<\/p>\n Those were from yesterday. Let’s pause for Heather Cox Richardson’s crisp summary, from late last night.<\/p>\n \\<\/p>\n Heather Cox Richardson<\/strong>: September 12, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n First, about the jumping to conclusions.<\/p>\n Since a gunman murdered right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, both social media circles and the political sphere have been alight with accusations that \u201cthe Left\u201d was responsible for the shooting. Prominent right-wing social media accounts called the Democratic Party \u201ca domestic terror organization\u201d and declared \u201cWAR.\u201d Billionaire Elon Musk posted: \u201cThe Left is the party of murder.\u201d<\/p>\n From the Oval Office, President Donald J. Trump blamed the shooting on \u201cthe radical left\u201d and vowed to \u201cfind each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Without any information about the shooter, the media got in on the game, with the Wall Street Journal<\/em> reporting yesterday that \u201c[a]mmunition engraved with transgender and antifascist ideology was found inside the rifle authorities believe was used in Kirk\u2019s shooting.\u201d Bomb threats targeted Democratic politicians\u2014primarily Black politicians\u2014and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n MAGA seems to think Kirk was some kind of saint, and began threatening anyone who said anything critical about his views.<\/p>\n Condemnation of the shooting was widespread. Perhaps eager to distance themselves from accusations that anyone who does not support MAGA endorses political violence, commenters portrayed Kirk as someone embracing the reasoned debate central to democracy, although he became famous by establishing a database designed to dox professors who expressed opinions he disliked so they would be silenced (I am included on this list).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then she discusses Kash Patel and the confusion yesterday about whether a suspect was in custody or not. When a suspect was, he wasn’t a leftist at all.<\/p>\n That person turned out to be 22-year-old Utah native Tyler Robinson, who turned himself in to authorities after his father urged him to. Robinson\u2019s parents are registered Republicans; he was not affiliated with a political party and was an inactive voter. Over the past years, Robinson\u2019s mother posted a number of pictures of him and his brothers posing with guns.<\/p>\n Robinson had recently had a conversation with a family member about why they didn\u2019t like Kirk\u2019s viewpoints. Robinson appears to have admired the \u201cGroypers,\u201d led by Nick Fuentes, who complain that more mainstream organizations like Kirk\u2019s Turning Point USA are not \u201cpro-white\u201d enough and have publicly harassed Kirk in the past.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, as many on Facebook have noted, Robinson was further to the right than Kirk. How inconvenient for all those MAGA folks who immediately condemned everyone on the left. Also mentioned is the bit about the bullet engravings being taken as some kind of transgender identification.<\/p>\n \\<\/p>\n Then this morning.<\/p>\n JMG:<\/strong> Fox News: Kirk Shooter Lived With Transgender Partner<\/a><\/p>\n The only sources for this, all day, was Fox News and the New York Post. As one of the comments to this JMG post said,<\/p>\n New York Post and Fox? I’ll wait to see what real news organizations have to say.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Real news organizations have not said anything about it. Even reading the Post story, it seems the actual connection was speculative at best; that some transgender person lived “at the same address” (which is an apartment building) as Robinson.<\/p>\n As Rob Latham wrote on Facebook today, expressing a common sentiment:<\/p>\n Their \u201ctrans bullet\u201d story fell apart. Now they\u2019re on to \u201cthe killer had a trans roommate.\u201d Soon we will be told his trans cat hypnotized him to kill. They are so so crazy desperate right now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \\<\/p>\n One more:<\/p>\n JMG:<\/strong> Evangelical Group: \u201cMartyr Charlie Kirk\u201d Will Return To Earth As An Angel With Jesus During The Apocalypse<\/a><\/p>\n No, he won’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been quite a display of shameless motivated thinking the past two days. Many people see what they want to see, but conservatives are especially prone to this. (That’s why they’re so easily fooled by Trump, about everything.) A better … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/jmgperkins13sep25.jpg\")
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