'We have a statue of MLK': GOP lawmakers push for Charlie Kirk monument in Capitol
https://www.rawstory.com/charlie-kirk-statue-wow/Open linkView original on lemmy.world558
Comments148https://www.rawstory.com/charlie-kirk-statue-wow/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
Wow is that the original? I think we’re on volume 50 right now
An edit with a little vol.50 would be epic lol
Doing God's work!!! For Charlie! 🤣
In what universe is Charlie Kirk at all comparable to MLK?
Release the rest of the Epstein files. Release the Yahoo emails. Why is there a drawing of Epstein grooming children allegedly at Mar a Lago?
He's not, and they know it. Pretending he's a martyr for as long as they can is rhetorically useful to them.
hes useful as a distraction from the epstein files, The old guard dnc wants the news about to go away as much as the gop does. voting with the DS, knowing it wouldnt pass regardless.
He isn't and everyone knows it. It's what used to be trolling except it has now become a core principle and they are a full two or three generations into believing their own bullshit. It's like that guy who loves banter until you hit him with a slapper and it's a "he's gonna fight you in the parking lot" kind of situation but he called security and told them threats had been made and the cops are getting involved but it's ok because a few days later he got stabbed 7 times in Lovejoy NY for talking shit in a pool game and all was right with the world.
Sorry I got lost on that one but you get the point.
.......I'm not sure I do. I got distracted thinking about what kind of pool bet they had.
Do you mind explaining? I checked out of politics because of a mental breakdown. I’m sure you all understand. Who’s Kirk?
Charlie Kirk, the late fascist founder of turning point USA, a fascist propaganda organization.
A God-bothering fascist propaganda organization with heavy emphasis on gun fetishism.
An organization that was somehow allowed to have chapters on high school campuses. Some might call that grooming or indoctrination.
He was a piece of shit
Let's go down the list:
That's the list.
Someone probably equates the political nature and him being white to what happened to MLK Jr.
Yep, Martin Luther Mayonnaise.
Releasing the files was one of Charlie last wishes.
trump had him silenced.
They both got shot, apparently, is the link. He was their guy, and he got shot. Therefore, he’s just like MLK! /s
They better replace the statue of Lincoln.
They're trying to recover from the loss of Confederate statues over the years.
They're both famous guys who were in the news for things they said.
Didn't we get a big data dump that journalists are actively sifting through? FFS, the UK ambassador to the US just got sacked yesterday over the latest news.
At least take a minute to chew and swallow before you ask for another bite.
Your history teachers failed you.
I would be very surprised if Charlie Kirk has been included in anyone's history book to date.
If your understanding of why there are any statues of MLK boils down to “he was a famous guy who said stuff and then got shot,” your history teachers have failed you. And if that’s not your understanding, then it’s a terribly dismissive way to describe one of the greatest social traumas for Americans in the 20th century.
And yet it's the only common link between the two.
Both were very vocal about Christianity. King being a Reverend and Kirk being a christofascist
If we want to get down to the nut of it, he was an icon of a large and very successful social movement who was cut down in his prime by his political opponents.
But that does technically also qualify for Kirk. Also, for any number of Confederate General statues we'd thrown up across the nation in the wake of Jim Crow. Statues don't go to the "Good Guys", they go to the people whose movements have the wealth and the influence to build them.
If your history teacher hasn't conveyed that message, you might need to ask her why we've got Andrew Jackson's face on our money and a pedophile carved into Mt Rushmore. Monuments and statues aren't handed out objectively. They are propaganda works erected by the wealthy and powerful to venerate historical icons. Very real possibility we end up tearing down the MLK memorial under our current President in order to clear a space for these goons, sycophants, and freaks.
One was fighting for a better world, one for a worse one.
One of them deserves a statue, the other one not so much.
I just hope that those who want to have a statue of that hateful, spiteful, horrible person get what they deserve.
Statues don't get built based on who deserves one the most.
Wait, I know trump was SAYING he was going to put his face on.....but I never heard news that he DID it!
Sadly, not the first pedophile President
So you want a statue of a pedophile-defender, Kirk?
??? Reading comprehension and critical analysis abilities?
My city already has its fair share of Confederate generals and reactionary land barons littering our parks and museums. He would certainly fit in.
Mandelson was sacked because of the release of the birthday book by Epstein's estate, not by the government. The government did a "release" before that, but it looks like just a couple per cent was anything new. When people call for info to be released, they're probably most likely asking the government that's supposedly working for the people, not the paedo king's estate.
The assumption is perhaps that the estate has zero interest in releasing stuff damaging to themselves, while the government theoretically should be different.
Theoretically is the operative word here, at least for me. The government is staffed by the paedo king's associates, and they are never releasing anything. So there's never going to be anything released worth chewing and swallowing.
But it is entertaining to watch Trump not be in control of the narrative and squirm
What? He's an ambassador. Of course he was sacked by the government.
They're referring to the US government, not the UK one.
We got a Google Drive dump of data after thousands of fbi agents spent months redacting trumps name
Point to the redaction.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-08-01/epstein-files-trump-s-name-was-redacted-by-the-fbi
And while that one is new
Their latest release also was almost entirely published info.
Hey siri,
Find me the name of the woman Trump bought from Epstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Giuffre
No see she was sold to Prince Andrew.
Silly bot. I want the woman who was sold to Trump. $22,500 in the book of burthday letters.
Is that all it costs to buy a person???
I mean, I'm still appauled it happened. I'm just also shocked it's so cheap.
Virginia Giuffre’s family expresses shock over Trump saying Epstein ‘stole’ her
I'm so happy to see Mandelson lose his job. He was a toxic, corrupt presence in Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's governments too, and a general slimebag.
Come on, dude, you that's dishonest. Were Gandhi and Hitler the same person?
There is a big difference between. Most people who aren’t actively engaged in this type of discourse like you and I, or don’t pay meticulous attention to conservative media outlets, likely don’t know who Kirk is, let alone care.
MLK Jr. got historically important exposure on television with the broadcast of the March on Washington, D.C. This was one of the first civil rights events to be televised. When you have a new medium to disseminate news that for the first time gives you not just the voice but the image of the people involved, I think that has a huge impact. Prior to this, MLK Jr. was a highly respected religious leader.
Most people today, would probably have to seek out non-governmental sides of political discourse, to even know who Kirk is. I have no doubt your average conservative that watches Fox News has been exposed to Kirk, but they likely won’t recall any talking points. He wasn’t in an elected office. Today, that would probably be the only reason any lay person would listen to them.
Kirk's had his face plastered all over the news, his voice jammed into podcasts and radio shows, and his physical form injected into college campuses for over fifteen years running. You don't need to be an academic to know who he is, any more than you needed to be a wrestling fan to know Dwayne Johnson or a pop music obsessive to recognize Taylor Swift.
That's tens of millions of people. And then you've got the average liberal who watches MSNBC or tunes in to Colbert's Late Night. They can spot him, too. And then - again - anyone on a major college campus over the last fifteen years knows this guy purely because of his reputation as National Debate-Me Bro. The man did the college circuit hundreds of times. He's been a popular meme for at least a decade. He died running his mouth at a C-list university in Utah, ffs. That's how prolific the man was.
I would gamble that more people could recognize Charlie Kirk on sight than any of the last three Vice Presidents.
What the absolute fuck
Really working hard to distract from what the senate did yesterday being a shield for a pedophile
What has Charlie Kirk actually accomplished, though? Besides spreading hatred and bigotry, that is?
He's like the anti-MLK. Everything he stood for is the worst that conservatism has to offer.
He had a dream that america becomes like in the handmaid's tale.
He got some youths interested in politics
I think that's it
I mean, yes though. He was a huge influence on the reason the US is the way it is now and a big reason why so many young men think the way they do and elected the people they did.
He accomplished a pretty huge amount of shit. Just not good shit.
I've heard some say "it's better for someone to get into politics and disagree with me than to be apathetic"
On shit like tax burden and foreign policy not on who counts as a human being.
Yeah I don't know how politics descended that far
By letting horrible bigots have power, by not having actual protections against bad-faith actors, by tolerating hateful rhetoric despite the obvious cost to society.
We never finished the job. The civil war? We didn't finish the reconstruction, we let those bigots keep their power. The Nazis? We hired those monsters.
Two youts
I'll be honest, outside of Reddit/Lemmy I know exactly nothing about him. I just always assumed he was yet another far-right extremist podcaster. Like Andrew Tate, but allowed to be in the US. Side note, it took me forever to figure out who Andrew Tate was, because I think people thought I was trolling when I asked "who is this dork?".
Incredibly replaceable, alt-right influencer, Your matt wahs your shapiro honeslty they all blend together for me.
To a point, yeah, but he was far more influential and sick than what used to be the average. Shapiro looks down right reasonable when compared to kirk, and kirk's outlet has managed to worm its way into schools. Like, officially.
Do it, I would love a place my dog can take a shit if I ever visit.
Putting Charlie Kirk's giant face up across the street from the MLK memorial would be a real "What do they stand for?" moment for generations to come.
Giant head. Normal sized face.
Someone's gonna shoot the statue in the neck
Oh my god that might actually make it worth it
You have a statue of MLK because he deserved it.
You should not get a statue for Kirk for the same reason that there is no statue of Joseph Göbbels in Berlin.
This is the martyr they wanted for whatever reason to finally roll out their next phase. He'll be used to lock up/kill anyone that says anything negative about the administration. They're treating this nazi like he was jesus fucking christ.
Umm, they were already kind of doing that
We're going 120 mph into fascism and then Charlie is killed and they go "now you've done it! This is a turning point!!" and increase the speed to 130 mph.
Dealing with conservatives is an endless sequence of "this is common sense, but how does that relate to Trumpers?"
Some might even say it's a Turning Point USA!
::Dons sunglasses with one hand to an opening song from The Who::
Go ahead, hold him higher. Ring that bell as loud as you can. Identify yourselves as sycophants and fascists. Tell us what we already know.
There was a republican politician who wanted to take back the word Nazi like how black people use the N word. We are at the point in society where calling someone a Nazi, or a fascist, is not the worst thing you can do. In fact, it encourages the bootlicker to double down on their rhetoric.
The US Republicans and moderates welcomed fascism. How convenient as it's at a time where mostly all WW2 vets have passed away. The irony of their grandchildren welcoming the same evil they fought against.
You’re referring to a Fox News anchor
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SqIT3zjHu9I&pp=
Putting a monument for this turd in the capital he tried to overthrow is just perfectly republican. These people are going to milk this guys death for the next dozen years at least.
Conservative, not Republican. Wilson, a Democrat and tied with Jackson for worst president ever, though Trump is working towards that but I digress. Wilson is responsible for authoring Southern Revisionist History, the refounding of the KKK, and all those Confederate statues that we finally started tearing down.
It's going to be relentless. Right now, some washed up pop-country knobhead is probably in the studio recording The Ballad of Charlie Kirk.
Until the next one who has been preaching violence gets a taste of it.
Remember kids, fascists need a martyr & will happily make their own if needed.
Yeah go ahead. Put it with a plaque that says what will be his famous quote "I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year".
Worst administration ever.
I mean sure but we knew that back in January of 2017
D:
They want to add a gender neutral bathroom? I thought they hated those.
Hope his statue looks absolutely ridiculous. Like it's based off the edits of the man with an extra tiny face
Those are actually just pictures of him.
Omg. Please let this happen. Not because I care about Charlie. No, he was a racist asshole who reaped the rewards if his own rhetoric.
No no. I just want a sculpture to try and figure out how close he should make Kirks eyes. Knowing that someone had to actually objectively think about that makes me feel all warm and tingly on the inside.
We could have something that transcends this.
Except maybe it could dispense drinks from it's neck hole.
Charlie Kirk is not deserving of a bust as good as this. I'm not being sarcastic.
That one already looks a lot like him, they can just use it.
That would be recycling, which is woke. They'll need it manufactured by slaves in saudi arabia to ensure its not woke.
Kirk was more a Goebbels than an MLK, and more a Horst Wessel than a Goebbels. And even then, not one who was that good at sticking to the party line.
also the fact that charlie himself was recently ranting about files too, so the timing is very suspicious. because kirk has huge influence over young college age incel-to-gop pipeline, hes a threat.
Wait did he? looks at kirks twitter well these posts weren't there when I last looked at that. (after his death.)
This dude had more unreliable narrator vibes than an Iain Banks Novel.
This doesn't matter at all. Release the Epstein files.
and the yahoo emails from epstein
DC does need more public restrooms
Lol. I'll personally deface that shit.
How is this not the Onion
Only if it includes a water feature at neck-level with some red lighting to re-create his finest moment.
They just so desperately want to be important and yet their desperation is making the times very important but their actions completely unworthy of being praised.
So stupid.
I am assuming they put an excerpt from "I have a dream" for MLK. I wonder what they'll put for CK? The empathy one, the sacrifices must be made for guns one or his actual final words about "gang violence"?
"Glglugglgulguguguglllgguuu"
Wisest thing he ever said.
Fuckin go for it. It'll get trashed the following day and every day following it.
The National Guard will finally have something to do in DC
Oh yeah. Totally normal to throw up a statue before the bodies cold.
A statue to pedo-protector Charlie Kirk, friend to pedos the world over, and beloved by all pedos?
Sure, DC could use more public bathrooms.
Would it not be better to have monuments to ideals instead of people, who can be flawed, idolized? ...asking for a friend
We have those too. Justice with her blindfold, scales, and sword as well as lady liberty with her woke poem claiming we want huddled masses yearning to be free. Hell, even our obsession with our founding documents fits in that category
My friend asks further, are they set in front of buildings named for the aforementioned flawed people? Thus giving credence to an entire life as opposed to the goodwil at the end, exemplis Carnegie, Morgan, Westinghouse, Gates, etc.
The statue of liberty is in the middle of the Hudson Bay (named after it's discoverer, James Hudson) on an artificial island built for it.
Lady Justice is found all over, largely in front of governmental buildings.
The bronze bull is a symbol of capitalist growth found on wall street (named after a type of stone barrier that once existed at that location) in front of the New York Stock Exchange building (named after it's location and purpose).
You aren't wrong that many monuments to concepts are outside buildings named after complicated people. But a lot of the iconic ones aren't. The Atlas of Rockefeller square is iconic but it's iconic in that it is art at a location associated with the profession done in the building behind it. It's seen as a symbol of television production not a symbol of New York or the abstract concept of mass media. Chicago's art deco definitely has a lot of statues in front of buildings named after people but they aren't iconic to the point that it's hard to think of a statue or monument as iconic to Chicago as the statue of liberty, the Hollywood sign, the liberty bell, or the space needle, none of which are associated with people's names.
Really it's mostly DC filled with monuments to people that are actually iconic. I like the Albert Einstein monument. It isn't popular or convenient but that just means it isn't overdone. Just statue to honor a scientist and pacifist activist.
My friend appreciates your honesty, but asks why the news coverage is about slaver and oppressor monuments instead of ideals?
Because those are the controversial ones. Everyone more or less likes the statue of liberty. Its been around for a very long time and it's downright cliche to talk about it. Nobody wants it removed.
Alternatively every few months the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus, Ohio outside the state legislature gets vandalized. A lot of people that live there resent that their home is named after a man who committed genocide.
In the south statues of confederates often serve as proxies for ideals. Their maintenance is a symbol of heritage and rebellion (and sometimes racial dominance) to their supporters and their removal is a symbol of progress, equality, and improvement to those who wish them removed. But the reality of these being people makes it messier. And yeah it's controversial so its news.
Like, nobody is looking to tear down the space needle. It's a symbol of space age progress and the city of Seattle. It's not newsworthy, you won't hear much about it, because it's just there.
Which brings me back to my initial query? Why idolize people instead of ideals?
DC really could use more public places to piss.
They are REALLY fucking itching for their Horst Wessel.
Gross, but yeah, you're right.
Hey liberals, if republicans are so transphobic, why would they build a gender neutral bathroom in the capital? Checkmate!
New public toilet! Sweet
I will only support this if its also a fountain.
Best I can do is a urinal
i hope if that ever goes up, some based dude with a sledge hammer goes to work.
Hell yes, sow more distrust and anger. That's the way to unify the country 🤣😂
Thermite.
lol no
I wondered how long it would take to draw a direct comparison to MLK.
How about a statue for all the kids murdered by your insane gun policy?
They'll need to use an electron gun to carve the face on the regular sized head if they want to make the scale accurate.
Shooting a statue in the neck in honour of his propaganda success.
This is ok as long as they accurately reflect his big beautiful face.