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DemocratSinceBirth

(101,445 posts)
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 12:12 PM Oct 1

My pithy remarks on the passing of Charlie Kirk and the future of his movement were published in the NYT

Brian
Los Angeles26m ago
We can mourn his passing while hoping his movement is consigned to the ashbin of history.

Reply35 RecommendShare



https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/us/politics/charlie-kirk.html?regi_id=66616875&template_id=744&tracking_id=biza-10H481LqjL8x9v7&user_id=40fefc89094ec3e1a20f3e9e7222b0ec#permid=145639049
34 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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My pithy remarks on the passing of Charlie Kirk and the future of his movement were published in the NYT (Original Post) DemocratSinceBirth Oct 1 OP
Unbelievably strong paywall: Here's an archived link. hlthe2b Oct 1 #1
Cue up the new theme song for Turning Point USA, "The Grift Will Go On." Song by Erica Kirk. Botany Oct 2 #29
Kirk belongs in the ashbin of history LetMyPeopleVote Oct 1 #2
Kirk's 'movemen' is dangerous to All of us in one way or another. riversedge Oct 1 #3
Movement of the Bowel. PCIntern Oct 1 #17
You're nicer than I am! 50 Shades Of Blue Oct 1 #4
I'm replacing "Turning Point" with "Tipping Point" when Trump's abuse victims ( including former supporters) topple him usonian Oct 1 #5
Whatever you think about Charlie Kirk's politics, Gimpyknee Oct 1 #6
And he finally leaned left. GoneOffShore Oct 1 #8
yes, he did. omg Jack Valentino Oct 2 #33
When race car drivers die young, the epitaph is always Bluetus Oct 1 #9
Recommended. H2O Man Oct 1 #7
Shirley Chisholm visited George Wallace after he was shot in the hospital. DemocratSinceBirth Oct 1 #18
Yes, she did. H2O Man Oct 1 #20
Very succinct and poignant. ananda Oct 1 #10
He made a career out of practicing rhetoric and then debating 19 year olds AdamGG Oct 1 #11
Good for you! I still think... Happy Hoosier Oct 1 #12
One can access other articles through the links below. The one about minute 44 was just a bit more than ordinary. Linda ladeewolf Oct 1 #13
I recommended that comment AStern Oct 1 #14
I shouldn't boast but I'm proud it got 384 recommendations and counting, and a Reader's Choice. DemocratSinceBirth Oct 1 #22
It's up to 569 now. DemocratSinceBirth Oct 1 #24
JFC, nyt. Could you POSSIBLY have been any more detferential, polite, niyad Oct 1 #15
A lot of editorials vociferously criticized his views DemocratSinceBirth Oct 1 #25
I was specifically referring to the one linked in the OP, which mentioned niyad Oct 2 #26
Mourn his passing? lonely bird Oct 1 #16
Just a sec... ultralite001 Oct 1 #19
The "boss babe" is filling the hole? Passages Oct 1 #21
Congrats! SheltieLover Oct 1 #23
sadness poozwah Oct 2 #27
I Need Your Help Blue renter Oct 2 #28
Here is Mrs. Kirk's position: Listen up all of you rubes, keep sending me money. I have a life style to maintain. flashman13 Oct 2 #30
I will not mourn his passing. I do condemn his murder. Martin68 Oct 2 #31
Now. How about them Epstein files quakerboy Oct 2 #32
I'm with Greg Olear on the death of the fascist creep. Damnatio memoriae GoneOffShore Oct 2 #34

Botany

(75,718 posts)
29. Cue up the new theme song for Turning Point USA, "The Grift Will Go On." Song by Erica Kirk.
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 11:52 AM
Oct 2

“Less than two weeks after the murder of the conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, his widow, Erika Kirk, the organization’s new chief executive, convened a senior staff meeting at the group’s Phoenix headquarters to discuss its future. “A murderer tried to silence my husband,” she told them by video conference from her home in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to two of the attendees. “I won’t let that happen”.”



usonian

(22,011 posts)
5. I'm replacing "Turning Point" with "Tipping Point" when Trump's abuse victims ( including former supporters) topple him
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 12:38 PM
Oct 1

and his merry band of fascists and thieves.

Gimpyknee

(903 posts)
6. Whatever you think about Charlie Kirk's politics,
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 12:42 PM
Oct 1

You have to admit that was the most epic mic drop ever!

Bluetus

(1,785 posts)
9. When race car drivers die young, the epitaph is always
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 01:01 PM
Oct 1

"He died doing what he loved."

I don't know if this applies to Kirk. Most of these well-paid, professional RWers seem pretty phony to me.

Strange thing, when a roofer falls to his death, or a pipe-fitter dies in a natural gas explosion, nobody says "they died doing what they loved."

I don't believe in the afterlife, but wouldn't it be interesting to be able to ask Kirk if all the money and power he got by being a professional racist and political agitator was really worth it?

DemocratSinceBirth

(101,445 posts)
18. Shirley Chisholm visited George Wallace after he was shot in the hospital.
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 03:10 PM
Oct 1

It was an amazing show of grace. Wallace was reportedly said to have cried. I can't imagine how emotional it must have been. She said what happened to him shouldn't happen to anyone. That's how I feel about Kirk

H2O Man

(78,155 posts)
20. Yes, she did.
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 03:43 PM
Oct 1

Every act of violence -- especially the extreme violence of killing human beings -- degrades the social fabric.

That's not to say I liked or respected Kirk. I've seen his style of "debate," which is one of the first I studied when I was in my early 20s. When used in debate with a young college student with an undeveloped frontal lobes, one can at very least create confusion if they are right and you are wrong. In studying Malcolm X's style of debate (among others), it is relatively easy to spank a Charlie Kirk. One merely has to be patient for the first 5 to 7 minutes, and toss a few bread crumbs that they will seek to exploit and capitalize on.

I prefer that to murder.

AdamGG

(1,823 posts)
11. He made a career out of practicing rhetoric and then debating 19 year olds
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 01:36 PM
Oct 1

There's a reason he didn't spend his time debating people like Robert Reich or James Carville because they would have utterly exposed him and created video that he would not want to exist.

The memorials to him with federal orders to fly flags at half staff almost make me nostalgic for the quaint time when Dump was merely halting the State of the Union address to award the Medal of Freedom to Limbaugh.

Happy Hoosier

(9,191 posts)
12. Good for you! I still think...
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 01:51 PM
Oct 1

... that I feel no ombligation to "mourn" his passing.

Did I want him killed? No. Do I advocate that kind of violnece? No. Am I sorry he is gone? Not in the least. I think the world is better place without him.

Linda ladeewolf

(1,010 posts)
13. One can access other articles through the links below. The one about minute 44 was just a bit more than ordinary.
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 01:52 PM
Oct 1

I’d check it out. The links on the archive are live. Charlie Kirk is less important than trumps speech to the military.

DemocratSinceBirth

(101,445 posts)
22. I shouldn't boast but I'm proud it got 384 recommendations and counting, and a Reader's Choice.
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 05:09 PM
Oct 1

The subscription is around twenty three dollars a months. I used to get the hard copy delivered to my home in the days of "yore". I can still remember as a kid growing up in NYC being taught in school how to fold it so you could read it on the subway. I also subscribe to the New Yorker, New York magazine, The Atlantic, and WAP0.

niyad

(128,155 posts)
15. JFC, nyt. Could you POSSIBLY have been any more detferential, polite,
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 01:59 PM
Oct 1

and mealy-mouthed aboutt that agitating, misogynist, racist, homophobic POS??? Funny, you left out ALL of that, you uselesss, used-to-be "reporters". Absolutely disgusting, but not surprising.

DemocratSinceBirth

(101,445 posts)
25. A lot of editorials vociferously criticized his views
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 09:23 PM
Oct 1

Most of the editorials basically argued his murder was abominable, but he said a lot of inflammatory and hurtful things .

niyad

(128,155 posts)
26. I was specifically referring to the one linked in the OP, which mentioned
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 07:48 AM
Oct 2

none of his hattred and bigotry.

lonely bird

(2,601 posts)
16. Mourn his passing?
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 02:24 PM
Oct 1

No, I don’t mourn his passing. I think it was sad for his family. His life was spent self-promoting and sowing division. Belief is not, despite what some say, a get out of jail free card.

ultralite001

(2,220 posts)
19. Just a sec...
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 03:21 PM
Oct 1
..."the organization’s new chief executive [Erika Kirk], convened a senior staff meeting at the group’s Phoenix headquarters to discuss its future."


+

“'A murderer tried to silence my husband,' she told them by video conference from her home in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to two of the attendees."


The new chief wouldn't drive 12 miles to meet w/ senior staff in person??? WTF???


Passages

(3,848 posts)
21. The "boss babe" is filling the hole?
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 04:01 PM
Oct 1

Charming.

We have decayed as a society and must find a way back.

poozwah

(378 posts)
27. sadness
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 08:31 AM
Oct 2

the only sadness i feel about this incident is the fact that many americans are praising this man who espoused so many unamerican ideals. charlie kirk was not great. charlie kirk was not a man who parents in this country should encourage their children to emulate. charlie kirk did not want to fix the finest government ever seen on this earth, he only wanted to destroy it.

 

Blue renter

(12 posts)
28. I Need Your Help
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 08:58 AM
Oct 2

I am a blue person in a red office -- staff and bosses -- and they have been going on about C. Kirk. What or how would you respond to them. I need your help because I am not good at this. Especially this
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9yRtv4cbTQw
What do I say?

flashman13

(1,688 posts)
30. Here is Mrs. Kirk's position: Listen up all of you rubes, keep sending me money. I have a life style to maintain.
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 11:56 AM
Oct 2

If I may quote from the Times article, "Those staff members have now rallied around their new leader, taking comfort in Mrs. Kirk’s devoutness as well as her previous experience as a public speaker and entrepreneur of a Christian-themed clothing line." I'm not the least bit religious, but I have taken time to red the words in red in the bible that are purported to be from the public speaker know as Jesus. I'm having a hard time squaring the circle between devoutness and "a Christian-themed clothing line". The grift never ends.

quakerboy

(14,596 posts)
32. Now. How about them Epstein files
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 12:40 PM
Oct 2

THAT is what his epitaph should be. His memorial.

Kirk should never again be mentioned without pivoting to the Epstein files.

GoneOffShore

(17,934 posts)
34. I'm with Greg Olear on the death of the fascist creep. Damnatio memoriae
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 03:21 PM
Oct 2

Everything the dead stochastic terrorist said consisted of straw-men, bad faith arguments, goal post moving, deflection, projection, false premises, and just plain egregious fuckwittery. It was a mind boggling hurricane of crazy crap.
Listening to him ‘debate’ was like being bombarded with turds.
His name should never be mentioned again.


https://gregolear.substack.com/p/ramble-on-damnatio-memoriae-video

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