OPINION:
An antifa-inspired killer used a rifle round to deprive the world of an irreplaceable talent Wednesday. We can’t allow the assassination of Charlie Kirk to be swept under the rug like the attempt on President Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Police say Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old college dropout, performed the foul deed. Despite an outwardly conservative upbringing in Utah, Mr. Robinson was radicalized to the point that he was willing to take the life of a man he didn’t personally know.
As is becoming a common theme in mass shootings, transgender ideology has made an appearance. Authorities say Mr. Robinson was romantically involved with his male roommate, who was undergoing cosmetic surgery to look like a woman. One of the bullets found with the murder weapon is engraved with a message referencing such a relationship. Others have catchphrases from antifa revolutionaries.
The monster behind this crime appears to have believed the boasts of online trolls on Reddit, his friends on the Discord gaming chat server, Marxist professors and corporate-owned media outlets. All proclaimed that Mr. Kirk was a “Nazi” who advocated the elimination of transgender people.
By the warped logic of zealotry, Mr. Kirk deserved his fate. Each of the statements adduced as evidence of the Turning Point USA founder’s supposed bigotry was taken out of context. That mattered not to the coward who delivered a fatal blow from 150 yards away.
The only way to stop this insanity from continuing is for the Justice Department to go after the vast left-wing machine actively radicalizing America’s youths. Taxpayer dollars and donations from liberal billionaires are fueling a culture of hate, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller vows to provide justice.
“I don’t care how. It could be a RICO charge, a conspiracy charge, conspiracy against the United States, insurrection. But we are going to do what it takes to dismantle the organizations and the entities that are fomenting riots, that are doxing, that are trying to inspire terrorist attacks, that are committing acts of wanton violence. It has to stop,” he said on Fox News.
Even some milquetoast Republicans have come to recognize the dark ends of liberal nihilism and are joining the cause. The widespread lack of contrition on the part of leftists, and even open celebration of the murder, has steeled resolve among the moderates who realize they could be next.
Government employees, including a Secret Service agent, are being caught toasting the slaying. That’s troubling. Figurative heads need to roll at the agency for its ongoing failures to protect the president, including Code Pink’s ambush of Mr. Trump inside a downtown D.C. restaurant last week.
This incident was harmless agitation by the fair-weather anti-war group, which has a mysterious habit of disappearing when Democrats are in power. Intentionally or not, the group’s success could be interpreted as a test run for more sinister collectives seeking to fulfill the wishes expressed by Democratic leaders about silencing political opponents they brand as existential threats to democracy.
Rep. Randy Fine, Florida Republican, proposes legislation to shed light on the flow of money behind the most pernicious ideas spread on social media. “I am filing a bill requiring protesters and ‘influencers’ to disclose when they are being paid and by who,” he posted on X last week. “These are political actors, no different than candidates who have to disclose where their support comes from.”
For Republicans, tearing apart the left’s violence promotion enterprise is self-preservation.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.