{"id":455,"date":"2026-07-21T10:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=455"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:36:21","slug":"the-prosecution-of-charlie-kirks-alleged-killer-is-underway-its-a-big-maga-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=455","title":{"rendered":"The Prosecution of Charlie Kirk\u2019s Alleged Killer Is Underway. It\u2019s a Big MAGA Mess."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The legal prosecution against Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is underway. Earlier this month, a judge held a preliminary hearing to determine whether prosecutors had enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial. (It\u2019s expected that the case will.) When Kirk was fatally shot in September, conservatives predicted his death would be a catalyst for a revival\u2014a moment of remaking America, and one heavily infused with conservative Christian values. But no such revival was forthcoming: The conservative movement fragmented after Kirk\u2019s death, divided by a host of wild conspiracy theories over the \u201creal story\u201d behind the killing.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s War in Iran Was Already Going Poorly. Then This Weekend Happened.<\/a><\/p>\n

If MAGA had any hope of uniting around Robinson\u2019s prosecution, it evaporated almost instantly. Instead, the pretrial this month resurfaced the schisms. While the legal proceedings played out, conservative content creators rushed to social media to accuse each other of idiocy, bigotry, plotting, and evil.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Candace Owens, the far-right personality who has turned fully against her former colleagues at Turning Point USA\u2014the group Kirk led before his death\u2014and against President Donald Trump, leads the faction that opposes the official narrative about Kirk\u2019s killing. Owens and her allies argue that Kirk was not killed by a lone 23-year-old, instead claiming, dubiously, that evidence points to a broader conspiracy. She tends to speculate that Israel was behind the killing and that other Turning Point figures, including Kirk\u2019s widow, Erika, participated in the cover-up. Owens\u2019 arguments are often nonsensical, but because she commands an audience of more than 6 million YouTube subscribers, they have enough power to force the rest of the commentary class to rebut them.<\/p>\n

Fox News, for example, ran segments addressing the conspiracy theories. The Daily Wire published a rebuttal to one particular argument about the bullet\u2019s trajectory. The National Review\u2019s editorial board published a summary of the \u201cdamning case\u201d against Robinson. Countless other MAGA influencers published scornful responses on social media. Prominent MAGA influencers such as the conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec are calling for Robinson to receive the death penalty.<\/p>\n

But the MAGA movement should know by now that these conspiracy theories were inevitable. For one, the Kirk killing was destined to become tied up with the internet\u2019s passion for true crime. On YouTube, the videos about Kirk aren\u2019t only by journalists and political actors. Some are by amateur forensic analysts and would-be internet sleuths with podcast names like The Murder Men<\/em> that dissect the killing as if it\u2019s a 1980s cold case.<\/p>\n

More importantly, however, the MAGA influencers are all well aware of the financial incentives behind the conversation. Owens, who has been casting about for conspiracy theories related to Kirk\u2019s death since the day it happened, had long ago given creators some sort of cover for mining the \u201ccontroversy\u201d for content. Even though there is no evidence of anyone beyond Tyler Robinson being involved in the killing, the very existence<\/em> of a challenge to the official narrative means social media creators can invoke a \u201cdebate\u201d and rehash the conspiracy-theory arguments for a higher view count. Shawn Ryan, whose YouTube show has 5.7 million subscribers, interviewed Owens, as a neutral party, to simply hear her out. Smaller accounts regurgitated Owens\u2019 claims in their own videos, with no apparent value added.<\/p>\n

Read more By the People<\/a><\/p>\n

This has proven a rich vein for smaller accounts. A content creator named Baron Coleman received 503,000 views on a single stream about \u201csuspicious\u201d issues with the killing\u2014far more views than he has followers. Two \u201cindependent\u201d podcasters who embraced the conspiracy theories posted photos of themselves camping out in order to secure their spot in line for the hearing; their \u201ccoverage\u201d was amplified heavily online.<\/p>\n

But though most members of the right-wing media class have harnessed these trends for their own gain in other contexts, they\u2019re clearly frustrated by this conspiracy theorist cohort. To them, Robinson as a lone actor is a perfectly satisfactory explanation for Kirk\u2019s killing, as it buttresses arguments about the left\u2019s violence. Owens\u2019 antisemitic conspiracy theories actively make the conservative movement look worse. And so people associated with Turning Point USA and the Daily Wire continue to decry Owens and other prominent conspiracy-theory content creators as vultures. The conspiracy theorists have hit back with as much heat, accusing the \u201cmainstream\u201d right of being, in Tucker Carlson\u2019s son\u2019s words, \u201ca seething legion of Zio-bots and other paid liars.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an effort to redirect the conversation, some of the right-wing accounts have tried to stir up their own outrage at the legal proceedings, complaining about the cost of Robinson\u2019s defense to the taxpayer or about the lengthy timeline. (A case in which a state is seeking the death penalty, as the prosecution has indicated it will, usually requires more time.) But those efforts don\u2019t seem to have caught on.<\/p>\n

The problem is that it\u2019s hard to argue with real conviction that a murder couldn\u2019t be staged when your movement has so fully embraced conspiracy theories at large scale. Donald Trump Jr., who attended the hearing, prefaced a Fox News appearance arguing against the conspiracy theories by noting he was \u201csomeone who is a big skeptic on a lot of things, who\u2019s called it out for a long period of time.\u201d Often, commentators first clarify that they\u2019re open to questioning narratives before arguing that this specific narrative shouldn\u2019t be questioned.<\/p>\n

The infighting within MAGA isn\u2019t new. The incentives to create content about that infighting aren\u2019t new, either. But perhaps nothing before has made it so clear as the Kirk conspiracy theories that no one has narrative control on the right. And as was indicated by this hearing\u2014a teaser for a potentially much bigger event\u2014it\u2019s likely only going to get worse for the MAGA movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court Has Gone Off the Rails. There\u2019s Actually a Fix. We Just Have to Go Through With It.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conservatives hoped the activist\u2019s death would unite the movement\u2014and the country. But the well of conspiracy theories has no bottom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[138,147,131,59,211],"class_list":["post-455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-conspiracy-theories","tag-crime","tag-internet-culture","tag-media","tag-social-media"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Prosecution of Charlie Kirk\u2019s Alleged Killer Is Underway. 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