Charlie Kirk’s death continues to have a ripple effect across the nation. In Tennessee, a young pastor announced to his congregation that the tragic day of Kirk’s assassination significantly reshaped his political beliefs. In what seemed to be an open-air gathering, the unnamed religious leader declared, according to a post on Reddit, that he and many people he knew who were impartial to politics had switched sides to the extreme right after Charlie Kirk’s death.
Sounding like a clarion call to the younger generation, he urged them to join the movement, “If you’re not in college, just get involved.” The local pastor’s speech painted their shift as instant and triggered by the death of the right-wing advocate. “A lot of people were moderates on September 9th. They weren’t very politically involved. But after September 10th, we turned moderates into right-wing extremists,” he exclaimed.
This announcement drew cheers and applause of approval from the crowd. The pastor was very pleased by this reaction, beaming with smiles and declaring, “I love seeing that.”
The online response wasn’t as warm. A Redditor who branded the right-wing extremists Nazis stated the new converts had just been initiated into their association. “Yep, these are the new Nazi’s alright.” Agreeing, another responded sarcastically, “The new Nazi’s *alt-right.” One social media user dismissed the pastor’s narrative outright, writing, “That’s such a disingenuous statement. Like so many things the far right says. No non-political moderates were turned into extremists overnight. I simply don’t buy it.”
Another critic, clearly not a fan, lamented, “It doesn’t take so much to radicalize right-wing young men. All it takes for those men to be monsters is to be told they can be.” This Redditor pressed with sarcasm, penned, “Since when did Jesus endorse Capitalist greed, racism, and pedophilia?” Another was torn between which action was more alarming, writing, “Not sure which is more concerning: the audience applauding or him saying, ‘I love seeing that’ right after.”
Contrary to most, a netizen was convinced that one thing the pastor said was true. “The right is about to get a lot more extreme, he’s not wrong,” they stated. The pastor’s proclamation came in response to the shooting and death of right-wing extremist and popular conservative, Kirk. The political activist was delivering a speech to a group of students on campus in Utah on September 10 when he was fatally shot in the neck. The death of the media personality was later announced by President Donald Trump that same day.
