This might get me canceled
I cannot be angry with Tyler Robinson, the man who killed Charlie Kirk
The more I read about Tyler Robinson, the more I can’t remain angry. Yeah, that might get me canceled, because I’m not sufficiently vitriolic about Charlie Kirk’s assassin. Maybe I should get angrier and angrier, reading the chat messages to his male lover who is transitioning to female, that begin “my love.” He shot Kirk in cold blood as Charlie was debating trans shooters. How many, he was asked: “Too many.” One too many, if you count lovers of trans people. I should be very angry about it.
Don’t get me wrong. I was angry. First I was confused. Why would anyone want to kill an A-minus list speaker who focused on college campuses and traded in Trump conspiracy theories, hung with the grifter sycophants, and plied the political waters tainted by January 6th, groypers, Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and the like? Why Charlie? I don’t really follow Charlie Kirk, so I didn’t know the depth of his Christian message, and his fine-honed debating skills (at least fine-honed dealing with college sophomores). I didn’t know that among college kids, Charlie was known as the guy who said trans people were “mentally delusional,” supported a nationwide ban on “gender-affirming care,” applauded President Trump’s ban on transgenders in the military, and frequently referred to an “LGBTQ agenda” which stands opposed to Christianity and conservative morality.
College kids as a group represent the spectrum of political thought, but moreso. I mean they are still figuring out who they are, politically. Most of them haven’t had a lot of life experience, their own kids, a mortgage, and so on. They tend to flock to ideals, which we know is important. This is why there are 2 a.m. dorm room debates about Ayn Rand’s libertarianism, or, in certain economics schools, Hayek. Many of these kids are also open to hearing people like Charlie Kirk talk about the narratives being forced down the throats of people at educational institutions, and how there are grown-ups whose mission is to indoctrinate youth to believe in things that are not strictly (or even observably, empirically) true.
But Tyler Robinson was barely a college kid. He was described as smart, but reserved. Likeable, but his friends said he had a “stone cold poker face.” He wasn’t in a four-year university, having tried it and gone another way, to what we called in my day a trade school. Good work, with your hands and your mind. From what I have been reading, Tyler’s recreation wasn’t late night philosophy debates, or raw political activism, but gaming and Discord sessions with friends.
From the texts released by the Utah County District Attorney's office in Robinson’s charging documents, his roommate-lover, “Lance” went by “Luna” on Steam, a gaming platform. Investigative reporter Andy Ngo, known for his forays exposing leftist narrative framing, has a good summary of the relationship. ABC News’ Matt Gutman described the relationship as a “touching” and “intimate” story.
Sure, whatever. That actually makes me angry, just like those who do a “but” after offering condolences to Charlie Kirk’s family, because Kirk should have known that his message angered people, and trans people believed their rights and personhood was being taken away. They called it “hate.” But truth is not hate, even if it is not received.
I hesitate to ask this, but don’t you know that Charlie Kirk realized people hated him for what he was saying? Don’t you know that Charlie knew someone might try to kill him at any time? Don’t you know that Charlie knew they might succeed? Did Charlie want that to happen? Of course not. He had a security team with him, a small one, but he wasn’t an elected official, nor did he command a giant football stadium filled with listeners. Don’t you know that Charlie was prepared to go to eternity and meet his savior? And that’s where Charlie is right now.
I’m not angry with Tyler Robinson. Not anymore. I can’t be angry, I can’t summon it up anymore.
Tyler’s crime was a crime of passion. He was a boy in love, and he killed because he felt that his love was being taken from him. People have killed for love for millennia. It wasn’t the crime of passion where a wife walks in on the husband in flagrante delicto, and shoots him and his momentary partner in their bed. Or the kind of crime the fictional Andy Dufresne from “The Shawshank Redemption,” where the spurned husband gets drunk, sits in his car, contemplating suicide or murder, ultimately choosing neither in Dufresne’s case but convicted on powerful circumstantial evidence.
No, Kirk’s killer planned it. He planned getting the murder weapon, his grandfather’s hunting rifle. He planned the line of sight to his target. He spent a week engraving memes into ammunition casings, meant for Kirk. He brought a change of clothing, a towel to wrap the rifle, found a place to drop the weapon, planned his exit, and believed he had made the perfect plan for the perfect assassination, then he could go on and live his life, never being found.
Tyler is a naïve rube, a babe in the woods, a criminal idiot. He thought a simple change of clothes and a hat would protect him from video cameras recognizing him. He thought he would be able to get the rifle and leave no trace of the murder weapon. He thought he could drive well over 200 miles from his home in Orem, kill Kirk, and resume his life.
His own friends recognized him from the photos released by the FBI. He joked with them online, reported another investigative journalist, Ken Klippenstein, one who specializes in right-wing conspiracy exposés. Tyler’s Discord friends were just as shocked as (it appears) his trans lover was.
“Even the goodbye message he sent in one of our servers [where Discord chats are hosted] was so hard to believe, we all just thought, what a weird joke to make … then the news came out and we all were calling each other saying check the news,” he said. “Yeah I don’t know what makes a person like him decide he’s going to drive 260 miles upstate to shoot someone like Charlie Kirk, then come back like nothing happened. It leaves a lot of room for speculation and theories which is why I think they’re so rampant.”
I know I should be saying, good, they caught him. Lucky for us that he was a dumbass, and left a trail of clues a mile long and as wide as an interstate. And yes, I am glad he didn’t get away with it. A smarter criminal might have covered his tracks better, but probably not, because criminals almost always miss tiny details that are their undoing. Only a tiny percentage of crimes, especially planned murders, go unsolved. (This doesn’t apply to random drug and gang shootings or sprayed bullets that kill a toddler in her crib in a failed drive-by. Many of those are never solved.)
Now young Tyler Robinson faces the death penalty. Maybe he will get a good lawyer and they’ll plead it down to life without parole. But I think the call for blood will win out on this one, and Tyler will face the executioner. The preferred legal method of execution in Utah is lethal injection, but if the drugs cannot be obtained, or if the condemned wishes it, the state can also use a firing squad. I’m sure many, many people who are angry about Charlie Kirk’s death would find that an appropriate way to deal with his killer.
I don’t particularly care how the state deals with Tyler Robinson. I am looking at this from God’s perspective. This is why I cannot be angry.
In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells several parables about a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son (the prodigal), and in chapter 16, a shrewd manager. In Luke 15:7, Jesus said “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Charlie Kirk was one of the 99 found sheep, the righteous person who is now with Jesus, rejoicing in heaven. We are sad here for a time, to be without him, and some are focusing on Kirk’s imperfections, even his sins. But Charlie’s sins are forgiven, and have been since he accepted Jesus, the Son of God, as his savior and his lord. There are no more stones to throw at Charlie. He has gone to his reward. You cannot condemn a dead man, and a man who is absent from the body—dead—here is present with the Lord when He has given his life to Jesus.
Tyler Robinson is lost. He is as lost as he can get. His love, the Greek word used in the Bible is eros, from which we get the word “erotic,” has passion, enough passion to kill, but he had totally abandoned any truth for the deeds of this world. The devil had completely consumed Tyler Robinson and he didn’t even know it. He is blind, lost, and his trans lover is equally blind and lost. Both of them were locked in a fatal embrace of the world and its eros.
LGBTQ activists like to say that their love is the same love as Christians and heterosexual cisgender people. Of course, eros is just as common among heterosexuals and cisgender people; look at the oldest profession. Look at the huge, enormous following pornography has online. Look at what objectification of young girls (and boys) has done to our culture. That’s eros. That’s not Christian love. Christian love is what Jesus taught: love your enemies.
Tyler Robinson is lost, and he has placed all his love in eros. His trans lover is lost in the same way. Some of Tyler’s friends seem to understand this. A post reported by Klippenstein after the assassination asked for prayer.
“Regardless of the horrible actions that took place we must take this moment to remember that God is a living and loving God who loves all his children,” a Discord post from another friend posted the day after the shooting reads. “While Charlie Kirk's politics were not acceptable to some l ask that we all say a prayer for him and his family during these confusing times.”
The post also says “God calls sinners to be his Saints and I ask that you all take a quiet moment to pray for Tyler and his repentance.”
I cannot be angry when God’s heart is grieved and broken, and Jesus is looking for someone to help him knock on Tyler’s heart. Unlike the rest of us, Tyler’s timeline is much better known. He will likely die at the hands of the state, or he will die in prison. The rest of us don’t know when eternity will come for us. Charlie Kirk didn’t know, but Charlie is in heaven. Tyler has the chance to change his own heart, to exchange his eros love for agape love, the unconditional love of God.
One of our readers has asked how Christians can say they hate sin, or call same-sex relationships and transgender culture an abomination, yet say we love sinners. The answer is God and agape. Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ didn’t die only for the saved. He died for all, for sinners. Christ died for Tyler Robinson as well as Charlie Kirk.
I can’t love Charlie Kirk (and to be honest, I disagreed with many of Kirk’s political views, and the crowd he kept company with), but hate Kirk’s killer, if God loved both of them. I was angry with Tyler Robinson, but God has shown me that he is a lost person doing what lost people do. Tyler’s passions are obviously misplaced, but even had he not killed Charlie Kirk, they were misplaced, as so many in that lifestyle find themselves.
It is more important to seek the one lost sheep than to spend all day shearing the 99 found sheep. This is why I cannot be angry at Tyler Robinson. All I can do is pray for him, and for all who are in a similar situation, but have not committed murder. If they hate, they have committed murder in their minds, so Christ’s forgiveness is always required.
And for Christians, if they hate Tyler Robinson, or his trans lover, or anyone in that community, it’s the same as murder. The state won’t come to take them to jail, or give them the death penalty, but the devil can consume them just the same. Hate is a window for the enemy to steal faith, power and God’s anointing. There is a more excellent way; read 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
Maybe my lack of anger will get me cancelled. If that’s what it is, so be it. I’ve got higher priorities for my passion.
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: You can follow us on social media at several different locations. Official Racket News pages include:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsRacket
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewsRacket
Our personal accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter:
David: https://x.com/captainkudzu
Steve: https://x.com/stevengberman
Jay: https://x.com/curmudgeon_NH
Tell your friends about us!
I generally find some common ground with your commentary but you’ve lost me on your responses to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I didn’t necessarily expect the killer to be a raving loon but it turns out that he is somehow even worse. He had less emotion than a hit man, did the act as if it were his day job but for reasons that require us to reject any rationalizations that he presented to his friends and his intimate. Further, I get the impression that he would have been fine with someone else taking the fall for him.
I'm angry. Not necessarily at Robinson, whose heinous misguided action seems to have opened the floodgates that have been shut for far too long.
And that's why I'm angry. I've been forced to act OK with idiot pronouns, body-mutilation, and all manner of soul-crushing dogma for years now. The very dogma and mythical attachments that pushed not just Tyler -- but has been pushing young people into destroying themselves and by that measure, destroying their -- and our -- future.
I pity Robinson. He's in hell, and his hell will be magnified and presented for all the world to see. He was duped. His trans partner is duped. They were played as fools.
But I'm angry because no matter which way I turned the words -- as Kirk was doing -- trying to engage in GOOD FAITH--
I was met with BAD FAITH in return.
By people who've known me for decades, in some cases. I was guillotined for NOT hating Elon Musk by someone I really truly liked.
So yes, I'm angry. And I don't want to be angry anymore. In order for that feeling to ameliorate, I need to be F'n heard by the sinners who have somehow convinced themselves that evil is good, and no one should dare say otherwise.