Best Of

It is starting to feel, bizarrely, like the Labour Party is starting to move itself into a post-Starmer place.

I say bizarrely not because I think Starmer is doing a good job (he isn’t) but that the very idea that they are starting to talk about the leadership 15 months in from a landslide (if lopsided) election victory is just indicative of how badly Starmer has played his hand during the opening months of his premiership.

As much as I think Starmer has been very poor, I have a growing sense of unease that the Labour Party are about to do something very stupid. Something that won’t help them one jot, but will likely hole them below the waterline. Liz Truss all over again.

Labour might do something stupid? Like appointing Peter Mandelson to US ambassador? Can't imagine it

@BillyBaldwin

Not Black.
Not Trans.
Not Muslim.
Not an Immigrant.
Not a Democrat.

Meet Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson.

A white Christian, Conservative, Republican male with a gun... again.

https://x.com/BillyBaldwin/status/1966505118989172895

Hmmm, as much as I want to trust random people on twitter…

He does not appear to have any criminal history, according to state records reviewed by Reuters. He was a registered voter but was not affiliated with a political party, according to state voter records.

@BillyBaldwin

Not Black.
Not Trans.
Not Muslim.
Not an Immigrant.
Not a Democrat.

Meet Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson.

A white Christian, Conservative, Republican male with a gun... again.

https://x.com/BillyBaldwin/status/1966505118989172895

Are you sure about this? I genuinely don’t know

There are people - not entirely unreliable - claiming he recently swerved violently left, denouncing Kirk and Trump etc as Nazis. I’ve no idea

People will say whatever makes them feel best - whether left wing or right wing.

Who knows what the truth is these days. But it does seem like he wrote “hey fascist catch” on the bullet casings. This was in the FBI and governor briefings? Also an antifa slogan

And the family do seem to be reporting he turned extreme left quite recently

However - big caveat - maybe this is all made up bollocks on X? It’s so hard to pin down the actuality

Too many of these extreme left and extreme right shootings. Why are they never extreme centrist dads?

Turns out it’s true. He really did write “hey fascist, catch” on the bullet casings. He really did write an antifa chant. He really did swing extremely leftwing according to the family

So all this stuff about him being a Republican and a groyper and all that is total bullshit. Likewise the attempt to blur him as a memelord

This is desperate spin. He’s from a republican family but he’s antifa. He’s extreme left

Did you learn nothing from the Minnesota shootings earlier on this year?

I guess not.

@BillyBaldwin

Not Black.
Not Trans.
Not Muslim.
Not an Immigrant.
Not a Democrat.

Meet Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson.

A white Christian, Conservative, Republican male with a gun... again.

https://x.com/BillyBaldwin/status/1966505118989172895

Hmmm, as much as I want to trust random people on twitter…

He does not appear to have any criminal history, according to state records reviewed by Reuters. He was a registered voter but was not affiliated with a political party, according to state voter records.

@BillyBaldwin

Not Black.
Not Trans.
Not Muslim.
Not an Immigrant.
Not a Democrat.

Meet Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson.

A white Christian, Conservative, Republican male with a gun... again.

https://x.com/BillyBaldwin/status/1966505118989172895

Are you sure about this? I genuinely don’t know

There are people - not entirely unreliable - claiming he recently swerved violently left, denouncing Kirk and Trump etc as Nazis. I’ve no idea

People will say whatever makes them feel best - whether left wing or right wing.

Who knows what the truth is these days. But it does seem like he wrote “hey fascist catch” on the bullet casings. This was in the FBI and governor briefings? Also an antifa slogan

And the family do seem to be reporting he turned extreme left quite recently

However - big caveat - maybe this is all made up bollocks on X? It’s so hard to pin down the actuality

It is human nature to try and rearrange reality to fit your existing prejudices.

If it turns out that he turned Left, then the Left will argue that this whole thing was a False Flag operation,

Alternatively, it could be that he was on the Right and was incensed by Charlie Kirk's recent change of position on Epstein (where he's suddenly decided the files shouldn't be released, and which has caused much consernation online).

The reality is, whether he is of the Left or the Right, is that he is another mentally unstable person who had access to guns. He's also not the only politically prominent person to get shot in the last few years: the Democratic Speaker of the Minnesota House was shot (and murdered) back in June.

Both killings are abhorrent, and when we start trying to pin everything on "the other side", we end up excusing and normalising violence. We also end up with a situation - like in pre-WW2 Japan - where fear of violence stops people from standing up.

It doesn't matter who - or why - Kirk was killed. What matters is that it is not used to for political purposes to try and divide the US further.

.

If you "wear a Trump costume on Halloween" that does NOT suggest you are a fan of Trump. It's Halloween,. You dress up as a monster

DERR

Actually that's a British view of Halloween. When I was growing up I was friends with two American boys whose parents were in the military. It used to baffle everyone else that they would dress up as Garfield or Spiderman for Halloween rather than vampires or whatever. They also sent a Valentine's card to everyone in the class including the boys which caused much hilarity.

I resile. You are right and I am wrong, and I am seeing it through the lens of a north London dad. Just did a bit of research, and yes some people simply dress as their heroes (or anything else)


So it is possible he was wearing the Trump costume unironically. But then why kill Kirk, who is a Trumpite?

There was some suggestion on X that Kirk’s killer might be someone embedded in the far right, for whom Kirk has apparently become something of a controversial figure ever since he did a 180 on the Epstein files & suggested that everyone should get over the Trump/Epstein thing and forget about it:

https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1966327203601522826

If you were neck deep in the MAGA Epstein conspiracy end of the right, then this might seem like something of a betrayal & as we know there’s nothing worse than an apostate.

I have no idea what the killer̛’s motives actually were, just that it’s not completely implausible that Kirk’s attacker be even more far-right than he was instead of being a leftist. Extremist political infighting is not limited to weird Maoist splinter groups!

We're kind of missing the point here. It doesn't matter that much what his motives were. If he was a hardcore MAGAt, that doesn't mean most hardcore MAGAts are dangerous criminals. If he was a transgendered individual, that doesn't mean most transgendered individuals are dangerous criminals. If he was an antifa supporters, that doesn't mean most antifa supporters are dangerous criminals. Any ideology can attract dangerous, violent individuals, any demographic group can include dangerous, violent individuals, but we shouldn't judge groups by the actions of individuals.

If the US wants to stop people being shot, they need to stop fetishising guns.