Playing the Blame Game (and losing)
What people are doing with no answers 24 hours after Charlie Kirk’s assassination
What I could feel more than anything today was anxiety, radiating off of every audience in every comment section on every platform. With no new information to let people advance to another stage of grief or fury or fear, imaginations really start to run wild. Whether that’s to cope or to stoke, well … that depends on who we’re talking about.
Below you’ll find the points of conviction that congealed throughout the day. There was no broader coalition formed than the one united in shaming Kash Patel, which you’ll want to read about below.
FROM THE LEFT WING:
THE BLAME GAME PT. 1: Democrats’ patchwork of guesses at the shooter’s identity are all over the map, literally — some are positing foreign terror. Some eyes are turning toward Laura Loomer over a recent (but just now deleted) tweet accusing Kirk of backstabbing Trump. Tons of side-door speculation that this would be a convenient Epstein cover-up. Some internet forensics being run on hand signals. But the only hypothesis that carries even a drop of water to me? The Groypers, a far-right group with deep, long-held resentment toward Charlie Kirk.
PREDICTIVE PRETEXT: We saw an immediate change in tone when Trump’s video about the assassination dropped. Creators on the Left argued he is “laying a pretext for investigations,” shutting down any opposition, and officially starting a war. On a stream of 35,000 live viewers, Kyle Kulinski laid out how he could see this being MAGA’s Reichstag fire1. A word that popped up enough in my content consumption that I found it notable: imaginary. Both IHIP and Breaking Points noted Trump’s use of “imaginary wars” and “imagined crises” to silence dissent.
This is kind of a sub-plot but I actually think it’s really important to clock momentarily in all this chaos: Everybody thinks the president’s video was doctored. Whether it was tampered with in the edit, or the entire thing was actually AI … it does look off. It didn’t help that he looked a bit on the gelatinous side during today’s 9/11 ceremony.
FROM THE RIGHT WING:
THE BLAME GAME, PT. 2: A significant portion of the Right is also convinced this looked like the work of a professional hitman. A small, but growing, faction on the far-right edges are pinning this on Israel. This theory is mostly being fueled by Harrison Smith, a host at Infowars, who is bragging about foiling “an Israeli false flag.” But the vast majority of MAGA voices have unified under one belief: No matter who it was, the Left is to blame for creating this violent environment.2
“We still don’t know the identity of the shooter, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know who is responsible.” — Brianna Lyman, The Federalist
NO CLEAR CONSENSUS: As far as what happens next, I’m finding less linear clarity on two levels. First, there’s a divide between people who are making tribute content to memorialize and those who are making rage content to galvanize. Brett Cooper and Allie Stuckey walked down memory lane. Dave Rubin noted, in a resigned way, the chance for “healing” and being “better.” The voices speaking in anger were really issuing a call to arms. Now the second thing is the splintering on who this war is against. Tucker Carlson believes it’s against people who don’t believe in God. Others are targeting any and all affiliates of leftists. I think this sums it up best — two people advocating for the direct opposite thing in reply to the same Matt Walsh tweet:
THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE:
UNINTELLIGENCE AGENCIES: FBI Director Kash Patel is having a rough one. And the one thing people who are having a rough one shouldn’t do … is live-post their rough one. On two separate occasions he had to issue a correction to posts that they had caught the suspect. Then ATF got dragged into the rat race after Steven Crowder posted that ATF found ideological writing on bullets at the scene. Megyn Kelly’s video about it is still up, uncorrected. And Crowder’s now being subpoenaed by the law enforcement agency. Well done, all around.
OVERHAULED AGENDA: The government is going to run out of money in 19 days not that anybody cares. There’s a whole new to-do list complete with revoking people’s drivers licenses over political posts, directly threatening the media, and adding a Charlie Kirk statue to the rotunda.
LOOSE ENDS:
It was really hard to find this today because I’ve done nothing but consume information meant to make me believe we’re on the precipice of civil war. But I think the act of ending on something warm and enlivening is important. So here’s two good bites.
📰 Something you should read today: I am the biggest GQ Magazine stan, but they’ve outdone themselves their October issue, with something that’s so whimsical yet delivers on firm, insistent journalism. It’s all on the state of the American male — a topic that stumps us all regularly. Read Editor Will Welch’s establishing piece. And then click around for Arnold, Pete, Stavros, Chamath — there’s something for everybody.
🥹 Something to make you smile today: David Byrne is on Track Star. I repeat: David Byrne is on Track Star. And they talk about Honey by the Ohio Players which I am mandating you listen to right now, after the week we’ve had, for fuck’s sake.
And with this unexpected trilogy of newsletters in my first week on the job, I leave you to your own devices this weekend. Please try to enjoy it and connect with those you love.
GRACE
For the non-history buffs among us, this is when the German Parliament building was set on fire — many believe by the Nazis themselves — allowing Hitler to consolidate power.
The Recount posted a timeline of political violence in recent history.