Just One Thing: Five Days After

Charlie Kirk was assassinated five days ago. I've been on (an already planned) short vacation since then which gave me a little time to think without the pressure of preparing a show and the emotional challenges of talking about death and murder for days in a row, not least given the murder of Iryna Zarutska and the shooting at Evergreen High School (which happened on the same afternoon as Kirk was shot.)

Just a few quick thoughts and I'll try to elaborate more on the air and think through it with you. And I'll stipulate that I have mostly avoided social media in recent days. Maybe spent a total of 20 minutes online since Friday. But what I have seen informs my thoughts somewhat.

Regardless of what you think of someone's political views, the answer cannot and must not be violence.
I agreed with Charlie Kirk probably 60% of the time (though I can't say I heard him a lot). The thing is: it doesn't matter. Even if I only agreed with him, or you only agreed with him, 6% of the time, we all must offer no hint of sympathy for political killers. These attacks are attacks on our nation, not just on a person.
When it comes to political violence in the US, it's true that there have been right-wing killers along with left-wing and simply nihilist killers. But overall, it's simply a fact that a lot more political violence comes from the left. I suspect that part of the reason is the idiotic and dangerous contention that we've heard for years now from the left that "words are violence." No, they're not. And feeling offended, even deeply offended, is NOT the same thing as being physically threatened or assaulted.
I'm skeptical that the left will temper their behavior and rhetoric toward MAGA. This is not an attempt to insult the left, but rather what I truly expect.
Conservatives are already galvanizing to a remarkable degree: "This is existential": MAGA's siege mentality deepens after Kirk killing
I think everything about the Kirk and Iryna killings, both bleeding to death from wounds to their necks, is terrible for Democrats.
Among folks on the left, there are those who truly abhor the violence but, especially regarding Kirk, don't know how to say so, so they appear not to care. And there are those who don't mind that Kirk is dead, and plenty of those people are willing to say so. Here's one example, and I'm told that this is from a public school teacher in Colorado: (9) Charlie Kirk is dead. And no,... - Montana Department Of Propaganda | Facebook

Meanwhile, folks on the right are getting very aggressive about trying to get people fired, in the right's resurgent version of cancel culture: Matthew Dowd’s firing begins flood of people facing consequences for their comments on Kirk’s death

MSNBC fires analyst Matthew Dowd over Charlie Kirk shooting remarks | US news | The Guardian

Plenty of folks talk about the killing of Charlie Kirk as a potential "hinge" or inflection point or even a Turning Point, if you will. I'm skeptical. And to the extent that some folks are looking at a potentially positive change in society such as people "lowering the temperature" of political rhetoric, I suspect they (and most of us) will be disappointed.

This isn't surprising: Utah governor says alleged Kirk shooter not cooperating with authorities - ABC News

This is a long post but I believe it's essentially on target and worth reading and sharing with your rational Democratic friends (and, yes, there are rational Democrats but they've kept silent for too long.)

Mandy Connell