People learning about Charlie Kirk

This seems represntative of millions of people.

Steve Loftus

@LoftusSteve

·

Sep 13

I didn't really know anything about Charlie Kirk Until this week Kirk was a name and face I would occasionally see someone retweet on here and I would scroll past. I'd seen 2 or 3 short videos taken from Tiktok of him debating some low IQ college student but that was it. I'm generally not interested in MAGA. I broadly believe in many of their goals, but find much of the rhetoric and policy implementation to be self defeating. To me Kirk was another Ben Shapiro or Tim Pool. All MAGA, all the time. Immediately following his shooting my shock was political and societal. Another step down in what seems to be the never ending descent of American, and thus Western, society. Another sad day for free speech, no matter what you thought of the man's politics. Then in the following hours my timeline was filled with videos of Kirk as a father, and my heart broke. I saw a man that was clearly devoted to his family and who loved them, and was loved in return, a great deal. I felt that love forever torn apart. I saw a daughter that would never run to her father and wrap her arms around him again. The following day I saw more videos on here, and out of respect and curiosity I watched them all. Maybe they would make some sense of why someone felt the need to end this man's life and rob his children of a father. They did not. Contrary to the tweets spreading through X as some kind of justification, what I found was a man who was deeply religious. I man that had a true belief system, and not one that he bent or shaped to fit to modern society. For example. he absolutely believed that homosexuality was a sin because that was what the bible told him, but he did not hate or think less of those people. Many of his close friends such as Peter Thiel and David Rubin were gay. What I see when I watch the videos of Kirk is a fan of deep faith who put that faith above everything else. I see a man who treated everyone with compassion and civility. I see a man that was friendly and open and honest. Honestly, I see a man that is braver and better than I. Not because he put himself in danger by wanted to talk to people, but by handing himself completely over to a belief system that I've never been able to get my head around. Like many of us, the idea is alien to me. I can't say I don't watch his videos with a tinge of jealousy. What I see is a man who was completely happy. A man confident in his faith and who led his life accordingly. A man who not just believed, but acted on his belief. At a time when so many people seem empty and depressed, it's hard not to be a little jealous of a person that seemed so fulfilled. With this in mind, it's been incensing to see him slandered on here by people without any of the faith and none of the commitment. To see people take the man's faith and turn it into something twisted and hateful. I knew nothing of the man in life, but I will try to listen to him more in death.

Nolte: Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Flipped a Remarkable Switch in the MAGA Movement

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David Ryder/Getty Images

John Nolte

13 Sep 20251,185

What the left’s public execution of Charlie Kirk has done to mobilize the MAGA movement is something I never expected to see.

For more than 20 years, I’ve been a part of the conservative movement. Never a mover or shaker, but a cog happy to be overpaid to do my part. And an observer. Always an observer.

Last week, after the terrible news arrived that Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk had been assassinated, I observed something remarkable. It was so remarkable, it’s difficult to find the words, but I’ll try…

It was as if some years ago someone downloaded a computer program directly into the fractured and fragile right-of-center movement, a movement that has always been balkanized and squabbling over territory. This computer program sat there a long time waiting for a specific thing to happen, and when it did happen, a switch within each of us was flipped, and a miracle occurred.

We didn’t require a leader. There were no talking points issued. It just… happened.

All at once…

1. We understood what had changed forever and why.
2. We mobilized.
3. We prepared for action.
4. We instinctively knew what that action would be.
5. We knew we had the power to take that action.
6. We took that action and are doing so effectively.
7. We share an unprecedented resolve.
8. We’re in it for the long term, forever if needed.

And here’s the healthiest part of what’s happening: No one is standing around helplessly complaining about how the regime media aren’t fair. No one’s crybabying about media bias. No one’s wringing their hands that the media aren’t doing to the left what they always do to us. Instead, based entirely on group instinct, we instantly understood that it was up to us to hold accountable those who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s murder and those on the organized left (Democrats, media, academia, etc.) who put a fatwa on Charlie Kirk and the rest of us with their 24/7 “Nazi” and “fascist” and “white supremacist” talk.

This has never happened on our side before. The corporate media have lived in our heads forever, but the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk finally evicted those demons.

Today, we have arrived at a place that seemed impossible 20 years ago… The media no longer hold power over us. The media no longer matter. At long last, and after decades of hard work, with the flip of that switch, we realized that we have the power now, and what a joy it is to watch us effectively use that power to hold evil accountable, welcome converts, and mobilize against the wicked forces that seek our spiritual and physical destruction.

CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, PBS, are now white noise to us, no different from those lying about Israel murdering Charlie Kirk. Whatever, whatever, we say. We have work to do.

Better still, instead of empowering the media with our complaints, instead of giving the media control of our emotions as we rage against their countless sins, we’ve transformed those sins into something useful: fuel to make our arguments, bring in converts, and hold evil accountable.

All at once, we’ve become impervious to the media’s usual tricks with the dual revelation that 1) the media are irredeemable and not worth our time, and 2) through alternative and social media, we hold the power in our country.

Democrats and the media are calling for unity. In the past, we’ve fallen for that trap. But this time the switch flipped, and our collective voice said: Go away. You didn’t ask for unity during the George Floyd riots. You never ask for unity when it’s your side. You demand only fealty.

Democrats and the media are calling for us to tone it down. Another trap we’ve fallen into. Not this time. This time our collective voice said: Go away. You never demand that your side tone down the rhetoric. It’s only ever us, and when we do, when the best of us seeks to have a civil dialogue with you, you publicly execute him to terrorize the rest of us.

Democrats and the media are desperate to emotionally blackmail us as we seek accountability for those who celebrate murder. Ah, yes, the old “muh principles” trap. Collectively, we say: Go away. We saw what you did to a nobody rodeo clown who wore an Obama mask. You destroyed his career and made every Republican lawmaker answer for him. Today, there are literally thousands and thousands of credentialed Democrats (teachers, lawyers, academics, health care professionals, etc.) inciting murder against us by celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder, and you’ve done nothing other than defend them.

Our collective responses are glorious, and the most important part is the “go away” part.

We’re done with the media. We don’t need them. We know they want us dead.

“They call us Nazis — what do you think they want to happen to us?” asks Kurt Schlichter.

We’re not them, and the terrible loss of a prince burned into us a moral clarity…

They loot and burn. We hold candlelight vigils.

They cheer violence and murder. We do not.

They champion and fund domestic terror groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter. We do not.

They cancel and blacklist people over opinions. We seek long-overdue accountability for celebrating violence.

We hold the power now.

And we’re wielding it — peacefully, lawfully, relentlessly, and mercilessly.

Everything’s changed forever. Where this ultimately leads or how successful it will be, I can’t say. But at long last, we understand the mission, understand the enemy, have joined arms, and are on the march.

John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.