Prepare for a Uniquely Cursed Week in American Politics

Get Ready for Peak Trump II

It’s all happening. Next week, the hollow moral rot of the Trump II era will be on full display in a string of convergent events: the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and the RNC’s first-ever midterms convention in Texas, headlined by President Trump. 

On Sept. 10, the Turning Points USA crew will descend on Utah Valley University’s campus for “Freedom Built to Last,” a memorial event honoring Kirk. Then they’ll embark on their “America: Love It or Leave It” tour of college campuses, in which students will be challenged to “discuss why America remains the greatest country on Earth,” and, if they disagree with this premise, explain why they don’t move elsewhere. In a testament to the thrumming xenophobia undergirding this tour, one of the speakers will be anti-immigrant YouTuber Nick Shirley, whose racist videos about Somali immigrants spurred the deadly ICE crackdown on Minneapolis. 

These themes will carry over to the RNC’s first-of-its-kind midterms convention, too. Vice President JD Vance is slated to give a speech on Wednesday, Sept. 9, while Trump himself will speak on Sept. 10. Anonymous Republicans have grumbled that the “Trump-a-palooza” is perhaps ill-advised at a moment when the president’s approval ratings are underwater. But Trump himself seems to have no qualms about pulling candidates off the campaign trail and forcing House members to shell out $25,000 to attend this event in the final weeks before the election. Some 45 congressional Republicans and candidates told Politico they’re not bothering to show up. The convention is slated to take place in Texas because of the must-win Senate race there, but the location is fitting since the Lone Star State was the launching pad for the GOP’s Islamophobia-centric midterms strategy. The party can’t run on affordability since Trump’s trade war in Canada and bombing war in Iran have driven up prices, so they’ve opted to fall back on classic fearmongering about creeping Sharia. 

Anti-Muslim hysteria has been similarly unavoidable in coverage leading up to the 9/11 anniversary, which will take place next Friday. The New York Post has spent months pumping out stories about 9/11 families supposedly pushing for New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, not to attend the memorial events because of his “anti-American agenda” and association with “terrorist sympathizers.” CBS New York soon joined in. (Popular Information has reported that the number of families cited in the Post and CBS’ coverage is wildly inflated, and that another group of 9/11 families is publicly pushing for Mamdani’s attendance.) These same outlets are also going after Abdul El-Sayed, with CBS publishing a bizarre article claiming that Michigan’s Muslim Democratic Senate nominee is “facing the risk of renewed scrutiny and fresh political attack” in light of the anniversary. (We’re all trying to find the guy doing this scrutinizing and attacking!) At issue are two old tweets in which El-Sayed compares the loss of life on Sept. 11 to that from the pandemic, and laments that more was not done to address the catastrophe of COVID. Meanwhile, Trump opted to skip the Ground Zero memorial that Mamdani is attending because organizers are maintaining their existing policy prohibiting political speeches at these events; instead, he’ll go to the Pentagon service, where he’ll be able to make an address. 

So expect to return from Labor Day to a week-long, flag-draped orgy of casual racism and chest-thumping nationalism, with Trump at the very center.

MAGA Is Mourning Charlie Kirk With Ridiculous AI Slop Merch

Charlie Kirk is gone, but, in the world of MAGA politics and the related field of incredibly tacky merch and souvenirs, he is not forgotten. 

Next Thursday marks the first anniversary of Kirk’s death at the hands of an apparently politically motivated gunman. Ironically, those dark circumstances have played into the disingenuous schtick that Kirk made his life’s work. Kirk presented himself as someone who just cared about free speech and dialogue. His main bit involved showing up at college campuses to “debate” young students and package viral clips. This conceit meant that, in death, Kirk’s far right allies could cast him as an open minded martyr whose efforts to foster dialogue led a killer to silence him. 

All of this obscured Kirk’s role as a purveyor of hate with a massive platform. Kirk’s Turning Point USA focuses on radicalizing young people and deploying massive sums for the MAGA agenda of mass deportation, transphobia, and white rage. Away from his more polished clips, Kirk mainstreamed some of the same ideas espoused by white nationalists, declaring that “America was founded by Anglo-Saxons and based upon Anglo-Saxon laws and traditions.” In one 2023 tweet, Kirk managed to simultaneously defend South Africa’s apartheid regime, the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, and even the internet code for “Heil Hitler.” 

“Multiculturalism is un-American,” Kirk wrote in another screed, adding, “If you don’t assimilate you are disgracing this country and you can kindly leave.”

Another lowlight was this bit of anti-trans paranoia that feels like a bigoted fever dream take on the “Ghost In The Shell” anime franchise.  

“The Trans Agenda is being used to condition people to eventually merge with machine and abandon their humanity,” Kirk wrote. 

Political violence is simply abhorrent. However, the awful facts of his death don’t erase his hateful words. All of which make the post-assassination canonization of Kirk, which will once again take center stage next week, especially ridiculous. That absurdity is particularly apparent when you peruse the aisles of internet retailers and their offerings for Kirk’s MAGA mourners. 

There are multiple t-shirts and other souvenirs casting Kirk as some type of Civil Rights icon. One shop is even selling “FREEDOM” shirts for $33.27 with a portrait of Kirk alongside Martin Luther King, Jr.. It doesn’t seem like a comparison that even the grandiose Kirk would have made. In his life, he referred to King as “disliked” and the leader’s legacy as a “myth” with “flaws” that needed to be exposed. 

Over on TikTok, sellers have made a bizarre blanket featuring likenesses of Kirk and George Floyd, the man whose death inspired the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, as angels looking down from heaven. Here in the real world, Kirk called for the officers who were later convicted of federal civil rights violations for Floyd’s death to be “released immediately.” 

Following his death, due to some mix of his own grossness and pure brainrot irony, Kirk became a Gen Z and Alpha internet meme. It can be difficult to parse some of the weirder pro-Kirk merch available online from the items meant to mock him. For example, there’s this “CHARLIE KNIRCK” shirt that evokes pop star Taylor Swift’s attention-seeking New York Knicks NBA Finals merch. That seems like an item that could appeal to Kirk fans and haters alike. 

For the purposes of this story, we have tried our best to stick to the seemingly earnest pro-Kirk stuff. It’s all pretty weird and much of it seems to have been churned out with AI. 

The worst of the Kirkslop includes another blanket featuring Kirk as an angel clutching American and Israeli flags. Kirk was indeed a staunch advocate for Israel, a position which separated him from the more blatant neo-Nazis who might otherwise have been his fellow travelers. However, in this case, the angel’s face looks more like a stock photo model than Kirk. This coloring book from Etsy that purports to tell the story of Kirk’s life and share the “Positive Reflections and Inspirations of a Great American” also seems to feature generic AI art that looks nothing like Kirk. 

Prayer candles, which were a staple of cringey Trump Resistance activism, are now being lit for Kirk. You can also bake bread with a Kirk-themed mold or fill the cupholders of your car with coasters that seem to replicate the scene of Kirk’s killing. 

One common thread through much of the Kirkslop is word art. There’s so much word art like this mug featuring FBI Director Kash Patel’s over the top remarks. The pro-Kirk word art also includes even more questionable quotes like this t-shirt that falsely attributes a line from the fantasy author George R.R. Martin to Kirk.  

Much of the merch relies on familiar right-wing iconography. One particularly special piece is this hat, which basically combines three types of patriotic MAGA imagery in one hectic package. You have red, white, and blue flames, a gothic script Constitutional “We The People,” and, of course, a hint of Kirk word art. 

Despite his efforts to sow hate and division, Kirk presented himself as a devout Christian. Religious elements are a major Kirkslop theme. While Kirk arguably did little to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ, there are countless fantasy art pieces that picture him physically embracing the Christian savior, like this commemorative coin. Along with Jesus, it features Kirk alongside a somewhat disembodied fist and set of praying hands on the reverse side. 

Not all of the Kirk memorial merch seems like mass-produced AI slop. Some of it is decidedly homespun, like this crochet pattern designed to help knitters make dolls of Kirk and Christ to sit side by side. The description for that item includes a note that could be read as offering an unintentional commentary on how the supposedly Christian MAGA base may be putting their various cults of personality before religion.

“You will get the patterns for both dolls,” the description says. “The Charlie Kirk doll is slightly larger than the Jesus.”

Amen. 

Party All the Time

How Much of This Week’s News Do You Remember?

1. Which former congressman was permanently banned from prediction market Kalshi over evidence he engaged in insider trading?
2. This Trump Cabinet member vehemently dismissed recent reports that he’s considering a 2028 presidential run.
3. Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) was censured by his House colleagues this week. Describe the conduct that led to this.

Answers below

Why Retire When You Can Boost the GDP?

“If we could just get the average American to feel so healthy, so with it, so vibrant that they want to work just one extra year, that’s worth $1 trillion to our GDP every year.” – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz

Jan. 6 Never Ends 

Hunter Explains How We’re Still Living in the Shadow of Jan. 6 

Pardoned Capitol rioters are terrorizing anti-ICE protesters. A former federal prosecutor who marched with the crowd on Jan. 6 is now running Trump’s DOJ task force to root out supposed left-wing political violence. Others who attended Jan. 6 are running for Congress. 

As Hunter Walker told Ali Velshi on MS Now’s The 11th Hour, “Something that we’re adamant about at Talking Points Memo is that January 6 never stopped.” Hunter shared more about the roots of the “Stop the Steal” conspiracy and how it’s loomed over every federal election since Trump first emerged on the scene in 2016. “The [Jan 6] conspirators never really left the Hill, and now we’re bringing them back,” he said. 

We Can’t Rename Lake Ontario ‘Cause of…Hamas

Former Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy — best known for leading the House Select Committee on Benghazi and Alan Cumming-esque array of hairstyles — surprised the hosts of Fox News’ The Five last week when he announced that he was on the fence about Trump’s attempt to rename Lake Ontario. Gowdy’s particular concern is not that renaming the lake is pointless, pathetic, demonstrates a complete lack of historical understanding of the names “Ontario” and “America,” and can have no effect other than to inflame an already tense situation, no; Gowdy is worried about Hamas. In a segment titled “Syrup Slap,” he told the hosts of The Five:

Here’s what troubles me. So, it took me 12 years to remember that acronym to learn the great lakes, it’s HOMES, right. Alright, the “O” changes to “A,” that’s close to HAMAS. That’s what bothers me about changing the name from Ontario to America is how close that acronym is to Hamas. It’s going to confuse a lot of kids. That’s why I haven’t made up my mind on it yet.

HOMES → HAMES → HAMAS (?) 🤯. If you’re looking for more delightful wordplay and logic-be-damned plotting, Gowdy has a new novel out titled, “The Sound of Regret” (seriously). 

Markey’s Win Proves You Can’t Run on Generational Change AND Transphobia

Trivia answers: 1) Rep. George Santos (R-NY) 2) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 3) Sexually harassed two young women staffers (by reciting them poetry, buying them lavish gifts including personalized handguns, and inviting them to social outings, including an Adam Sandler show).