Charlie Kirk

I was sitting at my desk, doing homework, listening to WABC broadcast the hits, when the music was interrupted with the news that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated. I was alone. It was a shock. Because it came out of the blue, was completely unexpected.

As was the shooting of RFK not long thereafter.

But with RFK it was a little bit different. Johnson was abhorred by the youth, who had a new candidate they were rallying behind, Eugene McCarthy. And once RFK entered the race there was a sense of deflation, that once again our hopes and dreams would be eluded.

RFK continued to live. News was not totally pessimistic, there was a decent chance he would pull through.

But then he died. And it was hard to metabolize it. Especially when Hubert Humphrey ultimately got the nomination. I mean we wanted McCarthy, but RFK was so much better than Humphrey. Humphrey was old school. RFK may not have been as aligned with the perspective of the youth as McCarthy, but he was definitely a creature of the sixties.

But now he was gone.

I saw that Charlie Kirk had been shot. That's the nature of being constantly online. You launch a browser window and you see the latest news, at least the highlights, assuming your homepage is a news site, and mine is.

But shot is one thing, dead is another.

So I closed my browser, turned on Do Not Disturb, and started to write. And when I was rereading my piece, I wanted to check a fact, and I launched a browser window, and that was when I saw Kirk had died. And I became numb. I'm still numb.

And then I tried to take the temperature of the nation.

All the Democratic officials and the left wing press like the "New York Times" immediately lamented Kirk's death and called for peace. Saying that political discourse had been amped up to the point where it overflowed, that violence was seen as an option and was happening too much.

Ditto on MSNBC.

Obama, Biden, all the usual suspects called for calm.

But on TikTok?

Reaction was completely different.

We keep hearing that people on the left were expressing joy that Kirk was dead. This is untrue, this is kind of like the Sydney Sweeney jeans/genes controversy. There was none. Those on the left were not up in arms. But those on the right said they were and it became a national issue.

No, everybody started off their video stating that they were sad Kirk had been shot and killed, that there was no place for that in America. HOWEVER, then they all went on to delineate Kirk's positions and how they felt about them.

Starting with gun control. The famous Kirk quote that said some have to die in order to defend the 2nd Amendment. The irony was noted.

And then the question was asked why was there not such a brouhaha when those Minnesota elected officials were shot. There was no flag at half staff. Trump didn't express this level of dismay.

And how about those kids shot seemingly every day on school campuses? Why when Kirk is shot it's a national disaster, but when our children are it is not. Hell, school shootings are now de rigueur. They hit the news and fade, because we know another one is coming.

And then there Kirk's policies about race and sexual orientation. There was a complete listing and discussion of what Kirk spewed.

But the Democratic elected officials and their news outlets didn't reflect this. They were all on the back foot, doing their best to make sure they didn't ignite any anger whatsoever on the right.

Meanwhile, Trump went on record it was the violent left that was the problem. Which is a head-scratcher for anybody who follows the news. Most of the violent rhetoric comes from the right. Not that there's absolutely none from the left, but it's not the Democrats who are saying to beware of your speech and behavior.

And it's all Biden's fault. BIDEN? You mean that doddering old man? Who sent money to the states for infrastructure projects that Republicans voted against and are now taking credit for?

BIDEN?

Was there military in the streets under Biden? Democrats are about a social safety net. Which you don't need to agree with. But if you think Biden was evil...you've never looked in the mirror.

I mean you don't have to agree with Biden's policies, but Trump has been stirring up unrest for a decade now. Telling universities and news outlets to get in line. I wrote about the Apple presentation introducing new iPhones and what did I hear from multiple people? They weren't upgrading their devices because Tim Cook went and kissed the ass of the President with the rest of those tech bros who only care about their companies and themselves, who are afraid of standing up to an autocrat who might retaliate.

On TikTok I found the temperature of the public. And the irony is, there are more people on this side, the liberal side, than there are on the conservative one.

The people are not approving of Trump's rule. The people just want to live in peace, earn their living with the government out of their lives except when they're in a crisis.

But now the government is in their personal lives, not allowing them to get an abortion, and when there's a disaster... Where are the weather service and FEMA? Cut down and operating with a hand behind their back, if they're operating at all.

But this is not the message sent in the right wing echo chamber. Where anything anti-Trump doesn't even show up on Fox News. And then you have Karoline Leavitt quoting right wing propaganda sites like the Daily Caller...

It's topsy-turvy, it's bizzarroland.

Just like saying Charlie Kirk is a saint and it's the left wing that incites violence, not the right.

And, once again, the Democratic officials and the left wing press are afraid to say all this for fear of retribution. They're essentially hiding, playing by the rules that Trump has laid down and Congress (and the Supreme Court) has fallen behind.

Now my inbox will go wild with right wing blowback. And this is just the point. THEY'RE WORKING THE REFS! And where is the coach on our side arguing with said refs, for a level playing field? They're NONEXISTENT!

But the public? The liberal public, the majority? They see what is going on and are stating their truth.

But Congresspeople are too busy to spend time scrolling on TikTok. And newspapers and TV are too hoity-toity to do so either. As a matter of fact, the "New York Times" prints anti-technology screeds on a regular basis, convincing their educated elite readers that the smartphone and social media are the devil. To the point where oldsters have never been on TikTok, yet have a definitive negative opinion of the service.

But on TikTok anybody can play. ANYBODY! The opinion of nobody from nowhere sits right next to those with pedigrees. And everybody on TikTok knows that's where you go to really find out what is going on in America. And unlike YouTube, you don't already have to be famous for your clip to be boosted. No, it can be your very first clip and possibly be seen by millions. Incentivizing people to express themselves.

But those who have played the traditional game, the one of educational and job hoops, who feel superior because of their investment in their careers, pooh-pooh these upstarts. Who the hell are they?

The electorate.

And the electorate is not aligned with the Democrats and MSNBC taking a knee. Firing Matthew Dowd? Look what he said. If this is offensive, please stay in nursery school.

This is why the Democrats lost. Not because people don't have liberal beliefs, but because they think Democratic officials are namby-pamby people who don't want to rock the boat for fear of losing their job. And in this world where truth, honest and credibility resonate, they don't evidence these characteristics

As for Trump?

He was standing up for the whites, the economically-challenged and the rich. Don't dig deep and debate whether he delivered for these people, they believed he was on their side.

On the left... We got Biden and then Harris? If you can find a person who believes in Harris...they must be related to her.

It's a flaw in leadership and direction, not in the underlying principles. People are sick and tired of those on the left being afraid to rock the boat, and when they do point out bad behavior on the right, there is no plan of action. Other than fruitless protests in the street.

Meanwhile, Trump keeps blaming the radical left whilst saying he's going to take action against them.

Huh? What about the radical right?

Oh, they're o.k. They're on the side of God, and me, TRUMP!

If you think most Americans are falling for this, you're just not on TikTok, you're in a bubble.

Those on the left are not vociferously for political violence, that comes from the right. And although they believe Charlie Kirk had a right to speak and shouldn't have been assassinated, they also know that he was spreading hate and proffered positions that did not align with the majority of the public. Hell, he was anything but pro woman, and over half of Americans ARE women.

But Charlie Kirk gets shot and it requires think pieces and national mourning.

But if you get shot, or your kids, even your elected representatives, everybody shrugs and Charlie Kirk says it's the cost of doing business.

And that does not resonate with you, and you stand up and say so and what does everybody say?

YOU'RE THE PROBLEM!

Yet you're anything but.

What did F. Scott Fitzgerald famously say, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."?

Isn't that those on the left, who decry the killing of Kirk but also abhor his policies?

Or is it the knee-jerk free speech advocates on the right who can only see it one way, that one of theirs was shot and the left is evil and responsible.

Let's have a little perspective here. Let's not be afraid of our shadows and Trump. It is totally reasonable to say Charlie Kirk was a bad man who did not deserve to be shot and killed. Can't the brass on the left say this?

Looks not.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25