DANIEL VAUGHAN: Charlie Kirk's Memorial Shows Two Americas

By 
 September 22, 2025

What Ericka Kirk did on Sunday, eulogizing her husband and forgiving the assassin, was incredible. It will go down as one of the best speeches and messages in American political history. Her message was broadcast to everyone, but only heard by moderates and the right - that is a major problem.

We are watching two Americas, separated by extremely different reactions to Kirk's assassination. On the right, church attendance is exploding. It doesn't matter which denomination you look at; everyone is seeing more people attending church.

Viral videos on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, and more are showing people explaining why they are attending church. Charlie Kirk is frequently mentioned. His simple message of God, family, and country resonates, and people are rushing to fulfill it.

In terms of developments for the future of the country, this is overwhelmingly positive. Chuch attendance brings people back into a community, towards God, and together. It's not perfect, but it's better than relying on the internet to create these things.

On the left, a radically different and more dangerous response is growing. Conservatives recognize these as signs of left-wing terrorism that have existed for years. Nothing is holding it back anymore.

A radical leftist killed Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel is in hot water because he blamed MAGA for this point. You can excuse a comedian for getting basic facts wrong, though. He's likely one of the nearly 3 million liberal readers of Heather Cox Richardson, who told her audience that fact - with no evidence - and they have dutifully repeated it.

And she was repeating the nonsensical claims of "news analysis" pieces that refused to tell readers what the assassin wrote on his bullets or texted to his trans roommate. A plain reading of the charging document prosecutors released to the public, along with family and witness statements, tells you the truth quickly.

Tyler Robinson is a liberal. He killed Kirk because he hated Kirk for his beliefs and speech.

Combine that with the DNA and video evidence we have, and the case is strong. The interpretations of anything contrary are desperation from the left to deny that man charged by hateful rhetoric created this moment.

Unfortunately, Kirk's death is not the end. The hateful response from the left is continuing.

As I wrote last week, the appearance of George Zinn at the scene of the murder, instinctively helping the assassin, is a bad sign. Utah is not a bastion of liberalism. Yet, the assassin, Tyler Robinson, got help on a university campus from a person who jumped at an opportunity to be a martyr to help an assassin escape.

What if this wasn't Utah? If we were in New York, California, or some other deeply blue bastion, how many more George Zinns would have helped?

We can't end there, though. In Texas and Arizona, radical leftists attacked either Charlie Kirk's memorials or the people at them. Police made arrests in both cases, with charges pending.

The day after Jimmy Kimmel was removed from the air, a crazy leftist shot up an ABC affiliate studio in Sacramento, California. Journalists identified the shooter's social media account, where he praises and mocks the killing of Charlie Kirk.

And we've only covered the Charlie Kirk stuff so far. None of this counts the violence and vitriol from liberals murdering in the name of Palestinians.

The same day as Kirk's memorial, a man rushed into the Sky Meadow Country Club in the middle of a wedding. He started shooting people while shouting "Free Palestine." According to witnesses:

The armed maniac, wearing a mask, stormed into the wedding, flipped off the guests and shouted "the children are safe" and "Free Palestine," witnesses told local media. "Getting together for a dance for the bride and groom and then all chaos went off," Tom Bartelson, the uncle of the groom, said. "We heard about six shots and everybody ducked for cover and next thing you know we're rushed into safe spots and things like that."

The murder in this case can be added to the cold-blooded murders of a Jewish couple in Washington D.C., earlier this year. The suspect in that case had a similar message and sought out Jews to murder.

There's also the case in Utah where a Fox affiliate van discovered bombs placed under it. "The suspects, Adeeb Nasir, 58, and Adil Justice Ahmed Nasir, 31, are facing multiple charges, including threat of terrorism, possessing weapons of mass destruction and possessing explosive devices."

It's unknown if those two fall into the same category as everyone else. But they did target a Fox affiliate station that was reporting news. Draw your own conclusions.

Here's the problem: most of these stories and cases are known to both conservatives and moderates. Your average Democrat does not see or know these stories and has convinced themselves that all the violence in the country is solely from the right.

The opposite is happening. People who have convinced themselves that the right is an existential threat are acting accordingly and switching to outright violence.

The Kirk memorial won't change anything. As Tom Bevan at RealClearPolitics noted, The Huffington Post is calling Kirk Memorial, where his wife forgave the assassin, a "ragefest."

We now have two different Americas. And the problem is that the left no longer exists in something based on fact, truth, or reality. The fictional universe they've created for themselves is providing the moral framework and facts necessary to act out dark fantasies of violence.

We're in a dangerous place as a country. Erika Kirk took the most loving and challenging position for any Christian. The response from the left is to call that hate.

This kind of division is unsustainable. However, American history is clear on one point: these divisions do not fester; they resolve, even if violence is necessary.

That leaves full churches one task: unceasing prayer. You've entered a pivotal epoch in American history, and the pews are filling.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson