Charlie Kirk’s assassination will mark the moment the cultural tide turned.
It was a few minutes before 3pm on September 10th, I had just joined a Zoom call with Addison Wiggin for our weekly planning session around a book project we’re working on. Moments after I joined he said “Oh my God, Charlie Kirk has just been shot – at an event in Utah”.
We talked a bit about the ramifications of what this could set off – and speculated on whether he would pull through.
Later in our call we learned he had succumbed to his wounds, and the symbology was not lost on me: it was the day before Sept 11th, one of those dates everybody remembers exactly where they were.
Because what was certain then was that the world had just changed. We were in a whole new ballgame, uncharted territory, and we’re still in it today.
Charlie Kirk’s assassination feels similar. Most people had never heard him speak—and are now forming their opinions from whatever their preferred media mouthpiece says.
Given the left-wing, illiberal stranglehold on media and culture, none of it is flattering. Conservatism is routinely conflated with the “far-right” (whatever that means these anymore) and is treated as ipso facto morally reprobate.
The Left Dances on Charlie’s Grave.
The hot-takes poured out within minutes, showing exactly where the lefties wanted to steer the narrative:
- MSNBC host Matthew Dowd initially speculated that the shot may have come from “a supporter, shooting in celebration” but later pivoted to, (paraphrasing) “Awful people, say awful things to awful consequences”.
- Rachel Gilmore (basically Canada’s Taylor Lorenz) – ruminated that Kirk being murdered by what turned out to be a radical antifa-aligned leftist might make the “the far right more extreme”.
- Democrat politicians like Mark Kelly were quick to link the shooting to escalating political rhetoric
- Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also pointed to the Jan 6 protestors – but omitted the two attempted assassinations on Trump that occurred since.
None of this should be a surprise – the West’s political and ideological left have absolutely no capacity for introspection and barely measurable levels of empathy.
What is surprising, to the left, is the knock-on consequences to their shameful behaviours from a corporate and popular spheres that have had enough with the old zeitgeist and the cultural pendulum is now swinging the other direction, with a vengeance.
The End of “Diplomatic Immunity” for the Far-Left
Since COVID—and the old order’s failed lunge at a global social-credit technocracy —the public has steadily lost faith in industrial-era institutions: Big Government, Corporate Media, and late-stage globalism (ESG, DEI, and the rest of it).
The pendulum has swung back through the centre, hitting several key beats along the way—mostly in the form of nationalist or tribal populism.
Oct 7th
Many details of how Oct 7 happened remain baffling to me—but what mattered for the zeitgeist was the reaction by the radical left.
This marked the first real shift in popular opinion—though unevenly (in Canada, Hamas cheerleaders still shut down Toronto streets every weekend).
The backlash focused on academics and labour organizers openly celebrating the massacre, but even Meta—once quick to throttle anything smelling of “Trumpism”—turned its censorship machine the other way, deboosting Hamas content and demonetizing prominent accounts.
The Targeted Killing of Brian Thompson
The targeted murder of United Health CEO Brian Thompson in December ’24 further brought out the berserkers who were lionizing his assassin – but there began to be even more palpable pushback in the zeitgeist against these extremist positions.
Taylor Lorenz made headlines after defending and celebrating the murder, and faced severe criticism on social media platforms and some professional ostracizing, including being uninvited from industry panels and removed from contributor lists at several outlets.
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Hellbound and Down 
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