and that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mistake. At a rally just before the January 6th insurrection, Kirk bragged about sending “80-plus buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.” He pleaded the 5th when questioned by Congress. In 2023, Kirk said that the Second Amendment was “worth” some gun deaths; in 2022, he said empathy was a “made-up, new-age term that—it does a lot of damage.”
We Don’t Know Who Killed Him or Why: But it appears they took the shot from a rooftop about 430 feet away. After shooting
Kirk, they fled through a wooded area and left behind a bolt-action rifle, according to the FBI. In addition to the rifle, authorities have retrieved imprints of the shooter’s palm, forearm and footwear—but no shooter has been found. Two people have been detained and released.
What We May Know About the Gun: Three anonymous law enforcement officials told The New York Times said the gun was an “older-model Mauser,” the same rifle Nazi German troops used during World War II, which was imported in “large numbers after the war.” The Wall Street Journal reports investigators found bullets engraved with messages related to antifascism and transgender people. The conservative New York Post reported those details came from an “alleged ATF memo.” A source familiar with the investigation told the Post the Justice Department is investigating “descriptions alleged” in the memo, but couldn’t confirm the “description matched the evidence recovered at the scene.” A “senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation” told the New York Times the alleged memo had not been verified by AFT analysts and “did not match other summaries of the evidence.”
Update: As of about 9 a.m., the FBI in Salt Lake City asked for the public’s help identifying a person of interest. The photo shows a person in jeans, a black shirt with an American flag with what looks to be an eagle at the center, black sunglasses and a grey baseball cap.
Without Evidence, Right-Wing Called for “War,” Vengeance: “For years those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” President Donald Trump said in a taped address. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in the country today.” “This is war, this is war,” said Infowars’ Alex Jones. Oath Keeper founder Stuart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for January 6th (a sentence Trump later commuted), announced on Infowars that he was rebuilding his militia group to protect figures like Kirk. He called on Trump to “invoke the Insurrection Act” and “declare the left in this country is in obvious open rebellion against the law of the United States.” Elon Musk called the Left (not a party) “the party of murder.” Influencer and (unofficial) Trump advisor Laura Loomer said on X that “the Left are terrorists” and a “security threat.” She implied a mysterious “they” had sent the “trained sniper.” “More people will be murdered if the Left isn’t crushed with the power of the state,” she wrote. Christopher Rufo, a right-wing influencer who lives in Gig Harbor and popularized the false right-wing interpretation of critical race theory, suggested on X that the “radical left” was responsible for the shooting.
Hm: South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace told reporters that Democrats “own what happened today.” Asked, if by that logic, Republicans owned the assassination of two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, Mace balked. “Are you kidding me? … We’re talking about Charlie Kirk right now.”
Another School Shooting: Two Colorado teens are in critical condition after another teen shot them at Evergreen High School less than one hour after Kirk was shot. The shooter shot himself and died. It’s the 47th school shooting this year, CNN reports.
In Washington: Speaker Mike Johnson called for a moment of silent prayer for Kirk on the floor. After 30 seconds of silence, chaos reigned. Lauren Boebert said “silent prayers get silent results” (classic Protestant behavior) and called for spoken prayer. Democrats shouted Republicans had ignored a school shooting in Colorado earlier that day. Johnson said they could pray when they concluded business for the day, which led to more shouting (“and he could barely be heard trying to quell the brouhaha,” writes the New York Times.)
In Our Washington: Politicians are condemning political violence, including Gov. Bob Ferguson (“Violence is never the answer”), State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh (it’s a “warning to everyone”), and Attorney General Nick Brown (“Political violence will consume us all if we let it fester.”)
So…. How About That Weather: It’s quite nice. Fog is covering the city now, but it’ll burn off, and the day will be mostly sunny with a high near 73. Tomorrow, the clouds roll in, but the sun will come out again on Saturday. Sunday, there’ll be a chance of showers.
ICYMI: City Council voted 7-2 to expand police surveillance in Seattle this week, despite clear risks of police abuse and federal overreach. I watched at City Hall, where public commenters pleaded for the Council to take their concerns seriously for more than two and a half hours. It was clear most of them came to the dais with their minds made up.
So Free in the USA: Washington Attorney General Nick Brown warned that a Supreme Court decision authorizing federal immigration agents to stop anyone they think looks like an undocumented immigrant could lead to “race-based policing across this country.” Brown called the decision “shameful,” reports the Seattle Times. “It basically says that people of color in the United States of America, regardless of their citizenship, are second-class citizens in the eyes of the law.”
Also Free in the USA: Trump’s Department of Justice is demanding Washington State turn over its voter rolls within two weeks. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said he won’t do it.
Bellevue Arts Museum Won’t Reopen … at least not as it was. Shelly Crocker, the “independent custodian tasked with charting a path forward for the institution,” told the Seattle Times that “its failure was proof that the concept…was not the form that the community wanted.’”
The Sonics Are Not Happening (But Go Ahead, Keep Dribbling): The Seattle Times reports there’s “‘no new news’” about NBA expansion after an owners meeting wrapped up in New York on Wednesday.
Who’s Coming? The Who, the band, on the North American farewell tour at Climate Change arena. They’ll be here on September 25. Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr’s son) won’t be. The band fired him earlier this year. Candlebox is opening.
It’s A Universal Emotion: Americans hate being invaded by the US military as much as anybody else. According to internal National Guard documents obtained by the Washington Post, its occupation of Washington DC is “being perceived as ‘leveraging fear,’ driving a ‘wedge between citizens and the military,’ and promoting a sense of ‘shame among troops and veterans.’”
He Can’t Say ‘You’re Fired’ Because Woke (The Law): Trump’s administration appealed a federal court ruling blocking him from firing Lisa Cook, a head of the Federal Reserve, the AP reports. He tried firing her over allegations of mortgage fraud, but really, he wanted an excuse to take control of the independent board.
New Worst Guy: After a surge in Oracle’s stock price, co-founder Larry Ellison has knocked Elon Musk to the lowly position of second richest living person on earth. (At least for now. Musk’s compensation package is still poised to turn him into the world’s first trillionaire.) “AI changes everything,” Ellison said in a statement about his company’s growth. Seems like the same old shit.
Mars Rover Finds Dead Microbes, Maybe: The rocks in a dry driver channel may contain the first evidence of ancient life on Mars. It’s inconclusive, but certainly something. With all the federal cuts, it’s incredible that we’re even learning about this. I hope the Mars Rover, Perseverance, keeps its job. Hard to pivot once you’re out there.
Bloquons Tout (“Block Everything”) Protests Sweep France: Some ideas are brilliantly simple. “Block everything” originated with the French right wing, but has been wholeheartedly embraced by the French left. French police arrested about 450 people for blocking everything yesterday. The French government collapsed Monday. Wednesday was the new Prime Minister’s first day. He’s already faced the threat of a no-confidence vote.
As I wrote this last blurb, a woman at this cafe asked her friend if he was moving to France. “Not now,” he said. “I’m busy.”
@41, thank you
@50 – why should I waste my time? It’s more fun pouring sand into your vadge here anyway.
@50 – are you disputing what I wrote in #37? Do you think most North and South Indians just totally luv each other?
Wow talk about naive!
@50 – wait til you find out what most Indians, north or south, think about black people! You’re in for a really rude surprise.
@52: You’re welcome. TY!
“Lauren Boebert said “silent prayers get silent results” (classic Protestant behavior)”
Vivian dear, you sound like my late Irish Catholic Mother. She was delightfully catty about Protestants 🙂
As for Kirk, I feel awful about the US experiencing yet another political assassination. Or at least that’s what it looks like. But I have no problem reading his obituary. I do wish people would shut up about him. Just bury him and move on. There’s no need for canonization. He was a horrible person. His last words were about the “spectre” of trans people committing mass shootings.
And do you know how he became a conservative celebrity? He was not admitted into West Point, and he made a career out of it. Typical Republican – unable to take personal responsibility, always being the victim.
57: “There’s no need for canonization.” – Agreed.
“He was horrible person.” -There’s no need for vitriol.
@4 — You obviously know nothing about the subject. Critical Race Theory is an obscure conceptual framework that was debated in academia until people like Rufo decided to create a new boogey-man for the right. It is similar to the “deep state” idea but more pervasive. Rufo (like @4) described his strategy to oppose critical race theory as intentionally using the term to conflate various race-related ideas in order to create a negative association. Rufo said that “[w]e will eventually turn [critical race theory] toxic, as we put all of the ‘various cultural insanities’ under that brand category. The goal is to have the public read something ‘crazy’ in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory’.
Now, of course, the right wing focuses on the idea of being “Woke” instead. This is a much more powerful attack as ordinary people on the left (not academics) have used the phrase since the 1930s to mean “awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination” . Thus they seek to conflate a reasonable shorthand for something most people support to something negative. It is also quite possible that many of those who criticize “wokeness” are just racist fucks and would rather use that phrase instead of openly expressing support for the KKK (or other white terrorist organizations).
Note: You can find footnotes for all of these ideas on Wikipedia.
Au contraire, Coolidge dear. He was a completely wretched person. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. A bag of diarrhea and raw milk that had been left in the Arizona sun and reconstituted with the contents of Nancy Mace’s douche bag.
I’m sorry he was assassinated, mostly because now he’s a martyr for malignant morons, but I’m not sorry he’s gone.
I kind of would rather go back to the days of ahab and tenny incessantly stanning for IDF and bringing up Kshama out of nowhere than deal with this asshat Biped
“…bringing up Kshama out of nowhere…”
Yeah, the way we talk, you might think she’s a Trump supporter with the audacity to ask for votes in Seattle.
(Wait, what?!?)
@61 – too bad, so sad
from the Chris Hedges Report:
The Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk
The assassination of Charlie Kirk presages a new, deadly stage
in the disintegration of a fractious and
highly polarized United States.
While toxic rhetoric and threats are lobbed across cultural divides
like hand grenades, sometimes spilling over into actual violence —
including the murder of Minnesota House of Representatives
Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband and the
two assassination attempts against Donald Trump — Kirk’s
killing is a harbinger of full-scale social disintegration.
His murder has given the movement he represented
— grounded in Christian nationalism — a martyr.
Martyrs are the lifeblood of violent movements.
Any flinching over the use of violence, any talk
of compassion or understanding, any effort to
mediate or discuss, is a betrayal of the martyr
and the cause the martyr died defending.
Martyrs sacralize violence.
They are used to turn the moral order upside down.
Depravity becomes morality.
Atrocities become heroism.
Crime becomes justice.
Hate becomes virtue.
Greed and nepotism become civic virtues.
Murder becomes good.
War is the final aesthetic.
This is what is coming.
–by Chris Hedges
September 11, 2025
oodles:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-martyrdom-of-charlie-kirk
@41,
This notion of yours that we should’t be discussing the impact a man had on society in the wake of his death is idiotic. Would it somehow be preferable if we didn’t mention the fact that “He didn’t deserve to be shot” at all, and instead just discussed the fact that he was a nightmare of a person who vociferously advocated repugnant positions that made society demonstratively and objectively worse? How much time has to pass before his legacy can be discussed?
KKKirkkk’s
in Heaven now
swappin’ Stories
w/Republican “Jesus”
Preppin’ for some Crusades
where we make GOD
(and thedjt)
Rulers of the (known) Universe
and (Rich!) White Men
Kings to rule their
Fiefdoms from
NOW until
Kingdom
Cum and
women-
folk’ll
be
Property
just like God
Originally Intended
and all Else?
Servants.
or Slaves.
Depending on.
@20: “This is a well written post!”
Agree 100%. This is one of the best Slog AM posts in a long time. The recap and flow make for amazing reading.
@65: I’m not precluding discussion by promoting civility.
@68,
Bullshit. Your post @41 explicitly tells barth to exclude the portion of his post wherein he comments on Kirk’s legacy!
@69: All I said was “He didn’t deserve to die” is a sentence that can stand by itself. To follow with a “but” clause makes it should like you’re providing an excuse. Better to start a new sentence instead. Does such a grace bother you?
makes it sound like you’re providing an excuse.
@67 Color me likewise impressed that the author had the sound editorial judgment to omit the frequently employed but unnecessary hyphen between “well” and “written” — and the self-discipline to stop at one exclamation point rather than indulge in the current popular custom of three. This specimen truly represents the craft of writing at its absolute pinnacle. The rest of us are hardly worthy to appear on the same page with such a prodigious talent.
@70,
He didn’t deserve to die. You’re a colossal fucking idiot.
@60 +1 million, standing ovation for Mrs. Vel-DuRay
Troll @53…
You asked me for other sites you could troll that I think you would be bounced from immediately. Now it’s not worth your time?
Did you fail at trolling? Or are you just a chickenshit? That Venn diagram might be a circle.
Stay here in your safe little pond, my little guppy.
People will just whisper “Oh, he’s always been that way”.
@73: Now that we got that settled, don’t go off and pout. We’d like to hear what you thought of Charlie Kirk.
@76 Phoebes…
It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of him, no one deserves to die that way.
To the commentators celebrating the death of Mr. Kirk, hearty commendations for having the tactical wisdom of doing so in anonymity. Apparently, when your sentiments are matched with your actual identity in gainful employment, that status seems to suffer…in 2 hour increments.
Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps you are safely ensconced in your sinecure with this current nugget of wisdom. Do share where you are employed and how universally shared the sentiment is.
Readers would find your testimonials not only edifying but reassuring….
@22 All sensible people support the use of firearms for community defense in cases like this, or as in the case of Charlie Kirk. I am so glad that Trump has put completely incompetent people in charge of the FBI, and has been purging those who are qualified, but don’t support him. We should start calling Kirk’s assassin Mario, because he will become a folk hero like Luigi Mangione.
@78: Could you please identify exactly who here you believe to be “celebrating” his death, and quote the words you believe express such celebration? The sentiment ‘he didn’t deserve to die’ has appeared in multiple forms in these threads since his death. (And no, noting the irony of him dying from the same gun violence he’d described as acceptable doesn’t count, a point also made explicitly here. Jesus himself warned his disciples, “If you live by the sword, you will die by it.”)
@78 did you lose a bet and now have to shoehorn as many unnecessary thesaurus words as possible into every comment, or are you authentically insufferable?
as Expected
Cadet Bonespurs’s
using Far reich-wing Nutcase
KKKirkkk’s “untimely* demise” as an
Excuse to attack His political opponents
including his claim that he’d Virtually Eliminated
Crime in Washington, DC, thru his illegal use of our
Military and National Guard — other than the Wee bit
of “crime” like when a Man is Forced to correct his woman
arguing, that That it Isn’t “a Crime,”
the Holy Bible even Says it Ain’t
and Besides, if a woman then
Protests, it’s a Real Man’s
DUTY to Correct her
sometimes
you Gotta
be Firm
sans
Patriarchy
we could eliminate
‘Stockholm Syndrome’
and set Half our Population
free.
those
Days’re
so Over.
*false flagger?
Stay tuned!
“You’re not obligated
to manufacture compassion
for someone who showed none in his lifetime.
It’s not celebrating, it’s refusing to
whitewash a legacy of
division & cruelty.
You don’t have to mourn an architect of violence.
We can grieve the world he helped create without grieving him.”
–Lauren Rinaldi; @laurenrinaldi.bsky.social
September 11, 2025
https://bsky.app/profile/laurenrinaldi.bsky.social/post/3lykzqw7hr22w
83: I assume that’s referring to Tyler Robinson.
@84
‘assume’
all you wanna
KKKirkkk’s STILL Dead
tho
you
righties’re
gonna Invoke
and Resurrect him
at EVERY Opportunity.
when
Cadet Bonespurs
Encouraged his Gang of Thugs
on J/6 — AND THEN fucking PARDONED
he swung the Door
Wide for Political
Violence*
and he’s been
Preying ever since
for some Leftist Reaction:
Cadet Bonespurs
Now has a little
Something he
can Work
With.
*tS’s reich wing Trolls
just Love to Ignore
what’s a wee bit
Inconvenient
@57 and @60 Catalina Vel-DuRay +2 For the WIN!!!!!
@66, @82, @83, @85 and @86 kristofarian: PLEASE wake me, kris, when this beyond tragic dystopian nightmare is over! Everything is like a horrible black & white Twilight Zone episode with a really despressingly bad ending. When will this ever stop—when we reach Civil War II and WWIII?
I have been having increasing issues with Parkinson’s lately. Neuropathy has been particularly challenging in my legs, arms, hands, fingers, thumbs, feet, toes, muscles, and joints. Tingly pain is unbearable in my right leg, from ankle to thigh with little to no relief. And it’s not like I’m popping pills like M&Ms, either. I’m doing everything I can to stay healthy. Please contact me. I am about at wits’ end, and have trouble reading the news anymore.
If I have to fight off the assholes and bitches responsible for this shamefully abysmal mess, I will. I just never imagined that it could happen in my own neighborhood. My parents must be rolling in their graves, shaking their heads Up There. 🙁
@87, part II: Sadly, I didn’t go far enough, kris. Make that: “I just never imagined that it could ever happen in my own neighborhood, in our country, in my lifetime.”
I weep for future generations. It’s too easy to blame the boomers, but no one group of people thinks exactly the same. It’s like the 1989 Billy Joel song, We Didn’t Start the Fire. Felon Mu$k’s Mein Trumpf’s Nazi push for Authoritarianism is dangerously generalizing and killing our democracy. And who will people blame once the boomer generation of 1946-1964 is gone?
@88: And it’s not like I just sat back and did nothing, either. I have joined protests, marched, voted wisely, canvassed, and doorbelled. I have contributed and conserved what and when I could. I didn’t vote for this shit.
I’m no saint, but JEEZUS!! I can see right through Felon Mu$k, hi$ Mein Trumpf, Vladmir Putin, ad nauseum!
Too many people in this once thriving country fell for the MAGAs’ orange taco as many as THREE TIMES (!!!!!), ranting on willful misinformation, self-aggrandizing media hype, hatred, lies, fear, and unscrupulous con games. Future generations will be paying a horrific price long after those of us who knew not buy into DJT’s fascist bullshit to are gone. What will they do then?
@80 I totally celebrated his death. I especially loved that he was killed by a white Mormon boy with ties to the Groyoer Army.