Today was the memorial of one Charles James Kirk, a young man cut down by an assassin’s bullet a few weeks before his 32nd birthday. Kirk’s death has been elevated to Jesusonian standards. His memorial was handled in the manner of the death of a head of state. The Prince of Peace was slain in his 33rd year, Biblical scholars tell us, after a three-year ministry, spreading His gospel. Charlie Kirk started his gospel quite a few years earlier, when he dropped out of community college at the age of 18 and founded Turning Point USA. But once you get away from the ages of the two slain men, Kirk and Jesus Christ, all resemblance ends. Jesus preached love. His last words (again, we are told by scholars, were “It is done.”) But before those last words Jesus said, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus did not hate the people who killed him and unlike Charlie Kirk, Jesus was cruelly tortured before a slow and agonizing death on the cross. Kirk blessedly didn’t know what hit him and he was gone in a moment. But still, Christ preached love. He did not preach stoning homosexuals to death and that group of people was known in Christ’s time as well as in this one, make no mistake. I can only venture an opinion that Christ would not want a 10-year-old child, a rape victim, to carry her rapist’s baby to term. I believe that because next to love, mercy was Christ’s central tenet. But Charlie Kirk was all for the child becoming a mother at 10.
The “why” of the political assassination is interesting. NPR reports that Tyler Robinson said he killed Kirk because “He had had enough of his hatred.” It’s also reported that Robinson exchanged text messages with “his lover/roommate,” a person they describe as “a biological male who was transitioning genders.” Transgender people make up a tiny portion of the world’s population, yet they get blamed for so much evil and this unfortunate association with Charlie Kirk will only escalate that.
So we have a hotpot of passions in this country right now. It would be a good time for a president who could actually lead and unify or at the very least, humbly make the effort. but we don’t have a presiden. We have an intolerant child in our nation’s highest office. Donald Trump had a landmark moment to unify this country, to lower the temperature of the rhetoric, to appeal to the better angels of our nature. And what did he do? If you haven’t heard already, this is how the Orange Orangutan handled matters. I don’t use that phrase to mock him at this moment, I use it to illustrate what a lessor species of being Trump is, to take a sterling opportunity to take the high road and be a real president, a leader, to bring us together and squander it like he did. Instead of rising to the occasion and making it count, he threw feces, just like the apes do in the zoo.
Trump just admitted what we already knew: his politics aren’t about building a better America, they’re about destroying anyone who disagrees with him. That’s not leadership—it’s vengeance dressed up as power.
— Dekyn Peters, DBH (c), Ed.D (c),MPH-CHES (@kynny23) September 21, 2025
Trump has always ginned up the lunatic fringe. Today he dialed them up yet a notch or two higher.
Ah yes. The president “bringing America together” by focusing on anger and division at a memorial as the widow of Charlie Kirk made a statement of forgiveness.
But wait. Trump also made time to whine about the backlash sparked by the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and of course got in a bit about sending troops to Chicago, blasted the “radical left”, and attacked former President Joe Biden, who is fighting cancer.
There is nothing Trump loves more than his grievances and self-pity, and not even a grieving widow can distract him from his feelings.
It’s also unclear that Charlie Kirk didn’t hate his opponents, after all, he wanted at least some of them to be executed. Is execution for no reason no longer a sign of hatred?
This is not what the Republican party used to be. I’m sure the old school former lreaders are all collectively rolling in their graves now, Ronald Reagan and John McCain assuredly are. Mitt Romney is still on this side of the grass. It would be good of him to chime in but maybe he figures why bother? He’s pretty much thrown in the towel, anyhow. Even Richard Nixon would not go along with this. Say what you will about Nixon, he respected the institution of the presidency. He was a self-made man and he worked hard. Barry Goldwater wouldn’t stand for this and I don’t even want to think about Dwight Eisenhower’s reaction to today’s combination of childishness and fascism. Trump’s commentary was completely un-American, un-Christian, indecent and inhumane — in short, Trumpian.
Once again I leave you with that terrific quote by a Verizon executive, back in 2016, which went viral and has stayed in the American consciousness, because it’s so true. He said about Trump:
“It’s almost impossible to believe that he exists. It’s as if you took everything that was bad about America, scraped it off the floor, stuffed it into an old hotdog skin, and taught it to make noises with its mouth.”
That’s what we have in the Oval Office, ladies and gentlemen. We are disgraced. May the day come when we can live down our shame and look back on this darkness and say, “Thank God it’s over.”
****************
Friends, I’ve had significant health problems lately but they look to be resolving. I hope to get back to work full time soon. I want to thank you all for hanging in with the blog during my absence. I especially am grateful to Denis, Susan, Murfster, Jason, and all those occasional writers who contribute content. I want to also thank Marie, our social media director and Alex our technical services manager. The team has all been there to keep things running and I will be back in the saddle soon. Thank you again.
Glad you’re feeling better Ursula. Good to have you back. The team has done a great job of keeping us up to date in your absence though!
I love that quote. If someone wrote a film script covering this period, it would be rejected as being implausible. But here we are. Are the gods toying with us, or has the simulation gone haywire? Take care, Ursula, and may the Force be with you.
Referring to him as an “Orange Orangutan” is an insult to Orangutans of all colors.
You have been missed, Ursula. Wishing you good health very soon.