Dem
47
GOP
53
We imagine that at least 99.99% of readers already know this, but right around the time our post went live yesterday, the White House announced that a suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk has been arrested. He is Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident and a student (though not a student at the school where Kirk was shot).
There's a lot of information floating around out there, some of it very questionable, so we'll start with what we believe to be well-established facts. After the shooting, Robinson attempted to return to his normal life, as if nothing had happened. If he somehow hoped to evade detection, this was not the way to do it. Maybe, if he had fled the U.S. and then found his way to a non-extradition country, he might have gotten away. But remaining not only in the U.S., but in Utah, and in the same county? There was no way he was going to escape the kind of manhunt that both the state of Utah and the federal government were mounting. Though as it turns out, it was not law enforcement who found him. Robinson's father saw the "person of interest" pictures, and reportedly confronted his son and got a confession. Then, a relative contacted the authorities, who made the arrest.
Beyond that, it is also quite probable that Robinson's case will be handled, and tried, by the state of Utah. We would not be the least bit surprised if Donald Trump is in the White House, pushing for a federal trial. However, federal law only kicks in for certain kinds of murders, and this one does not appear to fit the bill. Further, someone will probably point out to Trump that: (1) Utah juries are far more likely to impose the death penalty than federal juries, and (2) Utah trials are generally televised, while federal trials are not. "Charlie Kirk was a martyr" has already taken hold on the right, and a Utah trial is going to do much more than a federal trial would to encourage that line of thinking.
And now, let's move onto some of the things that are still hazy. Anyone and everyone wants to know: (1) What Robinson's politics are, and (2) Why he killed Kirk. Those may, or may not, be distinct issues. Robinson spoke to law enforcement officials only briefly before securing counsel and going silent, so reporters have been working overtime to try to find out what they can. It's documented that: (1) Robinson comes from a gun-loving, Trump-loving, Christian conservative family; (2) Robinson himself was, at least at one time, MAGA himself, having dressed as Trump for a Halloween Party, and having donated money to a Trump-affiliated PAC; (3) Robinson was, however, a registered independent, and does not appear to have ever cast a ballot in an election. Obviously, he is not old enough to have voted for Trump in 2016 or 2020, but he could have done so in 2024, and did not.
To supplement the paper trail, reporters have been trying to find anyone and everyone who ever knew Robinson, spoke to Robinson, or so much as sneezed in Robinson's general direction. People's accounts are all over the place; some say he was converted into a radical lefty by Donald Trump, others say he was almost completely apolitical, still others he became radicalized in a far-right direction when he decided that Trump and MAGA weren't hardcore enough. On the whole, we would say these people should be ignored. They're getting their 15 minutes of fame, and some of them are going to squeeze that for all it's worth, even if they have to convey a much greater sense of familiarity than they actually have. Further, even if these people are remembering correctly, it sometimes happens that young men say wild things they don't really believe, just for attention, or to get a rise out of people. Bet you didn't know that.
The two things that come through in the various personal accounts of Robinson, and that ring true because they were repeated by so many different people, are: (1) He was a loner who largely kept to himself, and (2) He had expressed hatred for Kirk on multiple occasions. Based on what is currently known, several general possibilities suggest themselves here: (1) Robinson was a right-wing fanatic who grew angry at those he deemed insufficiently fanatical; (2) Robinson was a loner who decided to lash out at the world; (3) Robinson was a fellow whose life was not going according to plan (he washed out of Utah State, where he had a scholarship), and he decided to do something that would get him some attention and/or would make him "important"; and (4) Robinson was a lefty who decided to take down a prominent righty.
The latter possibility is the one that MAGA world would obviously prefer. However, it is probably the least likely of the four, at this point, because the weight of the evidence appears to point in other directions. And even if Robinson's motives were left-wing-political in nature, much of the MAGA insta-narrative has already fallen apart. Robinson is not brown, he's not an immigrant, he does not appear to be gay or trans, and he's not a member of some disfavored religion. He has no apparent connection to any group that might be scapegoated here, like the Democratic Socialists, or the ACLU or Greenpeace.
If you want a really good piece of evidence that the MAGA narrative looks to be fatally wounded, consider this, brought to our attention by reader D.E. in Lancaster, PA. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is both a hothead and a loudmouth, and she's also running for governor of South Carolina. So, it was as predictable as can be that she was among the very loudest saber-rattlers on Thursday. Speaking to reporters, she declared: "Democrats owned what happened today. Just because you speak your mind doesn't mean you get shot." A reporter then asked if that meant Republicans owned the assassination of the two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, and Mace responded: "Are you kidding me? We don't know Charlie Kirk's condition right now and some raging leftist lunatic put a bullet through his neck and you want to talk about Republicans right now? No."
Compare that to what Mace posted on eX-Twitter, after the identity of the suspect was revealed, and details began to come out:
We know Charlie Kirk would want us to pray for such an evil, and lost individual like Tyler Robinson to find Jesus Christ.
We will try to do the same.
She's still villainizing the shooter, because that's how she rolls, but notice that all the references to liberals, Democrats, lefitst lunatics, etc. have vanished. They'll come back if it turns out that Robinson had a Bernie Sanders shrine in his apartment, or something like that, but for now, the Representative is playing the odds.
Another thing that is hazy is the story behind the engravings on the bullets. As we noted yesterday, the claim that there were anti-fascist and pro-trans messages engraved on the bullets was not something that could be taken at face value, for a number of reasons. But 24 hours later, much more is known. It is now beyond dispute that there was nothing engraved on the bullets that had anything to do with being trans. Where did that come from? The most popular theory on social media is that some dunderhead saw TRN stamped on the bullets, and reached a conclusion based on that. In fact, when a bullet is stamped with TRN, that means it was produced by armaments manufacturer Turan.
As to the anti-fascist stuff, that part is more true, but with one or two big asterisks. Several of the bullets were indeed inscribed with anti-fascist messages (or, at least, potential anti-fascist messages), but the inscriptions are ALSO video game references AND popular social media memes. For example, one of the bullets was inscribed "O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao." That is from the Italian song "Bella Ciao," which was indeed used as an anti-fascist anthem. However, it also features prominently in the video game Far Cry 6, and is often used in memes associated with people committing acts of violence. For example:
For anyone who does not recognize that, it's The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone. And while the character is certainly Italian and violent, he is not left-wing, he is not fascist, and he's not obviously political at all (excepting all the politicians and judges he has in his pockets). There is also a version of "Bella Ciao" favored by Nick Fuentes and his far-right, Neo-Nazi followers. Anyhow, the upshot here is that there is no way to know the intent behind the bullet case engravings without an explanation from the person who made them.
Meanwhile, there is still plenty of misinformation floating around out there. To take one example, one story that we saw a lot was the claim that Paul McCartney paused his concert in New York on Thursday night to offer a message of condolence/support for Kirk:
RIP Charlie Kirk. It's unimaginable that disagreement could end a life. Taking someone's voice like this... it shakes you to your core. We are all different, yet one people. His passing leaves a wound we cannot ignore.
It's not surprising this would attach itself to McCartney. After all, he's a lefty and a foreigner, and so it potentially makes it more meaningful that if he was (subtly) sympathetic to Kirk. Further, McCartney lost his good friend and songwriting partner to a gun-wielding assassin, so he "knows what it's like." However, the story doesn't pass the smell test. This does not much sound like how McCartney would express himself. And, beyond that, he did not do a concert in New York this week because he's not on tour right now. He doesn't hit the road again until the end of this month (and he's starting in California).
And that's the latest. Things appear to be calming down a bit, which is good news. Beyond that, this story is probably going to develop very slowly from here on out, because most of what can be uncovered has been, and the shooter is not talking. Be very leery of any "shocking" new developments or claims, unless they come from a very reliable source. (Z)