Year: 2025

Charlie Kirk, In His Own Words

Buck Banks

“Words are not violence, nor are they powerless. Burying the truth of the Confederacy, rewriting its aims and ideas, and ignoring its animating words allowed for the terrorization of the Black population, the imposition of apartheid, and the destruction of democracy. The rewriting and the ignoring were done not just by Confederates, but also by putative allies for whom the reduction of Black people to serfdom was the unfortunate price of white unity. The import of this history has never been clearer than in this moment when the hard question must be asked: If you would look away from the words of Charlie Kirk, from what else would you look away?”

— Ta-Nehisi Coates, in Vanity Fair

What’s Happening Now

Buck Banks

“If you were writing a hackneyed novel or film about an authoritarian America, it would go exactly like this: a figure close to the regime is assassinated, a massive shrill and sanctimonious hue and cry rises over the martyred dead, hysteria is whipped up about terrorism and public disorder, leaders in the regime and movement promise vengeance, private citizens are mobbed and lose their jobs for expressing anti-regime sentiments at the encouragement of regime officials and regime-aligned demagogues, and, then, the power of the state is brought to bear against public figures who oppose and criticize the regime. … This is exactly what’s happening now.”

— John Ganz

Letterman Speaks Out About Corporate Oppression of Speech

Buck Banks

“This is misery. We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”

— David Letterman, quoted by Variety.

Trump Using Kirk’s Death to Stifle Opposition

Buck Banks

“President Trump has begun a major escalation in his long-running efforts to stifle political opposition in the United States, using the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk to make the baseless argument that Democratic organizations and protesters are part of a violent conspiracy against conservative values and the American way of life.”

— New York Times

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College Students Weren’t That Fond of Charlie Kirk

Buck Banks

70%

A new Generation Lab poll found that Charlie Kirk was almost universally known among college kids: 94% of students had heard of him, a remarkable level of name I.D. for any political figure. However, most college students were not fans. A combined 70% of students said they either “strongly disagree” or “somewhat disagree” with Kirk’s views. Only 30% said they agreed.