Why would it be illogical to understand that everyone who’s called Trump and his supporters fascist wants us murdered like Charlie Kirk?
If you truly believe someone is a fascist, you logically want them dead. How many people want to be ruled by fascism? Not many Americans.
When the elites called Trump fascist, they created a permission structure to murder Trump and his supporters.
If somebody publicly rejoices at the assassination of Charlie Kirk (and I think it would be illogical of them not to rejoice, though it would usually be against their self-interest to be public about it), why would they not rejoice at the murder of everyone with Charlie Kirk’s politics?
I again see people on the right posting things to the effect that, “We can’t live with these people.” Well, you do live with them. And they live with you. And that’s not likely to change. So we have to find a way to live together.
That’s not to say that nothing should be done. As they did with George Floyd’s killing, there should be an expectation that the institutions of society collectively act to shut down behaviors that create a fertile climate for this sort of thing.
One of them is the frequent labeling of Trump supporters and Republicans as “Nazis” or “fascists,” which only serves to imply that it’s legitimate to stop them by any means necessary, including violence. You may call the popular “Punch a Nazi” meme as an example of this, one that explicitly approved of violence.
Another is open celebrations of murder, which we see in this case, but also to some extent in the killing of United Healthcare’s president by Luigi Mangione and in the recent killing of the head of Blackstone’s REIT.
How much did Turning Point USA pay Utah Valley University for security? Do they get a refund?
From today’s 2Way show, at the 19 minute mark:
Jacob:
I’m a Princeton student, currently on a two-year break working in marketing for my professor. I’ve been a conservative my whole life. I grew up in Seattle—that’s where I am now.
When I was in the Ivy League, which is very left-wing, there was this unspoken rule: you had to lie to your teachers and professors, it was harder to make friends, you had to keep a tight circle.
The way I saw this story, I felt it on three levels. First, the grief for his family and friends—especially his daughter, who will never see her father again. Second, the thoughts about stochastic terrorism, why this happened, and how he got shot. But the third, which I didn’t expect, was people I knew telling me he deserved to die.
When I asked them why, young Gen Z people said it was because of his opinions—on abortion, on guns, views that I’ve held my entire life. One person even refused to answer whether I deserve to die. That shocked me.
Scrolling through Twitter and Reddit, glued to my phone these past few days, I’ve seen people openly say these things. I don’t know the percentage—maybe it’s 5%, maybe 25%—but it’s a huge number of people. They don’t just want assassinations of other people; they’re at least undecided on the assassination of me.
Mark Halperin:
Wow, Jacob. These aren’t people you know, right? These are social media interactions?
Jacob:
There was one person I knew who refused to answer, and then thousands more I’ve seen on social media. Honestly, my question to you is: what do I do with that information? I never realized how many people are this violent and hateful. I don’t know what to do with that.
