Every prominent conservative in America was quick to post a heartfelt tribute to Charlie Kirk. Trump described him as “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk”, JD Vance called him a “true friend” and a “great family man”, and Mike Johnson said he was “a close friend of mine and a confidant, and he will be sorely missed.”
Those are just three of many, but they set a reverential tone for conservatives that’s gone as far as dubbing Kirk “the MLK for white people.” But, somehow, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth managed to screw up this straightforward assignment. His “tribute” to Kirk:
Well done, good and faithful servant.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 10, 2025
As almost every post underneath quickly pointed out, “It sounds like you’re referring to the shooter idiot”, “You might want to reconsider this post”, and “what kind of condolence message is that? are you praising the shooter, you traitorous scum?”
Many others assumed that Hegseth must be posting under the influence:
A tense day ahead
Hegseth did go on to post a prayer he made to some troops in which he claimed “you don’t do this for the media, you don’t do this for recognition” (so why post it?), in which he explicitly made his condolences clear:
A prayer for Charlie Kirk and those who serve. pic.twitter.com/wWkEEvheRm
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) September 11, 2025
With the shooter still at large and, as of writing, absolutely nothing known about their identity or motivations, expect a tense day. Trump and many other conservative figures have decided -without any evidence – that the killer must be some kind of crazed liberal. Maybe that will indeed prove to be the case, but until we have some verified facts, it’s foolish to jump to conclusions.
What is certain is that American conservatives are absolutely furious and demanding blood. Today, anyone who dares stick their head over the parapet and criticize Kirk’s long history of intentionally provocative positions is putting their career at stake (as one unfortunate MSNBC talking head soon discovered).
Either way, the already tense political atmosphere in America just got the pressure cranked up on it a few notches. Kirk is already being venerated as a saint and a martyr, the right is vowing to violently crack down on “violent leftists”, and Trump himself will be on the warpath. Today is already a sad anniversary, but these events will only make things more miserable still.
