I'm not in any way speculating. But I'm actually shocked how few people know that Charlie Kirk has for years been among the most reviled people on the planet by white supremacists, many of whom were radicalized by sustained campaigns painting him as an anti-white fraud.
Again: I'm not speculating about the shooter. I just have been stunned how quickly people have jumped with certainty to partisan conclusions. Because in extremism spaces, the Charlie Kirk Hater to Nazi pipeline is canon. It's how we got a generation of antisemitic extremists.
Nick Fuentes literally built his movement attacking Kirk from the right. They turned him into a caricature of all that they detested: Faux-populism, Zionism + anti-white policy, astroturfed by billionaires and establishment elites who would sell out their race for political power
And Kirk hatred was also crucial to their growth: At TPUSA events theyd grill him on Israel, immigration etc, never going mask-off but subtly injecting their invective into more mainstream GOP conversations. And this would inevitably peel off a few sympathizers in attendance.
The "Groyper War," as they call it, is literally how Nick Fuentes became Nick Fuentes. It's how a generation of angry young men took their first step into the fascist rabbithole. For many, it was as simple as starting to question why Charlie Kirk wouldn't say XYZ about ABC.
Again: I'm not speculating on the shooter. We'll know soon enough. I just think this is crucial history; if it doesnt help us understand the events of today, it certainly will help us understand things 2 and 5 and 10 years from now.
One clarification: In my first tweet, I meant to say HAD not HAS been reviled for years. Over the last few years, Kirk steadily moved further and further right, and was openly talking about Great Replacement Theory, Christian nationalism and other once-fringier things.
@RobertDownen_ I'm pretty online and had no idea about this.
@Mer_Renee I had no idea until today that barely anyone does!
@RobertDownen_ ya right
@RobertDownen_ Show me one post fuck face.
@RobertDownen_ I remember the Groyper war on TPUSA and yes they always thought Kirk was weak. But the part you don't seem to understand is that they use his and TPUSA to get their message out and recruit. Groypers join TPUSA campus clubs and work their way up in them to win people over to
@RobertDownen_ @daveweigel I'm not surprised. White supremacists hate everyone, including themselves.
@RobertDownen_ This shit is by design impossible to keep up with unless you treat it as your special interest
@RobertDownen_ wild
@RobertDownen_ I hadn’t heard this.
@RobertDownen_ This is absolute bullshit that completely ignores the droves of not-quite-Nazi fans that adored him.
@RobertDownen_ Bro you're a fucking white idiot telling minorities that Charlie Kirk WASN'T a white supremacist. GTFO you know nothing and understand nothing.
@RobertDownen_ Two white supremacist with disagreements. Period. Charlie was indeed a white supremacist racist
@RobertDownen_ Charlie Kirk also wanted full Epstein files disclosure. Just saying
@RobertDownen_ He really seemed to have gone full mask off fascist white supremacy propagandist over the past couple of years though.
@RobertDownen_ @daveweigel Erm, you’re implying white supremacists don’t like him. That’s drivel. Anyhow all true except for that implication. Also most people didn’t even know who he was
@RobertDownen_ Utah isn’t known for democrats, but they are a bastion of white supremacy. I think that makes sense, but we will know after he is caught
@RobertDownen_ As recently as August 28, "Nick Fuentes launched a fiery attack on Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA, accusing them of hypocrisy for supporting U.S. alignment with Israel......."
@RobertDownen_ I never paid enough attention to him to hate him. I’d see stuff he said & roll my eyes but that’s about it. The problem with MAGA is that they’re always ready to turn on their own - literally anyone who disagrees with Trump gets thrown under the bus. I won’t speculate but I just
@RobertDownen_ I give it a 6 out of 10 that the shooter was RW militia as you speculate
@RobertDownen_ What did he know??
@RobertDownen_ I’m sure they hated him for his views on the abilities of black people
@RobertDownen_ thank you my god felt like i was going insane by how few people seemed aware of the kirk v groypers dynamic. what do you mean you people don’t obsessively follow online alt-right neo-nazi discourse?? wdym you don’t know lucas gage???
@RobertDownen_ This is actually pretty reminiscent of the Nicholas sandmann reaction—ppl lobbing takes in their Fox News msnbc bubbles because there was no mainstream political frame for a group as boutiquely weird as the black Hebrew 1sraelites
@RobertDownen_ Where's the proof?
@RobertDownen_ How was Kirk painted as an anti-white fraud given the racist rhetoric he spewed?
@RobertDownen_ I told my husband it's gonna be someone on the right, when you brand is hate, you reap/sow.
@RobertDownen_ @daveweigel Of course you're speculating, it's the exact reason you're posting this right now.
@RobertDownen_ Sure bud
@RobertDownen_ Do you know how funny it is going to be if his shooter is revealed to be some Nazi 😭😭😭