Charlie Kirk did not deserve this

Everything about Charlie Kirk’s death deserves condemnation. He did not deserve to die on that stage in Utah. No one does.

However, very little about Charlie Kirk’s life deserves praise. He does not deserve the carefully edited love he is receiving in the media. He absolutely did not deserve the lowering of flags in several states. The idea that he might lie in state in the Capitol rotunda is an abomination.

I didn’t know him personally, but I assume he loved his wife and children. Perhaps he was a loyal friend. Maybe he was generous to those around him. It’s possible he quietly gave some of his considerable wealth to good causes. I don’t know.

I do know that he devoted his public life to spreading racism, misogyny, antisemitism, bigotry, and conspiracy theories—to rubbing salt into the nation’s wounds. I know he repeatedly encouraged violence against others. I know he downplayed the cost of gun violence in our nation’s schools. I know he made a living by spreading hate.

None of that is ennobled by this moment. Even the most egregious death does not elevate his insidious philosophy or hateful actions. That shouldn’t be a difficult concept, either for politicians or the news media.

I want to make it clear that I’m in no way glad for what happened to Kirk. Every man’s death diminishes me. I think none harm. I really believe those things. In no way am I either excusing Kirk’s shooting or saying that he somehow deserved it. He didn’t.

But all the people now fanning themselves over “political violence” seem to be the same group who pumped their fists over eleven people being bombed in a small boat. What was that? It certainly wasn’t law enforcement. They seem to like political violence just fine when they are its source.

The attempted canonization of Charlie Kirk requires such wholesale editing of who he was and what he said that nothing of Charlie Kirk remains. He doesn’t deserve that. Neither do we.