Wednesday Morning Rant

I have been astounded by the reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I knew who he was and what he did. I am not in Kirk's target audience (I am about a decade too old), but I am on his side of the political divide and I was, of course, aware of him. Had someone stopped me and asked, "who is Charlie Kirk," my answer probably would have been, "he's a popular conservative pundit who goes to college campuses to debate people and runs Turning Point USA." I liked what he was doing, watched some of his videos and was familiar with his work, but I never followed him all that closely.

The response to his assassination continues to blow me away. It is evidence that I have been hugely out of touch. I expected some reaction, to be sure. Plenty of rage. Many demands for severe punishment. Calls for investigation into wider networks. Lament over the loss of a highly effective and ambitious conservative voice. That kind of thing. What I would never have predicted, had someone come to me with a hypothetical of, "what would happen if Charlie Kirk got assassinated," is what has actually happened. In part, I had no clue how popular he was outside of the United States.

The global aspect of the response came entirely out of left field for me. Protesters in Korea called him out during their demonstration. Tommy Robinson dedicated part of his UK protest to Kirk. In Australia, anti-corruption protesters included a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. There have been vigils, placards, etc. in honor of Charlie Kirk at US embassies in at least Spain, Italy and Germany. I've seen reports of memorials or vigils in Japan, South Africa, New Zealand and others.

Politicians the world over have chimed in, too - and the list will sadly surprise nobody. Milei (Argentina), Meloni (Italy), Orban (Hungary) and even Nawrocki (Poland) all made statements condemning the murder and praising Kirk. On the other side, the EU Parliament thought it important enough to follow the Democrats' lead and disrupt a moment of silence for Kirk when called for in their chamber. Personally, I have received a couple of texts from acquaintances in foreign countries about the assassination and the reactions to it where they live. He was an American, discussing American issues but nonetheless apparently had a truly global influence and effect. It seems that to the degree our issues are common throughout the civilized world, so to was his popularity.

Then, of course, has been the street-level response. The firing/punishment campaign against social media leftists has been astonishing in its speed, breadth and depth. I have never once in my life seen a leftist punished for being vicious or awful, but I sure have this week. Even more casually, half the conversations I've overheard in public this past week have been about Kirk, in one way or another. Just as interesting, I know a few people who never find a lefty cause unworthy of vocal support who have been oddly quiet. People who are never quiet about anything are not shouting for the first time.

I always viewed Kirk as an important and popular conservative activist. I had absolutely no idea how wide his reach was. Perhaps as a result of not being in his target audience, I was not aware of just how popular Kirk was to the younger crowd. His target audience - those in the heart of darkness that is the American university complex - dared to have memorials for him on campuses across multiple countries.

His reach was broader than I ever imagined.

posted by Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM

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