Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove used his Wednesday op-ed in The Wall Street Journal to push back against the emerging narrative among some that Charlie Kirk’s tragic death was the work of some shadowy collective force — a nebulous “they.”
Kirk, the outspoken conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot last week while delivering a speech at Utah Valley University. Authorities have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with the crime. Robinson alone faces charges, and no other suspects have been identified.
Yet, in the hours and days following the attack, voices on the right say that “they” — liberal activists, media figures, or even the Democratic establishment — were ultimately responsible for his death.
Rove wasn’t having it.
“There has been a disturbing and growing undercurrent in our national conversation and on the internet — a pronounced emphasis on ‘they’ and ‘them,’” Rove wrote. “Charlie would be alive but for ‘them.’ ‘They’ killed him. ‘They’ are responsible for his death. ‘They’ must be made to pay.”
He continued, unequivocally: “No. Charlie Kirk wasn’t killed by ‘them.’ ‘They’ didn’t pull the trigger. One person did — apparently a young man driven by impulse and a terrible hate.”
Rove emphasized that if a larger conspiracy truly existed, law enforcement would expose it and the justice system would hold every party responsible. But until then, responsibility must lie with the individual — not some imagined collective.
“Our culture is built on the principle that individuals are responsible for what they say and do,” Rove asserted. “People can be influenced by words they hear and groups they’re part of. But we aren’t helpless automatons whose actions are dictated by others.”
Importantly, Rove warned against weaponizing Kirk’s death for political retaliation, saying that to do so would only further divide the nation and dishonor Kirk’s memory.
“Using Charlie’s murder to justify retaliation against political rivals is wrong and dangerous. It will further divide and embitter our country. No good thing will come of it.”
He concluded with a call for unity and rational discourse: “Violence has no role in our country’s politics. Now or ever. Reasoned discourse is essential to our democracy. Charlie Kirk understood that. Let’s hope it’s a message his eulogists honor.”
Notably, Kirk himself, following the failed assassination attempt on President Donald Trump last summer, posted on YouTube: “They tried to kill Trump.”
Rove’s argument would have been much more convincing had the internet not blown up with gleeful celebrations over Kirk’s murder. “They” were all very supportive of the killer’s deed. “They” have been told by deceptive Democrats for decades that words are dangerous and safe spaces are mandatory when words hurt you. “They” have been fed lies about “Hitlers” and racists on the Right. “They” may not have pulled the trigger but many of “them” are definitely responsible for this tragedy.
Maybe it should be worded that “they” contributed to the death instead of “they” killed him, but you don’t need the FBI to tell you who they are. “They” have made themselves perfectly clear.
