Can The Left Have a Kirk?

[Celerity]

https://washingtonspectator.org/can-the-left-have-a-kirk/

https://archive.ph/omZXL



A day after Charlie Kirk’s mega-funeral—which corralled tens of thousands of young people, far right politicians, a roster of Christian Nationalist pastors and an otherwise distractible president, all into an Arizona stadium—political pundits on the left are already wondering: Can we have a Charlie Kirk? If you believe that Kirk’s inflammatory rhetoric towards Black women, trans people, and a whole host of other Americans he openly despised was his main appeal, then you have your answer: No.

But I spent countless hours with Charlie Kirk, his donors, co-workers and members of his loyal fan base while writing my book Raising Them Right, the Untold Story of America’s Ultraconservative Youth Movement and its Plot for Power, a narrative account of how the modern conservative youth movement was birthed; and while I found his hateful rhetoric increasingly distasteful and ultimately very frightening, I don’t actually think hate was his main appeal.



More central I think was Kirk’s understanding of what today’s generation of anxious, rudderless young people want —and need. If the broad—and increasingly hapless—coalition that makes up the American left wants to cultivate a young charismatic personality prepared to spread the pro-democracy, anti-MAGA message, that person will need to follow a few guidelines that Kirk and the multitude of donors who generously supported him understood to be essential. Hate does not have to be part of the equation.

Offer A Road Map

For the modern GOP, Charlie Kirk was a powerful political strategist. But for his young fans, he was first and foremost a motivational speaker, who carried his MAGA message to them through a self-empowering focus on bettering their own lives. Kirk, who had 5.4 million followers on X, did a hefty amount of political ranting about diversity initiatives, overly woke campuses, “sick” gender confused young people, and the war in Gaza – usually blaming some subset of the Democrats and/or minorities whom he spoke of in the cruelest of terms.

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[GreenWave]

1. We are not sheep, so I doubt it.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Bernie isn't exactly chopped liver.

[yardwork]

3. No.

Charismatic speakers selling neo-traditional "values" are the antithesis of what we need in a democracy.

[Girard442]

4. I vote no.

Kirk may have had a plethora of other talents, but without the hate, his operation would be a car with no gas in the tank -- a fancy-shmancy park bench.

[Norbert]

5. We already have.

JFK, RFK & MLKjr. Kirk couldn't come close to topping the least of these three.

[EYESORE 9001]

6. Do you mean before or after his apotheosis?

I vote ‘no’ on any arrogant, supercilious demagogue speaking on my behalf.

[leftstreet]

7. Kirk punched down, not up

Kirk was the antithesis to class solidarity

The Democrats don't need an equivalent to that

[markodochartaigh]

8. I think that because of social media

Kirk's reach was greatly amplified. And the social media algorithms which allowed this amplification are heavily weighted towards the extreme right by the techbros who own the platforms. It seems to me to be analgous to Hearst egging on the Spanish American War.

[Johonny]

9. No, because a know nothing blow hard backed by

Last edited Sat Sep 27, 2025, 12:05 PM - Edit history (1)

A billionaire is unlikely to become popular on the left.

Are their popular left leaning influrencers. Yes there are. Will they get the amount of main streaming as Kirk? No, because there aren't the billionaires on our side.

[Raven123]

10. It seems to me a complicated question.

From my view, an honest discussion may not be easy on DU, as it might require an open and harsh assessment of missed opportunities.

[SocialDemocrat61]

11. Yes

[thebigidea]

12. I doubt conservative and religious colleges would allow a progressive on campus to berate/debate students

Once or twice but certainly not for years of propaganda

[Paladin]

13. No way, no how. (nt)

[Jilly_in_VA]

14. We have AOC and Jasmine Crockett

WTF do you want? MUST we have a white male?

[oasis]

15. Too many lefties are educated. A Larry "Lonesome"

Rhodes type will never woo them into his tent.

[gulliver]

16. True liberalism easily can.

And we really should focus on that. Democracy matters. One person has one voice. People are good, and even if they're not, they're the people. What they want the world to be like is what it should be like.

I'm increasingly impressed with what I see from Gavin Newsom and John Fetterman, and that's in the leadership department. There are many others.

Can we get a Kirk? Absolutely. We could get a bunch of them. The resistance to an effective, pushy, debating, true fighter of the left would all come from people who are not true fighters (and, therefore not really even truly left). You're not a true fighter if all you do is pick stupid fights and lose them all the time. You're a true fighter if you smile when attacked. You're true fighter if you get in fewer fights because people respect you. You tell true fighters by whether or not they win.

[Tommy Carcetti]

17. Whenever I hear someone ask, "Why doesn't the left have a [insert right wing figure] of their own?"

I always think about this scene from O Brother Where Art Thou? where Governor O'Daniels' advisors asks why his campaign doesn't have their own little person on the campaign trail like his opponent Homer Stokes does.

[Girard442]

18. It's like a medical researcher saying, why don't we have any GOOD treatments that are as aggresive as sepsis.

Couldn't happen. Sepsis is inherently bad.

Search instead for therapies with high success rates, minimal side effects, and that don't break the bank. Then promote them.

And throw a baker's dozen of snake oil salesmen under the bus.