1/24
@spooked75
I have spent the last 3 days painfully sitting through Charlie Kirk debates. Here are my conclusions:
He was a political grifter pandering to his MAGA base for personal and monetary gain.
He purposely chose divisive topics to maintain relavence.
His videos were manipulated, only showing arguments where Kirk was succesful
When facing actual intellectuals or prepared students, Kirk's arguments were repeatedly crushed, exposing Kirk for the uneducated buffoon that he was.
Kirk was highly succesful against random, unprepared, and often emotional university students, who often didn't have any debating experience, or the media experience he had.
Kirk was a predatory oppurtunist who prioritized entertainment value over genuine intellectual value.
Kirk operated as a sophisticated political grifter who successfully monetized cultural resentment and political division.
His dramatic personal enrichment, calculated message evolution, strategic provocation, and opportunistic positioning all point to someone who prioritized personal gain over genuine conviction
His ability to extract millions from donors while living in luxury estates represents a classic grifter model - exploiting the genuine concerns and grievances of his audience for personal enrichment while offering them little substantive improvement to their actual circumstances.
2/24
@spooked75
Its strange that a critique of Kirk's style becomes "He spent 3 days watching videos and decided Kirk needed to die."
I have stated my empathy for Kirks death many times and ridiculed those celebrating his death, my record on that is clear.
I stand by my critque and if you can't handle that, that's your problem, not mine.
His entire income model was based on cultural resdentment and political division and it was so successful he garnered $12 million in personal wealth, a $400,000 per year salary, and 3 luxury estates from selling the grift and pushing the MAGA narrative.
A truly great man, one brillant and worthy of rememberence in service to his nation would have been one who put aside politics and said "Look, this is what we need to do heal our nation and and truly Make America Great Again"
However he had no interest in this, never did. He stuck to his MAGA base and Trump's talking points and made millions doing it.
For those saying his "so-called" activism predates Trump, you're right. He was a part of the tea party movement, and so was I
The Tea Party movement was leaderless and in the wake of Obama's victory in 2008 it went looking for a stalwart leader, and that leader was Donald Trump and became MAGA. Thaty's when Kirks income began to soar, he didn't build that wealtyh overnight.
I voted for Trump in 2016 and in 2020, however after 6 January I distanced myself from Trump and MAGA.
I've always been moderate in my views, Trump changed that. Trump took the Tea Party movement and turned it into an identity-driven, personality-centric movement focused on nationalism, cultural grievances, and loyalty soley to Trump.
Trump and MAGA have continuously doubled down on division and hate, and that alone has made the left step up it's rhetoric.
If you want to heal a nation you don't do it by worshipping grifters and snake oil salesmen.
The United States has problems, but Trump is going to solve them and has no interest in it and neither does his base.
It so bad that in the United States, if you're not MAGA, you're a radical leftist, evil, and you should be killed.
That's not healing a nation, that's a prelude to destruction and both Kirk and Trump contributed to that.
3/24
@authenticTERF
When you use inflammatory words like ‘predatory’ and ‘opportunist’ (words usually reserved for sexual deviants) it discredits everything else you’ve said.
4/24
@spooked75
What? You mean like your President and the movement that exalts and worships him as a messiah?
He preyed on naive, emotional university students and he made money from that, million in fact. Get over it.
5/24
@mxfish7
It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and throw stones, but calling Charlie Kirk a “grifter” just shows you missed what actually made him effective. Was he provocative? Absolutely. That’s the point of debate—to challenge people, not lull them to sleep with academic jargon.
The fact that he went into rooms full of hostile students, often with no moderator protecting him, and still got people talking proves he wasn’t afraid of confrontation. That alone sets him apart from most so-called “intellectuals” who hide behind gated classrooms or filtered media outlets.
And let’s be real…every political figure raises money, lives well, and sharpens their message. That’s not “grifting,” that’s politics. The difference is Charlie gave a voice to people who are normally told to shut up. You don’t build one of the fastest-growing movements in America just by being a “buffoon.”
If you think he was crushed every time he debated, then why did the Left spend years trying to cancel him, label him, and demonize him? You don’t waste that much energy on someone irrelevant.
Charlie wasn’t perfect, but he stood for convictions that resonated with millions of everyday Americans. Reducing that to “grifting” is lazy…it says more about your bias than his legacy.
6/24
@spooked75
He rode a wave of MAGA populism. He also wasn't a political figure, he was a provocateur and a podcaster.
7/24
@SouthernOracle6
The Cambridge debate was great.
I enjoy actual debates. They're an opportunity to learn things. Most his stuff was prescripted talking points, and he'd guide the convo to those points. Instead of the natural flow in a debate. Imo.
8/24
@spooked75
His model was to debate random people, on topics that he was fully prepared to debate on, and those kids were mostly first year students. When confonted with an argument he couldn't refute he deflected.
He debated at one Ivy league school, and was crushed.
When he went to Cambridge he was also crushed.
9/24
@robhopp81
If this is true, then why is countries all around the world mourning him? Charlie held the minds and hearts of most of our young and countless people across the world!!
10/24
@spooked75
Nobody knew where Ukraine was either until Russia invaded it. Prior to Charlie Kirks death people in Europe barely knew who he was, after his death his popularity exploded with nationalist and far-right movemments here who paint him as a martyr
11/24
@AllenGrove15
If you actually did watch Charlie Kirks debates, which I seriously doubt, then you have a major problem- your mind is incapable of processing reality without altering it according to a completely warped agenda that has completely supplanted your capacity for rational thought.
12/24
@spooked75
He rode a wave of MAGA populism and benefited from it. That's exactly why he debated, he didn't offer any ways to fix ANYTHING, he literally pushed the MAGA narrative.
13/24
@Chefgeoff772128
Love it still didn’t need to be eliminated
14/24
@spooked75
No, Charlie Kirk didn't deserve to be killed, and I've never stated anything saying that. I think he was charismatic, loved by his base and used them to make millions.
15/24
@BeerdedMTBr
This is the root of my dislike for him, and lesser are his “views”. He and others like him (loomer, Carlson, et al) are merchants of hate. I have no idea what they actually believe but know they’ll say anything to keep riding that wave.
Im Still 100% opposed to political violence
16/24
@spooked75
I've neveer supported political violence, howeveer these outliers of society are being used yby the Trump Administration too crack down on dissent.
By the end of Trump's term the US will be another authoritarian state like Russia.
17/24
@ClanPetrie
I'd pretty much agree with this.
Question is: and?
What does that matter in terms of using political violence?
18/24
@spooked75
Politcal violence is never a way forward, on anything, and I've never said it was, nor have I ever said Kirk deserved to die, unlike accusations from the brainrot addicted MAGA cult.
No one had to listen to Kirk, no one had to attend his rallies, watch his videos; No one was forced to watch him.
If no one had engaged with Kirk he'd have been a nobody, but people took the bait and that's what he wanted and he made millions from it.
19/24
@togo_miles
This diatribe would work well if people didn't have access to the debates videos
20/24
@spooked75
He debated for clout and money, to "own the libs" that's all he did, he didn't add anything at all.
21/24
@mego73
"I didn't think he deserved to die but..."
22/24
@spooked75
23/24
@DecentAmerican1
Kirk was willing to debate people who hated him. I can't think of any liberal willing to consistently do the same. He had significant impact in convincing young Americans about the toxicity and dangers of liberalism. He needed money for that, so he did what he needed to do.
24/24
@spooked75
I think he was a charismatic young man, he certainly didn't deserve to die, I can't think of anyone that does, however in this instance, he killer does.
However you're being very disengenous. You answer is that his replacement of the toxicity and dangers of "liberalism" is any better than replacing it with the toxicity and dangers of MAGA populism
To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196