The assassination of Charlie Kirk and the corresponding celebration of his death by voices on the Left are producing the predictable (and planned) backlash in certain sectors of the Right. Joel Webbon is promoting Nick Fuentes as spokesman successor for the Right now that Charlie Kirk is dead and posting screenshots of those returning to his (Webbon’s) camp who had departed in recent months because they considered him too “extreme.” The Left has practiced ethnic bigotry and partiality against whites and Asians for years, and now a growing number of voices who identify with the Right are embracing the same ideology and responding in kind. The Left has identified all white people as inherently racist while creating systems of bias against whites that also promotes and protects malice and violence against them. Is it any surprise that there are now more white people willing to engage in the same kind of generalized bias and hatred toward black people? When commentators on major news networks downplay the violent murder of a white woman by a black man who openly stated his ethnic malice on video, when a gunman assassinates the one of the most reasonable and charitable voices on the Right, a man who sought to engage in open dialogue and to promote greater understanding through the exchange of ideas, and those on the Left celebrate his death, you know that any hope of reasonable dialogue is gone.
Once mainstream conservative voices like Tucker Carlson and Candance Owens are rapidly descending into resentment and animus, particularly against the State of Israel and the Jews. Pay no attention to the inherent contradiction in their arguments—Jews killed Jesus, oppose Christianity, have been the source of most of the evils afflicting the western world for centuries… and modern Ashkenazi Jews are not really Jews at all, Palestinian Christians are. Who could have foreseen this? Actually, anyone with a brain who has read a book or three about history. Sadly, that would seem to exclude not only many on the Left but far too many who claim to be on the Right whose primary education has come through Twitter and YouTube.
Almost two years ago I wrote an essay with a somewhat provocative title, “Does (D) Stand for Demonic?”. In it I noted the capture of the Democrat Party by radical, Marxist progressives.
… the Democrat Party, qua Party, stands explicitly, uniformly, and vehemently opposed to the most basic creational, biblical, and ethical norms. Whether it is promoting envy and unbiblical economic policies, gaslighting the American public regarding “systemic racism” while promoting programs that establish that very thing, queering our children and grooming them on behalf of sexual perverts, flaunting the same perversion on embassy soil in foreign nations, or promoting, protecting, and celebrating the mass slaughter of unborn children as a moral good—in every case the Democrats have taken the side of Sauron and proven their intransigence, contumacy, and steadfast opposition to all that is true, good, and beautiful.
It was not always so. As someone who grew up in the Deep South in the 1980s and early 90s, I remember the days when you could find a Democrat who was pro-life and explicitly and consistently Christian. No longer. If Bill Clinton were running for public office today, he would be a moderate Republican. A liberal used to be one who believed in liberal ideals of free speech, open debate, democracy, and personal freedom. We might disagree on a number of points, but at least we could talk about our differences and remain friends. No more. Where are the liberals today? They are not in the Democrat Party. They all abandoned that ship and voted for Donald Trump. Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, Robert Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, Joe Rogan: none of these were Republicans, and none of them are conservative in the traditional sense. The capture of the Democrat Party by radical Marxism drove them into the arms of a Republican candidate and administration.
What do Democrats stand for today? Sodomite marriage, genital mutilation, the sterilization of children, socialist economic policies, the defunding and disabling of criminal justice agencies, the end of criminal prosecution and penalties, the expansion of a welfare state, and the prioritization of mental health and trauma-oriented justifications for violent crime. The Democrat Party of thirty years ago no longer exists today. It is structurally Marxist, socialist, anti-creational, anti-human, and anti-Christian.
The last decade changed many things for many people. The Obergefell decision in 2015, the rise of Trump and the appearance of Trump Derangement Syndrome in 2016, COVID tyranny: mass lockdowns, discrimination against churches, forced vaccination, the prosecution of people who declined to mask in outdoor spaces (it happened to a member of my church), the BLM riots, January 6th and the prosecutions arising from it, transgender madness, all of these opened the eyes of many people who had been politically unaware and lived a simple, ordinary life. Now they realize the government is an antagonist, the expert class has been discredited, and many of the truths they once took for granted have all been cast into doubt.
Many on the Right believe they are now thinking critically with their eyes wide open, but too many have simply rejected one narrative for another with no more reason or justification than they applied to the former. If the experts have been lying to us all along, the opposite of whatever they have been saying must be true. We cannot believe credentialed experts employed or promoted by the government, so anonymous accounts on Twitter must be telling the truth. The result is entirely predictable. If you call a peaceful man an abuser for long enough, he may lose his temper and become the abuser you alleged him to be. Gaslight an otherwise sane person and you will, literally, drive him insane. Call ordinary Americans racists, antisemites, and violent persons long enough, and some of them will embrace that identity.
Who could have seen this coming? Anyone who has studied the history of Communism and understands the tactics of the progressive, Marxist Left. The sniper yesterday did not execute Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, or even Tucker Carlson. He gunned down a friendly, charitable, effective but not inflammatory communicator whose views were largely mainstream, traditional, Christian conservatism. If they would do such a thing to Charlie Kirk, what would they do to more extreme voices on the Right? But that is the point. This is not to say an assassin will never make a run at more extreme personalities. Of course they will if they have an opportunity. The Left has explicitly endorsed, condoned, and celebrated violence against any ideological opponent. But Charlie was targeted for a reason. He was a voice of reason, of charity, of open dialogue. He was not a troll. He was practicing the very thing that liberals once believed in and the Left still claims it is committed to. But they are not. They are lying. The celebration of Charlie Kirk’s death is all the proof you need, as if there were not already enough evidence.
Doug Wilson has urged for years, “Don’t take the bait.” But many already have, and I suspect that after yesterday many more will. It is easy to embrace rage. Rage is natural, completely understandable, at some level even justifiable, but it still remains true that the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God (Jas. 1:20).
We do not honor Charlie’s memory or legacy by embracing ethnic bigotry, malice toward Jews, or violence either in rhetoric or in action. More importantly, such attitudes do not honor God. We have passed the Cold War stage of the culture war, and blood is already running in the streets. There will be more acts of violence. There cannot not be. Now is the time for thoughtful, wise, and godly men to stand up, speak out, and act boldly in responsible, biblical, and morally courageous ways. Peter’s true test was not in the garden when he drew a sword to save his Lord; it was in the courtyard when he was asked if he also was associated with Jesus. May we understand the times and know what God’s people ought to do in such an hour. May we fight the right battle in the right way, ready to defend our families and our neighbors but also ready to lay down our lives rather than compromise faith, conscience, or the holy law of our Lord. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2Cor. 10:4-5).