One Republican Has Been More Two-Faced About Charlie Kirk's Critics Than Any Other

"In the days since Charlie Kirk's shooting, a level of performative concern about limiting speech critical of the slain conservative has spread far and wide. It's led to normally critical liberal pundits, like Ezra Klein, celebrating Kirk's life and work, while others have been fired for merely bringing attention to things Kirk has said via direct quote. This hypervigilant policing of speech critical of Kirk reveals hypocrisy on all sides."

"Specifically, Abbott in recent days has been mighty busy on X, where he's been using his platform to spotlight college students who he believes should be punished for their speech during campus memorial services for Kirk. Without identifying any rules or law violations, Abbott suggested that at least one Texas college student should be expelled and celebrated the arrestof another student."

"It started last Sunday, when a video posted to X showed 18-year-old Camryn Giselle Booker confronting a group of her classmates at Texas Tech University as they were holding a vigil for Kirk on campus. A male student who appears to have been participating in the vigil filmed the incident and posted it online in a series of clips, the first one showing Booker briefly coming up behind vigil-goers and jumping up and down while shouting expletives seeming to celebrate Kirk's death. The video segues into a second clip revealing the male student filming. He's wearing a red Make America Great Again hat and dark sunglasses, and says, "Evil is real, people, and it kind of looks like that," as he pans the camera to Booker."

After Charlie Kirk's shooting, performative concern about limiting speech critical of the slain conservative spread widely, prompting praise from typically critical liberal pundits and job losses for those who quoted Kirk. Hypervigilant policing of speech critical of Kirk revealed hypocrisy across the political spectrum. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott used X to spotlight college students he said should be punished for their speech at campus memorials, calling for at least one expulsion and celebrating an arrest without citing rules or laws. A viral video showed 18-year-old Camryn Giselle Booker confronting vigil-goers at Texas Tech, jumping and shouting expletives, while a filmed narrator denounced her behavior.

Read at Slate Magazine