Why I Won't Fly My Flag at Half-Mast for Charlie Kirk Despite His Assassination
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Why I Won't Fly My Flag at Half-Mast for Charlie Kirk Despite His Assassination
Recording the day after Charlie Kirk was shot while debating at a college campus, with his shooter still at large, I lay out why I refuse to treat him as a hero or a martyr, even while condemning the violence that killed him. I walk through his own words, including his comments calling Martin Luther King a bad person, his defense of the Civil Rights Act as a mistake, his statement that gun deaths are an acceptable cost of the Second Amendment, and his comparison of abortion to the Holocaust, alongside his record on COVID misinformation, anti-trans rhetoric, Gaza, Indian immigration, and mass incarceration. I contrast the four-day, nationwide half-mast order and posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom given to Kirk with how the same administration treated the deaths of John McCain, Minnesota lawmakers, and children killed in hundreds of school shootings, including one at Evergreen High School that happened within a minute of Kirk's assassination. My argument isn't that Kirk deserved to die, but that the politics he spent his career pushing, especially his opposition to gun control, are part of what made his own death possible.
Refusing to Mourn a Man He Calls a Stain on the Country
The creator opens by noting that Charlie Kirk was shot the day before while debating at a college campus, with the shooter still at large at the time of recording. He states plainly that he does not condone violence and calls it a dark sign for American politics that people feel driven to this. At the same time, he says he refuses to fly his flag at half-mast, arguing that Kirk was not a hero and that there is a concerted effort underway to turn him into a martyr and justify right-wing retaliatory violence, without the public fully understanding who Kirk actually was. He frames Kirk's death as a tragedy not because a good man was lost, but because of what the moment represents for American democracy, calling Kirk "one of the worst stains on the reputation of my country."
Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Act, and Claims of an "Anti-White Weapon"
The creator points to Kirk describing Martin Luther King as "a bad guy" and not a good person, and to Kirk's self-described "very, very radical" view that passing the Civil Rights Act was a mistake. He plays a clip in which Kirk argues the Civil Rights Act "created a beast" that has "turned into an anti-white weapon." The creator also accuses Kirk of promoting the "great replacement theory" and 2020 election fraud conspiracies that he says were repeatedly rejected in court, including by judges appointed by Trump, yet are still believed by millions of Americans.
COVID-19, Vaccines, and Gun Deaths as an "Acceptable Cost"
The creator criticizes Kirk's response to the pandemic, saying that even as the Trump administration funded Operation Warp Speed to develop a vaccine, Kirk spread what the creator calls pseudoscientific misinformation and antivax conspiracy theories, referring to vaccine mandates as "medical apartheid" and organizing campus COVID skepticism events the creator describes as super-spreader gatherings. On guns, he replays Kirk's own words: "I think it's worth it to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year." The creator argues Kirk treated rising gun deaths, including among children, as an acceptable price for preserving the Second Amendment.
LGBTQ Rights, Gaza, Ukraine, and Indian Immigration
The creator says Kirk fueled hostility toward transgender people during a period of high suicide rates among LGBTQ youth, and accuses him of using falsified statistics to portray them as a problem. He also criticizes Kirk's defense of Israel's actions in Gaza, which he calls a genocide, Kirk's description of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as merely a border dispute, and Kirk's comments opposing more visas for skilled workers from India, which Kirk argued would displace American workers.
Abortion, Rape, and Comments on Women and College
The creator highlights Kirk's comparison of abortion to the Holocaust, playing an exchange in which Kirk says, "Absolutely, I am. In fact, it's worse." He also cites an interview in which Kirk is asked what he would do if his 10-year-old daughter were raped and became pregnant, to which Kirk replies, "The answer is yes. The baby would be delivered." Separately, the creator plays a clip of Kirk arguing there is a case for bringing back the "MRS degree," telling a young audience that finding a spouse is a legitimate reason to attend college and that they shouldn't otherwise "listen to your professors."
Crime, Public Executions, and Turning Point USA's Reach
The creator notes Kirk had no formal education in political science, sociology, or criminology, yet argued to Republican policymakers that the country needed more people in jail, and separately floated bringing back public executions for certain people. He points out the U.S. already has more prisoners than any other country and among the highest incarceration rates per capita. The creator credits, or blames, Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, with employing over a thousand people and swaying hundreds of thousands of voters, arguing its influence helped roll back LGBTQ, voting, and immigration rights.
A Double Standard on Flags, Grief, and School Shootings
The creator contrasts the response to Kirk's death with the administration's treatment of other losses: Trump announced a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for Kirk and ordered flags flown at half-mast nationwide for four days, which the creator compares to what he calls Trump's callous treatment of John McCain's death and the shooting of Minnesota legislators. He claims flags were lowered only twice for the roughly 140 school shootings the creator says occurred during Trump's first term. He also notes that a separate school shooting at Evergreen High School occurred within roughly a minute of Kirk's assassination, arguing that coverage of Kirk's death overshadowed it entirely.
The Case That Kirk's Own Politics Cost Him His Life
The creator closes by arguing that the biggest tragedy of Kirk's death is wasted potential, comparing his influence to spreading what he calls "Handmaid's Tale levels of theocratic dystopia," and suggesting Kirk might have taken a lesson from the biblical warning that those who live by the sword die by the sword. He argues that Kirk spent his career opposing the gun control measures that, in the creator's view, could have prevented his own shooting, and criticizes the political and media focus on Kirk's death over the Evergreen High School shooting happening at nearly the same moment.
