In a pathetic example of blame-shifting, Eric Levitz of Vox on Thursday afternoon used the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to condemn the right for imperiling democracy in “The right’s vicious, ironic response to Charlie Kirk’s death -- They’re calling him a martyr for free speech as they demand a violent crackdown on progressive dissent.”
Kirk was shot while debating on a college campus in Utah, exemplifying the essence of free speech and democracy (despite ignorant shrieks of fascist from ghouls on social media).
Levitz, senior correspondent for the left-wing outlet, didn’t target Kirk directly but by proxy, laying vengefully into Kirk’s bloodthirsty right-wing colleagues out for revenge. After noting the horror of the millions seeing on social media “a young man speaking into a microphone, then recoiling from a gunshot to the neck,” Levitz overstated liberal sympathy for Kirk.
Kirk evangelized for causes that I despise. But through years of long-form commentary, he had endeared himself to millions of conservatives….
For liberals, meanwhile, Kirk’s killing constituted an appalling assault on political liberty. The commentator came to prominence as a defender of conservative speech on campus. Now, while speaking at a university, he had been silenced by a bullet. Such violence did not just steal Kirk’s voice, but discouraged others from articulating provocative views in public, whatever their ideological content.
That last bit ignored that it is far more dangerous to be a conservative than a liberal on your average college campus, most notably during the recent pro-Hamas takeover of campus quads and the administration-assisted installation of a “Jew exclusion zone” at UCLA.
Kirk’s assassination was thus an assault on the democratic project — on our capacity to collectively govern ourselves through the exercise of reason. It was also alarming, obscene, and ironic in the grimmest possible sense.
So far, so good. Then came the turn.
The right’s response proved to be much the same.
Within hours of Kirk’s shooting, the most powerful Republicans in the country — from the president to Fox News hosts to megabillionaires — were agitating for authoritarian repression, and justifying it with incendiary lies. (Meanwhile, Democratic officials, to a person, condemned Kirk’s assassination.)
Perhaps Levitz missed the despicable comments made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on a left-wing podcast Thursday, calling Kirk “full of shit.”
To appreciate the Orwellian nature of the right’s reaction, consider a few of its aspects:
A president who fomented an insurrection four years ago — and ordered military honors for one of its perpetrators just last month — declared his commitment to hunting down all who “contributed” to “political violence.”
Levitz’s other gotchas were equally lame. Then he pushed further:
All this dishonesty and unreason was as menacing as the promises of vengeance it rationalized. The openness of the right’s lies signaled that truth would be no obstacle to the sating of its bloodlust, nor to its exploitation of tragedy for partisan gain.
Levitz turned briefly to the left’s problems: “The right’s mendacity contains a sliver of truth: There are some sick currents in the culture of the extremely online….Expressing glee at the killing of a health insurance executive, for instance….” Not mentioned: The media and Democrats constantly comparing Trump and his supporters to Hitler and calling them fascist and threats to democracy. Is that not potential incitement to violence?
Levitz reserved his most pungent condemnation for the last paragraph.
Today’s conservatism is animated by resentment, fear, and a consequent will to dominate its opponents. Kirk’s assassination has reinforced these authoritarian impulses and provided a pretense for indulging them. In doing so, it has thrown our already imperiled democracy into even greater jeopardy.
PS: Speaking of authoritarian impulses, Levitz is the same guy who tried to be "precise" in 2023 in denying Hamas was beheading babies.