If They'll Cheer for Charlie Kirk's Death, They'll Cheer for Yours

Charlie Kirk Photo by Gage Skidmore

A few years ago, I attended a picnic for the Oakland County Democratic Party, and no one knew I was a Republican. I had good conversations about family, community, and by the end of the day, the chairwoman tried to recruit me to run for a school board seat. We secretly disagreed about policy prescriptions, but we shared many common goals and values.

But there was an underlying theme throughout the day that genuinely disturbed me. Repeatedly, I heard accusations that President Donald Trump didn’t care about anyone. How ridiculous was that take? He didn’t care about his children? His wife? His longtime loyal friends and associates? But it wasn’t only him. They believed Republicans lacked empathy in general. Even Justice Richard H. Bernstein was alarmingly political, stating his love for being a Democrat rested in the fact that “Democrats care about other people. Democrats care about more than themselves.” It’s the Democrats who “actually want to make the world better.”

Do Democrats truly believe that Republicans don’t want to make the world a better place? I want to assume most rhetoric is performative, meant to make their base feel morally superior and rally them to the polls. However, many are driven to dark places because they take such proclamations as gospel. When you paint your opposition as uncaring monsters, don’t be surprised when someone rises to slay them.

Last week, I corrected the flawed logic of a pro-choice activist, so they resorted to character assassinations. “But I mean, why am I even discussing with a person who cares more about the life of an unborn child than probably the life of transgender people who kill themselves because of conservative people like you.” Mind you, their opening line I refuted was, “Don’t like abortions? Just ignore them. Just like you ignore the children in the foster care system.”

If you don’t support a trans-identifying male’s right to violate women’s private spaces, you’re accused of bigotry and even violence. If you don’t support minors chopping off their healthy breasts, you’re accused of driving trans people to suicide.

If you don’t support granting women a special right to kill their preborn sons and daughters for any reason, you’re accused of wanting to control women. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro went on The Breakfast Club earlier this week and plainly explained his position on abortion was about protecting life. That didn’t stop the female host from insisting it was about controlling women’s bodies, but she likely heard that line repeatedly from activists and politicians.

In 2017, a Bernie Sanders supporter tried to murder Republicans at a congressional baseball practice over healthcare. Senator Rand Paul heard him shouting his grievances as he shot at them. At the time, the rhetoric was that Republicans were killing people due to their policies on healthcare. Congressman Steve Scalise was shot and could have died. I know the congressmen from Michigan who survived that terrible day.

As a young man, Charlie Kirk saw a need when it came to youth outreach. He mobilized, built an organization, and engaged in political dialogue. While some people are cutting friends and family out of their lives over who they voted for, Kirk was willing to reach across the aisle and talk. He had firmly held beliefs, but he was open to discussion and willing to change his mind. He died while doing what he loved in front of supporters, family, and then his opposition cheered at his demise.

I didn’t always agree with Charlie Kirk or with the way he articulated his views. I wished I could have debated about our differences and praised his success. But I am firmly a conservative, and I’ve had conversations with mutual influencers who feel that could have been any of us.

Kirk amassed considerable fame, built one of the greatest conservative organizations ever to exist, and played a pivotal role in helping President Donald Trump return to the White House. He was a prominent figure who had drawn a lot of eyes, but it was his firmly held and articulated beliefs that made him a target.

I’ve already released a video expressing the dangers of believing your political opponent has no empathy, and one of the first comments was, “They do not care nothing about your black a**…” No introspection. No condolences. I would have appreciated silence. Instead, it was more character assassination. To them, I shouldn’t feel bad about Charlie Kirk dying because they don’t believe he cared, and they don’t believe he “cared” because he disagreed with them.

I have seen so many videos and comments online celebrating Kirk’s death because he didn’t like empathy, so they’ll have none for him. But they butcher his quote. Kirk believed empathy was used as a political weapon, and he much preferred compassion and sympathy. “Empathy is where you try to feel someone’s pain and sorrows as if they’re your own. Compassion allows for understanding.” It looks like Charlie Kirk is still winning debates, even after his untimely death, because empathy is being used as a weapon.

Well, last week, I was a race traitor because I pointed out that the Cracker Barrel logo is—in fact—based on literal barrels filled with crackers and not about whip crackers beating slaves. The week before, I was threatened with doxxing and cancellation because I corrected misinformation about Meijer firing an employee for theft. How dare I present true information while people want to rage against the oligarchs!

Earlier this year, Savannah Craven Antao was sucker-punched in New York by a pro-choice activist. This week, Abortion abolitionist Russell T. Hunter said he was going to purchase Kevlar to give his wife some peace of mind in the wake of Kirk’s murder. I don’t want people to walk in fear, but the reality is, Charlie Kirk wasn’t killed for a law he passed or a person he droned. He is a private citizen killed not even for his opinions, but rather for the false interpretation of them.

Charlie Kirk’s killer believed he spread hate. If you’ve ever said men can’t become women, marriage is between a man and a woman, it’s wrong to take the lives of babies in the womb, or something along those lines, you’ve likely been accused of spreading “hate.”

The people who are cheering for Kirk’s assassination would likely do the same if you were murdered in front of your family. Then, they would present your comments out of context or splice up videos of your words to justify the bloodshed.

Something is deeply broken in our country, and it has to change.