Trump Ally Absurdly Tells CNN Charlie Kirk ‘Never Said Anything Hateful’

Trump ally Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) went on CNN and told anchor Dana Bash that slain MAGA activist Charlie Kirk “never said anything hateful.“

The political and media world were stunned when news broke Wednesday afternoon that Kirk had been shot during an event at Utah Valley University by a shooter who remains at large. Hours later, news broke that Kirk died from the injuries he sustained in that shooting.

Coverage of this story has featured predictable beats such as:

• right wingers trying to insist that all political violence is fomented by Democrats despite copious evidence stating the opposite
• every prominent Democrat there is issuing non-partisan statements about taking down the temperature
• President Donald Trump going on a rant blaming the left for the Kirk shooting without any evidence
• prominent Democrats calling BS on the anti-liberal lies that already dominated the media
• Trump‘s incompetent FBI Director Kash Patel botching things by announcing a suspect in custody who turned out not to be the shooter, and then probably leaking information to suggest the shooter with sympathetic to transgender people.

You also had Matthew Dowd jumping right in with both feet to condemn Kirk even before everyone knew he was dead, and suggesting that his hateful rhetoric may have had something to do with inspiring the attack on him.

MSNBC fired him for that.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, Mullen made his declaration that Kirk never said anything hateful, referencing Dowd’s comments:

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): Yeah. Charlie was made such an impact in such a short period of time. I mean, you think about this guy, he entered somewhat of the limelight just short time ago, 12 years ago. And he built this following that is just almost unheard of. And at 31, his voice has already been silenced because someone didn’t agree with his political views.

You know, unfortunately, there was a commentary on MSNBC that came out last night that said, you know, hateful thoughts bring hateful words, turns into hateful actions. And I’m just saying — what I’m saying that —

BASH: And he apologized. (CROSSTALK)

MULLIN: But he didn’t apologize. What I’m saying, I’m not bringing — what I’m trying to make a point is Charlie didn’t ever say anything hateful. He would debate with you, but he would debate with you on either historical constitutional facts or on his biblical beliefs. But he didn’t belittle anybody. He provided an opportunity for those with opposing views to have an opportunity to have a voice.

Everybody has their own line to draw when it comes to criticizing the dead. Personally, I try to avoid it, and I absolutely deplore anyone celebrating a tragedy like this the way, for example, Trump did when Paul Pelosi was attacked.

On the other hand, I don’t begrudge people who feel that they have been harmed by Kirk’s rhetoric from reminding people of that amid all of the hagiography. People who scold are seldom the same people who face violence from bigotry.

But personally, I try to live by the axiom that if you don’t have something nice to say about somebody in a situation like this, don’t say anything.

That’s why I’m a little annoyed that Mullin is forcing me to rattle off some examples here.

We can start with Kirk’s last words. The shooting was captured in a parade of grisly social media videos, including one that showed the interaction that preceded the fatal shot. Kirk’s last words were to defend the false and dangerous lie connecting trans people to mass shootings, and rattled off a widely-used talking point about “gang violence”:

STUDENT: Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?

CHARLIE KIRK: Too many.

STUDENT: It’s five. Now five is a lot, I’m going to give you credit. Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?

CHARLIE KIRK: Counting or not counting gang violence?

But anyone who’s ever heard of Kirk knows that this is exactly his thing — saying hateful things to “trigger the libs.”

He called George Floyd — a human being who had five children — a “scumbag,” something I’m sure Mullin would find “hateful” were it said about Kirk today.

Some other choice cuts:

“If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?” – The Charlie Kirk Show.

“Secular Jews” control “not just the colleges; it’s the nonprofits, it’s the movies, it’s Hollywood, it’s all of it.” The Charlie Kirk Show

“Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them” The Charlie Kirk Show

“You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.” On prominent Black women — The Charlie Kirk Show

“We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.” – The Charlie Kirk Show

“The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.” — The Charlie Kirk Show

“Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.” — X/Twitter

But beware of cheapfakes — there’s a real clip going around of Kirk ranting and using a word that’s a slur against Asians — but it’s also Kirk’s egregious mispronunciation of The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur’s first name.

If you want to say nice things about Charlie Kirk, there are many to choose from that don’t include the outright absurdity that he never did the thing he was literally known for.

Watch above via CNN’s Inside Politics.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.