Within hours of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, President Trump spoke from the Oval Office. He mourned the loss of a great man. He asked for prayers for Erika and the family. Then he said:
“It’s long past time for all Americans in the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree - day after day, year after year - in the most hateful and despicable way possible. For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans, like Charlie, to Nazis and the world’s worst murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we are seeing in our country today. And it must stop right now.”
“Demonizing those with whom you disagree” has consequences. Not only does it divert attention from an actual discussion of the issues, but it also directly harms the targeted person.
It makes him a pariah to those who have never heard him speak for himself and prejudices them from giving him a fair hearing.
Over time, a steady drumbeat of demonization foments hatred toward the victim. It is the first step on the way to murder.
Murder begins with hate. Hate is fueled by words. That’s why Jesus teaches us to resist the beginnings. Jesus lays this out up front in his Sermon on the Mount. He extends “Thou shalt not kill” to anger, insults and name-calling. (Matthew 5:21-22).
More than a week has passed since Trump made his appeal. So far, no American in the mainstream media has condemned the demonization.
Last Friday, five of Wyoming’s Democratic state lawmakers took to the pages of Cowboy State Daily to denounce the president when he reiterated his appeal on Fox & Friends.
They unambiguously condemned the assassination, distinguishing themselves from radical leftists who celebrated Kirk’s murder. For that I sincerely thank them.
But in condemning the president for naming the radical left, they passed over his first sentence altogether. Not one condemned the “demonizing of those with whom you disagree.”
Instead, Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) doubled down. He demonized, with ascending vitriol, the president, Charlie Kirk, and MAGA.
He obscenely accused Kirk of using “hateful strategies, racism in particular.” That is a lie. I don't think Rothfuss made it up. I think he was deceived by others.
Charlie Kirk did not use hateful strategies or racism. Christianity fundamentally rejects every form of racism. And before anything else, Charlie was a Christian.
A professor should be more responsible than that. The barest academic curiosity - like looking at a quote in context - would have made the lie obvious. We should expect our academics to do their own research, rather than rely on butchered quotes from a left-wing newspaper.
Why not talk to Charlie directly? He visited UW just last April. Doubtless, he would have invited Rothfuss to the front of the line and listened to the accusation and any evidence that he brought.
Then, as millions of his followers know, Charlie’s deep love for all people, regardless of race, would have been obvious. And by his passionate rejection of DEI and the liberal policies that harmed minority families and communities disproportionately, he would have demonstrated that he is even more anti-racist than Rothfuss.
Not even one of the four legislators from the UW community took the opportunity to talk with Charlie. I am sure they were busy. But, if you won’t talk with Charlie when he is in your own backyard, it is bad form to talk about him after his voice is silenced.
After falsely labeling a man who was shot after cheerfully tossing MAGA hats into the crowd, Rothfuss went on to demonize 70 percent of Wyoming’s voters. “The MAGA movement,” he told the reporter, “is racist and divisive in its core.”
“In its core.” Let that sink in. Think about your neighbor with the Trump flag and ask, “Is he racist to the core?” Are we supposed to believe that under every MAGA hat in the crowd lurks a vile racist? And what about the 192,633 Wyomingites who pulled a lever for Trump? Are they all racists, or only most?
Words mean things. When you use them to paint real people as the polar opposite of who they are, it does not have a cooling effect. It is napalm.
If you want to lower the temperature, you can start by speaking accurately, like a professor should!
Assure Wyoming - and your base - that Charlie Kirk is not a racist.
Assure your constituents, students, and colleagues that you really don’t think that they are racist to the core.
And, if you are really daring, proscribe the entire arsenal of incendiary insults—like Nazi, Fascist, homophobe, and hater.
John Fetterman (D-PA) has already blazed a trail for his party to follow. God bless him. He pleaded with them: “Don’t ever, ever compare anyone to Hitler and those kinds of extreme things.” Will Wyoming follow?
The path is clear. If you want to lower the temperature, you know what to say. Wyoming is listening.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
