While it’s been obvious from the beginning that Charlie Kirk’s assassin was radicalized by left-wing ideology, the last 24 hours have been illuminating.
For days, there has been a concerted attempt to claim Kirk was essentially responsible for his own death, not only suggesting that he deserved to be murdered for his viewpoints, but also that he was killed by someone on the right. That perverse gambit has manifested in two ways.
Large left-wing accounts, including prominent Democrats like David Shuster, Adam Kinzinger, and Laurence Tribe, have outright claimed Tyler Robinson was a “right-wing” MAGA adherent. Meanwhile, instead of pushing back on those falsehoods, the mainstream press has largely lied by omission, pretending that the killer’s ideology remains a total mystery.
Take the following, which was published by The New York Times on Saturday evening.
Keep in mind that by the time that piece went live, the news was already everywhere that Robinson lived with a trans-identifying boyfriend and that investigators were certain he was deeply ensconced in left-wing ideology. But if you only read the Times, you’d think all we know about the monster is that his parents were registered Republicans. That irrelevant detail warranted a mention, but not the plain meaning of “Hey fascist, catch!” being etched onto the round used to murder Kirk.