September 11, 2025
It was a call from a reporter. That’s how I found out that right-wing activist Charlie Kirk had been shot. I didn’t know enough to make a comment to the media. My brain started making a list who could have been responsible:
- Far right groups who think that Kirk’s Turning Point USA is not extreme enough.
- Right-wing groups who think Turning Point USA is too extreme.
- Someone having a mental health crisis.
- Someone personally connected to Kirk, like a spurned lover or someone he financially ripped off.
- Someone from the Trump camp, hoping to knock the Epstein files out of the news cycle and/or angry with Kirk’s demand that Trump release the files.
- A Russian plot to create political instability in the U.S.
- An incel frustrated over Kirk’s success as a family man.
- A nihilist who worships death and chaos.
- A suicidal individual seeking fame on their way out.
- An accelerationist who wants to hasten societal collapse.
- A right-wing “patriot” hoping to spark a civil war.
- A student hoping to harm the school where it happened.
- Someone from the left who opposed Kirk’s right-wing positions.
The immediate response to the shooting said everything about America. Some on the right (assuming they knew who the shooter was) called for violence on the left. Some on the left responded with the quip, “the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi.” Most expressed regret that we’ve gotten to this point. My social media feed was filled with hysterical MAGAs screaming about the “violent left,” while the left filled the feed with quotes from Kirk himself about the cost of gun violence in the protection of the second amendment. What a shit show.
This needs to be said. Charlie Kirk was a racist, homophobic, transphobic misogynist. He profited from spreading his brand of “free speech” hate. But he also encouraged public debate on these issues, not violent conflict. And he didn’t deserve to be slaughtered in front of his wife and children. He deserved to be ridiculed for his toxic beliefs. One day, he could have seen the light and become an advocate for tolerance. Now he’s just dead.
So on this 9/11, where does are nation go from here?
The United States is on the proverbial ledge. Hours after he announced the death, from the Oval Office, Trump blamed the “radical left” without even a suspect in custody. Activists in Portland are on high alert for retribution. In 2020, we saw right-wing actors outside Portland create “Pro-America” caravans to attack local Black Lives Matter protestors. The rhetoric in extremist forums, like 4chan, state the Kirk killing has green lit an open season on leftists. Could our Fort Sumpter be Utah Valley University? Has the civil war begun? Do I need to arm up to protect my family from gangs of Proud Boys attacking Portland? America is a powder keg, with troops on the street and endless chatter about right and left.
The good news is, America is not divided as Fox News would have you believe. Watching MSNBC whitewash Kirk’s hate mongering might be evidence. While the media (including MSNBC) leans right, the vast majority of Americans are happily in the middle. Surveys find a general consensus on “divisive” issues like gun control, abortion, gay rights, vaccines and even tariffs. That’s because, while we might debate an issue (Transgender swimmers, go!), our core values across the political spectrum are relatively stable. Conservatives and liberals, MAGA and Bernie Sanders fans, we generally value education, public safety, privacy, equality, fairness, and justice. Research shows when people from different political positions first share common values, political civility returns to the discussion. We can heal this divide.
Every 9/11, I like to focus, instead, on 9/12 – that incredible feeling of national unity we felt following the attacks. We have a choice this 9/11. We can push our peers farther to the extremes and tip the nation into an unwinnable civil war that will plunge our beautiful nation into years of traumatic violence. Or we can find that common ground and create a rebirth of our vibrant multicultural democracy. We can put down our doom scrolls and meet out neighbors, rebuilding community. Charlie Kirk’s life was dedicated to dividing us. Perhaps his horrible death can motivate us to reject violence and incivility and find what binds us. The attacks of 9/11 still tear at my heart, but the resilience of 9/12 gives me great hope.
Watching the Wheels 
Randy, you’ve never been know as an unbiased observer but holy shit, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. The fact that you think that MSNBC “leans right” shows just how far out of touch with reality you seem to be. I also have come to genuinely doubt your dedication and intentions when it comes to reducing political violence. You just like to wonder out loud how we stop this while simultaneously stoking the fires with heated rhetoric – which is what got us to this point. Read what you wrote again and ask yourself how that helps. I like you Randy, I really do and have liked you since I was a student at PSU in the late ’90s. But I’m really starting to think you suck. Because you lack empathy, temperance, and tolerance. And that disappoints me, even if it doesn’t disappoint you.
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Jason, MSNBC is still NBC and might be “liberal” but still pushes a pro-corporate agenda, which makes it right leaning. The fact that it has refused to even mention the hateful rhetoric of Kirk is proof. They are afraid of their corporate bosses. But you are much farther to the right than I am so I’m sure MSNBC looks far left to you. It’s all about where you are standing.
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Randy, thanks for choosing to play the “Ackshually” card on MSNBC with pedantic argument that because they’re corporation, that somehow negates the clear messaging and political leaning that MSNBC has proudly showcased in the stated opinions and broadcasts. No true Scotsman, right? Liberals get the bullet too, right? Secondly, that only reinforces that you’re an unserious actor when it comes to actually wanting to reduce political violence – or at least against those that you align yourself with. I’d like to believe that you were being facetious with your laundry list of people that may have wanted to kill the man, but even then you couldn’t resist with some of the outlandish scenarios, like a spurned lover or someone he cheated out of money? If thats your actual thought process, why should anyone heed your word as a subject matter expert – your final thought out of a list of 13 was that it might be someone on the left, which it now appears to be. If it was all a joke, why should you be trusted with such a serous matter if you can’t help yourself? Either scenario is disqualifying. You want to find the ties that bind us? Then start looking, because you’re not looking very hard right now.
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I swiped this from AI about one of my favorite books, What Liberal Media:
What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News is a 2003 book by journalist Eric Alterman that challenges the premise of a widespread liberal media bias. Countering the narrative often promoted by conservatives like Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly, Alterman argues that the media is, in many significant ways, more conservative than liberal.
Alterman’s central argument
Instead of focusing on the personal politics of individual journalists, Alterman analyzes the media as an industry and finds that its overall structure has a conservative bias. He argues that the conservative critique of media bias was more effective than any liberal counterpart because it created a climate where mainstream media outlets over-corrected to avoid accusations of liberalism.
In the book, Alterman highlights several factors contributing to what he views as a systemic conservative tilt in the media:
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WTF is wrong with you Randy? You’re still stuck on whether or not MSNBC is liberal? Why are you so fixated on this irrelevant point and avoiding addressing why you cam’t seem to condemn a political asassination without having to qualify your feelings on it? Where is your conviction to stop political violence? You’re crossing the line into pitiable at this point.
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WTF, Jason. My work is all about reducing political violence. I co-founded an organization called Cure:PNW dedicated to do just that. I don’t have to give you my resume. I have condemned political violence REPEATEDLY. Christ o mighty.
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