We’ve now heard the first official word about the murder of Charlie Kirk as part of the official charges brought against him today. I want to reiterate a point I made yesterday. Despite the concerted effort to portray Tyler Robinson as a proponent of “left-wing ideology,” as Kash Patel put it, that’s really not clear at all from the evidence contained in the charging documents. What we have in there are mostly statements from Robinson’s mother to the police that he “had started to lean more to the left” over the last year and become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”
I want to point you to a report from Ken Klippenstein, who got access to parts of the much-discussed Discord channel that Robinson and fellow gamers spent time on. Klippenstein’s report sheds more light on Robinson and his milieu than basically anything that’s appeared in the mainstream press over the last week. I really recommend you read it. There’s no bombshell. Just a general impression of the guy. But still very revealing.
The only clear statement of motive and goals coming directly from Robinson is that he thought Kirk spread “hate” and that he wanted to kill him because of that. It also seems clear now that Robinson was bisexual and in a relationship with a roommate who was in the process of transitioning to become a trans woman. That seems like the clearest explanation of motive we have: Robinson was in a relationship with a man who was either planning to transition or in the process of transitioning. Kirk was hostile to trans people, and that’s the kernel of the motive.
What there’s not is any clear evidence of is that Robinson was political beyond this or had any general, left-wing world view. There’s certainly no evidence he was in contact with, let alone being radicalized by, left-wing groups. (Again, look back at the Klippenstein piece.)
What also seems clear from the Discord chat logs is that Robinson probably wasn’t a “Groyper,” as many have speculated. There was some evidence, in the memes engraved on the bullets, pointing in that direction. But this new evidence makes that seem much less likely. The gist from the chat logs is that the participants were a mix of apolitical or coming from various political persuasions. What they were is hardcore gamers.
There’s an inevitable desire on both sides of the political polarization to label Robinson as left-wing or right-wing. The real world isn’t nearly so cut and dry. What we know about Robinson is that he was into guns, gaming and was probably bisexual. From what evidence we’ve seen he doesn’t seem to have had a clear political worldview at all. In our political binary, his apparent anger at Kirk over his views on trans rights might place him as more left than right. But given that the administration is trying to use Kirk’s murder as a general cudgel to crack down on liberal and left-wing NGOs and place the blame for “radicalizing” Robinson on them, it’s really, really important to cede no ground on the fact that there’s no evidence for their claim at all. Obviously there wouldn’t be any legal basis for a crackdown on liberal/left groups even if Robinson was a MoveOn activist who never turned off MSNBC. But he wasn’t. If the White House or the FBI has any evidence Robinson was some kind of left-wing ideologue or motivated by the same, they’ve yet to produce it.