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Good Friday Morning! Especially to Donald Trump, who, in a sea of funny moments involving the Royal Family, had one of the funniest moments ever with Prime Minister Kier Starmer. Fox News Reporter Peter Doocy asked Starmer why he couldn’t recognize Palestinian Statehood right there on the spot, if he believed in it so much.
Starmer, standing next to Trump, started out talking about how evil Hamas was, saying, “Let me be really clear about Hamas. They’re a terrorist organization.” Before he could go any further, Trump reached over, patted him on the back, and said, “That’s good!”
The startled Starmer shook out of it and continued. Trump patted him on the back like a good little boy. It was hilarious, and the exact kind of humiliation Starmer’s idiocy deserved for claiming to support Palestinian statehood while Hamas controls everything.
This week, I’m focusing on the fallout from the Charlie Kirk assassination. I’ll cover why I see this as the major test for Republicans for the rest of the decade – links to follow.
Quick Hits:
- The Royals’ Trump Card. For a bit more Royals coverage, The Daily Mail had a great piece on how the Royal Family was smart, in that they deployed Kate Middleton as their “trump card” against Trump. They kept Kate near Trump and the First Lady to smooth over any issues. It was a smart move given that she’s probably the most beloved member of the family here or there.
- The American Almanac is growing! Hundreds of thousands of people now read us daily. I want to express my sincere gratitude to those of you who subscribe, share, and help us grow. You can subscribe here for free. Additionally, please check out Capital Digest (finance/economics), Conservative Legal News, and Real Talk Digest. There are more projects in the pipeline. If you don’t see anything in your inbox a day after signing up, check your spam folder.
Where you can find me this week
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When Your Neighbor Wants You Dead – Conservative Institute
Democrats Are Beholden To A Death Cult – Conservative Institute
Stopping The FCC Is Good For All – If Democrats Were Smart – Conservative Institute
The Decade Defining Week of the 2020s
I’m going to give you an irony. I didn’t believe it until I looked it up myself, and credit Bridget Phetasy for pointing it out on X/Twitter.
Republicans in the Senate are moving to make October 14, 2025, the National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. They picked that day because it is the birthday of Charlie Kirk, who was born in 1993.
Do you know who else was born on that day?
George Floyd. October 14, 1973. Read it on Wikipedia yourself if you doubt me.
Phetasy joked that this was proof we live in a simulation. I’m not too big on the computer simulation theory, but I do believe in spiritual coincidence. Kirk and Floyd’s deaths being linked like that is the perfect encapsulation of this decade. Floyd died in 2020, and Kirk in 2025: the beginning and midway points of the 2020s.
The Floyd riots were notable in that they effectively ended the pandemic before a vaccine was developed. Democrats who had been pro-shutdown suddenly declared that protesting was more important than social distancing. It was one of the most bizarre pivots I remember seeing.
But the more important thing is that 2020 accelerated and locked in the radicalization and extremism of the left. It began then. You don’t get the bullet from Tyler Robinson fired at Kirk without starting at that point in 2020.
The question from here, as we sit in the midpoint of the 2020s, is what happens to the right? This is an equally radicalizing moment for conservatives. Almost immediately, it’s drawn out two reactions. One I’m not surprised to see, though I’m irritated by it. The second is bizarre.
On the one hand, Democrats are essentially denying that Tyler Robinson was a leftist. Not everyone, mind you. But the rank-and-file Democrats I’ve encountered on the web – let’s call them Heather Cox Richardson Democrats for the time being – are fully bought into the notion that this was a right-wing assassination.
Jimmy Kimmel and the Disney freakout about it are part of this left-wing echo chamber. They’ve chosen some alternate reality to believe – despite what clear evidence says – and run with it. Kimmel planned to effectively double down, which would open that network up to lawsuits.
The left-wing gaslighting is driving me nuts. It’s similar, in a way, to the JFK assassination. When that happened, Walter Cronkite and others in the liberal press tarred and feathered Dallas, Texas, as a “City of Hate,” and that was why Kennedy was dead. That was their way of blaming Republicans for the assassination.
In reality, Kennedy was shot dead by a Marxist-Leninist true believer who had defected to the Soviet Union. Republicans were unsurprised by this because they’d seen the Democratic Party shot through with secret commies for decades, going back to Joseph McCarthy (who, fun history note, was right).
Democrats are doing the same thing here because they cannot believe the left is capable of political assassinations. I’m not joking about this. The average lefty can’t fathom this, despite the evidence going back a century.
The Kirk assassination fits into this mold pretty cleanly. His shooter is a coherent, lucid guy. He knew what he was doing. And his reasoning matches anything you’ll find in mainstream Democratic Party thought.
That brings me to the right.
It’s hard to determine where the right goes from here because we’re in the moment. But one group is actively trying to co-opt Kirk for their own aims. Specifically, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson are trying to paint Charlie Kirk as an Israel skeptic who would agree with their growing antisemitism.
Megan Basham has talked to Kirk’s pastor. You can listen to clips of Kirk himself. He wasn’t an antisemite and was, in fact, the opposite. The man supported Israel like any traditional Christian conservative would (like me). But Owens and Carlson have massive audiences for venting their stupidity.
That’s what makes Kirk’s assassination a hinge point. His wife is focusing on his faith, which I appreciate. Trump and Vance focus on Kirk’s political movement, which I also get. The reason Carlson and Owens matter in what they’re doing is that this is an attempt to drive a wedge into the Christian evangelicals on the issue of Judaism.
Unless they repent and reverse course, I don’t view Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson as Christians. There’s no fruit. The path they are taking is recognizable pretty quickly if you think back to another man who had a shocking conversion that stunned the church, drew people in, and then went stark-raving-mad into antisemitism.
That’s the story arc for Kanye West.
I don’t want a Republican Party that follows that path. And a fair reading of Charlie Kirk and his beliefs lines up with him not agreeing with it either. And frankly, an American church that takes the Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens path has forsaken God – specifically the Hebrew God.
The central theme of Kirk’s message, especially towards the end of his life, is that God, Family, and Country are everything. I believe that too, and see it as the essential American ethos that conservatives conserve. That is the thing we on the right see as the thing to protect above all. That is what making America great again means – the elevation of those three things above all.
Mary Katherine Ham made an observation that has stuck with me:
Just a check-in. It’s been a wk since Charlie was murdered & only follow-on crimes/arrests are: lefty who pretended to be the shooter to save the shooter, an assault (TX) and a vandalism charge (AZ) for two people *attacking Kirk mourners*, and 2 would-be bombers of a Fox truck.
She’s right. There’s been no attempt on the right to burn down cities or riot in the wake of Kirk’s assassination. That stands in stark contrast to what the left did not just after Floyd’s death, but just this year with the Los Angeles ICE riots.
The viral trend has been young men going to church for the first time. That is the ultimate answer here. If Kirk’s death leads to a resurgence in people going to church, it will be the single best thing to come from his death. And judging by both his commentary and his wife, they’d agree.
The future of the Republican Party is riding on what happens after this year. George Floyd was the moment that decided the radicalism of Democrats. They haven’t changed since then, and they show no signs of doing so. Kirk’s death is that moment for Republicans.
Everyone is watching. Conservative Jews are especially interested in how this turns out. I was listening to The Commentary Magazine podcast, and the division among evangelical Christians on the issue of Israel and Judaism is of great importance to them. They want to see a party that churns out more politicians who are favorable to them, like Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee.
The flip side is also true: the antisemites see this as an opening, too. They have had to lie about Kirk’s beliefs to make their point. If you take Charlie Kirk’s words straight from him, or his wife and pastor, you get a much different view.
The part of me that is spiritual does wonder, though. 2020 was the event for liberals, with 2025 being the moment for Republicans. Will we get another moment in five years? Where will both parties be by then in 2030?
That answer is getting decided now.
Links of the week
The left’s political violence problem: A counter-argument on the “studies” claiming more right wing violence – Chris Cillizza
How Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension Went Down: Sponsor Panic, a Defiant Host and a Painful Call – The Hollywood Reporter
Here’s the real reason ABC has suspended ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ – NYPost
How Jimmy Kimmel Might Have Just Been Sacrificed for a Multibillion-Dollar TV Deal – The Hollywood Reporter
One last lesson from Charlie Kirk: We can ALL keep the Sabbath to save our sanity – NYPost
Violent, lawless Antifa forces deserve to be labeled terrorists – NYPost
CNN and MSNBC lose out to smaller network NewsNation – DailyMail
Is the Left ready to talk about censorship? – Sean Davis
Good Riddance, Jimmy Kimmel – The worm has turned. – Sasha Stone
Defend America from the Un-Americans – The American Mind
X/Twitter Thread(s) of the week
Sean Trende on the new vs old rules on speech.
Antifa freaks out about new rules.
Satire of the week
GI Bill Used On Hustlers University – Onion
After Antifa Designated A Terrorist Organization, Trump Orders Drone Strikes On Portland – Babylon Bee
JD Vance To Leave Politics To Host ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Fan Podcast – Babylon Bee
Manifesting? This Woman Asked Her Friends If They Were Mad at Her So Many Times That They Got Mad at Her – Reductress
Night Out at the Opera Nothing Like JG Wentworth Commercials Depicted – The Hard Times
New Call of Duty Adds Trash Collecting Game Mode for Los Angeles Mission – The Hard Drive
Tech Experts Baffled As World Wakes Up To MSN Messenger Installed On Phones – Waterford Whispers News