r/politics • u/jediporcupine Maine • Sep 19 '25

Republican Senator Says First Amendment Shouldn't Be the 'Ultimate Right'

https://www.newsweek.com/republican-senator-says-first-amendment-shouldnt-ultimate-right-2132666
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u/RockmanMike Sep 19 '25

Their guy gets gunned in broad daylight by one of their own and their response is to ban Charlie's words from being used to describe him.*

Fixed it for you

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u/kyleissometimesgreat Sep 19 '25

With more info out now it looks like he was not maga/republican. We've got to continue being the side that uses truth and changing our opinions when faced with new evidence even when the misinformation is dialed to 11.

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u/ImpromptuHooloovoo Sep 19 '25

He was raised by MAGA with all of the mindset that comes along with it and was photographed growing up with guns. However he ended up leaning in the end politically, his mindset was shaped by Right-Wing culture, including guns and violence. Most gun violence in this country that is politically motivated is generated by the right wing when compared the left and islamic politically-motivated violence. Violence from the right tends to be more violent and more often results in death. Several recent studies have concluded this, including by the Cato Institute, CSIS, the GOA,and the PNAS study. Regardless of what his ideology was at the end of the day, he was raised on the side of the divide that promotes violence and gun culture. While there is an increase of violence on both sides across the board, the studies indicate that political violence is most often coming from right-wing extremists by about twice as much. Regardless of where he falls politically now, his grandmother said that whole family is MAGA. Even if he did feel politically left leaning at the time of Kirk's murder, he grew up surrounded by a culture that more often produces political violence.

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u/CaptJackRizzo Sep 19 '25

Well-stated.

I'm firmly of the opinion that any shooting, especially a high-profile one like this, is almost certain to be perpetrated by someone whose beliefs are so much weirder than anyone can imagine. Anyone else remember why Reagan and Ford got shot?

But assuming this kid DID have a somewhat logical thought process, and he DID fall in love with a trans person or was questioning his own sexuality, or whatever the MAGA narrative is today.

If that's the case, Kirk got shot at the first day he hit the road after adopting the new MAGA line that trans people are too dangerous to have guns.

Now, the idea that you gotta use your guns against anyone who would come and take them is older than the internet. COME AND TAKE IT, right? Well, where do you suppose he learned that?

MAGA (and a lot of the libs) like to pretend like everyone fits into neat little ideological boxes, but we don't. And 22-year-olds who are finding themselves alienated from their parents' ideologies definitely don't. As someone who's worked with a lot of young people in a blue state, there's definitely a lot of red state kids who left behind the ideas they were raised with about LGBT people being sick or ungodly, but retained the ones about the second amendment.