The Charlie Kirk Assassination Wrecked The Right

A beast was awakened by the tragedy. But it didn’t devour the Left.

Charlie Kirk’s death shocked the world. Millions of Americans grieved over the loss of the Turning Point USA founder. His public memorial essentially became a state funeral, with thousands in attendance, and countless others watching it live. His death gruesomely illustrated the threat of political violence, with the White House declaring Antifa a terror group and pledging more resources to tackle left-wing extremism.

The traumatic event offered the promise of unifying the Right in a common cause against the Left. Tyler Robinson’s actions were clearly inspired by the Left’s hysteric rhetoric and provided foolproof evidence that left-wing violence was a far greater threat than anything emanating from the Right. Conservatives were able to collect the scalps of leftists who either celebrated the murder or spread lies about it, establishing a significant degree of cultural power for the Right.

But all of this has since been dashed–and it’s the fault of right-wingers themselves. The event exposed the idiocy and weaknesses of the modern conservative movement, its addiction to conspiratorial thinking, its unrealistic expectations, its desire to feel betrayed at all moments in time, and its lack of leadership in a Kirk-less world. It’s turned into a disaster for the Right.

The most obvious setback was the loss of Kirk himself. The young conservative was a popular speaker, talented organizer, effective fundraiser, and an important networker. He had the ability to draw scores of young people to hear him speak on campuses. His speeches regularly went viral on social media, providing a useful introduction to conservatism for many American youth. Within conservatism, he kept hostile factions at peace and focused on advancing the MAGA agenda. He was able to convey the concerns of the base to Donald Trump personally, elevating issues such as immigration restriction and non-interventionism to the highest levels of power.

All of that disappeared with his murder. There’s no one filling the massive void he left behind. There’s a desperation to find someone to fill Kirk’s shoes, but the only candidate they can suggest is JD Vance. Vance is vice president. He’s too busy to serve as conservatism’s manager and hold campus rallies all over the country.

The vacuum left by Kirk led to the Right’s ongoing civil war. Without an effective leader, there’s nothing holding these disparate sides together. Brutal mudslinging and purge attempts naturally follow.

Tyler Robinson killed Kirk on behalf of his left-wing ideology. It’s as clear as day. But many on the Right have decided Robinson did not actually kill Kirk and the TPUSA founder wasn’t a victim of left-wing violence. Instead, according to these insane conspiracy theories, Robinson is a patsy and the real culprits behind Kirk’s murder is an elaborate alliance involving Israel, American intelligence, TPUSA staff, Egypt, and a host of other actors. New conspirators continued to be added. The evidence is rail thin and often based on fabrications sent by an unsecured email inbox. Candace Owens even insists Kirk was killed by a conspiracy because the deceased conservative told her so in a dream.

It’s expected that major events inspire intense speculation among easily-ignored cranks. But this situation is different. Kirk conspiracy theories are promoted by some of the biggest conservative influencers. These notions are reaching millions of people and shaping perception of the assassination. These theories regularly go viral on TikTok and on X. You risk getting ratio’ed for just saying Tyler Robinson killed Kirk. The conspiracy theories are just as popular as the truth.

It seriously undermines the Right’s response to the murder. It’s no longer the Left’s fault. The conspiracies direct the anger elsewhere, even to targets on the Right. Erika Kirk is a greater villain in the eyes of conspiracy theorists than any leftist. It’s both reprehensible and idiotic. It naturally inflames the Right’s divisions, as well its Insane Clown Party tendencies. Conspiratorialism is driven in large part by the Right’s audience demand for maximum entertainment. It’s seen as boring to just state the facts. So influencers concoct wild ideas and supernatural explanations for ordinary events to draw in more viewers. This mentality is biting the Right in the ass in the case of Kirk’s death.

It makes a mockery of the Right’s attempts to collect scalps from the Left. Conservatives managed to take Jimmy Kimmel off the air for a week when he falsely claimed Kirk’s murderer was MAGA. Now the majority of lies and preposterous claims come from the Right. This suits the Left as it can now ignore the murder and pretend it had no role in it. Society now forgets about all the abhorrent comments from leftists trivializing Kirk’s murder. Public memory of Kirk’s death is now shaped by insanity from the Right rather than from the Left.

The majority of conservatives believe that Kirk was killed by a leftist. But even the truth inspires problems for the Right. The Online Right is largely blackpilled by the murder because it did not result in mass arrests of leftists. This was never going to happen. Robinson acted alone. There was no terror group behind him, besides a few troons encouraging him on Discord. There is no network to arrest here in connection with the shooting. American law does not allow for round-ups of people just for their beliefs and tweets. But a number of right-wing influencers think it does and insist the public demand this.

Considering how the public is getting cold feet over Trump’s deportations, it’s highly unlikely the people would be happy with federal agents arresting citizens just for celebrating Kirk’s murder. But influencers pumped up their audiences with fantasies of mass arrests and hysteric claims of well-organized terror networks. It increased viewership, but it didn’t create realistic expectations. The lack of mass arrests makes believers angry and think Trump “betrayed” them. But it’s akin to getting mad at the sky not turning green or failing to get a date with Sydney Sweeney as an average joe. It’s part of a trend where the Right gets mad at the impossible not happening, such as turning on Trump for him not deporting 100 million migrants in less than a year.

The shooting should be used to attack the Left. Conservatives are within their right to get leftists fired for celebrating the murder or encouraging violence. They did the same thing to us in the 2010s. But expecting the federal government to do round-ups based on tweets and assumed connections wouldn’t hold up in a court of law. Grand juries repeatedly refuse to uphold indictments against Letitia James, James Comey, and other admin enemies. Just imagine how they would handle cases against random leftists accused of liking Antifa posts.

Trump did declare Antifa a domestic terror group and placed Antifa groups on the foreign terror list. The government is scrutinizing these groups more than at any point in recent history. This is far more than Trump did in the first term when Antifa was rioting throughout the country. But we are a nation of laws and you can’t expect the president just to arrest a bunch of random people to satisfy people on the internet.

That doesn’t persuade many of the folks who believe in the truth about Kirk’s murder from willfully blackpilling themselves. Several of them now post hysteric nonsense about how their lives are in personal danger because Trump “did nothing” and how the Left got away with murder.

It’s a curious thing for the Right to want this. If this standard was ever applied, it would allow Democrats to arrest all right-wingers anytime some loon shoots people at a supermarket to protest the Great Replacement. There will always be plenty of isolated events to justify a left-wing government doing this. And, unlike with Trump carrying out mass arrests of leftists, this action would receive the full endorsement of the media.

Right-wingers will point to January 6 as proof it already happens, but that’s not true. While the persecution of the J6ers was an injustice, the arrested did commit an action which the government claimed was a crime. The Right is calling for people to be arrested for things they did not do and were not connected to. It’s completely different.

On top of all this, the public has moved on from caring about Charlie Kirk. They’re now focused on football, the economy, and their own private concerns. The only ones still caring about Kirk are right-wingers at each other’s throats over the matter.

It was popular to claim the Left awakened a sleeping beast with the assassination. That was true, but this beast–driven by stupid conspiracy theories, constant blackpills, delusional fantasies, and neverending hysteria–devoured the Right, not the Left.

Until proper leadership is restored and the ICP is contained, the Right will continue to harm itself in how it reacts to major events. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and made a mockery of Kirk’s legacy.