Writing From Exile

Immediately after far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk was killed, Republican politicians and media figures started blaming trans people and “the left” for the shooting, even though the suspect had not been identified and authorities did not know the motive for the shooting. President Trump’s own son went on TV to blame trans people, falsely claiming that trans people are more dangerous than al-Qaeda, thus stoking further fear, hatred, and violence against trans people. Trump supporters immediately increased their death threats against Democratic politicians, with Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Michigan State Sen. Jeremy Moss, and Maryland’s top General Assembly leaders all receiving credible bomb threats, while other Trump supporters proclaimed “this is war,” and called for “the power of the state” to be used to “crush the left.” In fact, since Kirk’s death, many conservative officials, political pundits, and influencers have been calling for war or civil war on social media. Even when Democratic politicians have called for Trump to help “lower the political temperature” in the nation, they’ve received death threats for doing so. The increase in threats of violence has been so bad that members of congress have had to cancel events and increase their personal security.

It wasn’t just random people on social media calling for violence against Democrats and “the left,” but also Republican members of congress and even the president. Before any facts were known about the shooter or motive, Trump vowed vengeance and retribution against the political left. He openly called for violence against the political left, saying “We have to beat the hell out of them,” and he insinuated that Democrats and “the left” are terrorists. Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, who has been highly influential in shaping many of Trump’s policies, openly vowed on TV that he and Trump would use law enforcement to “dismantle the left.” This comes at a time when Trump continues to escalate his threats of sending the military to take over Democratic-run cities and states, musing that the Democratic-run city of Memphis might be next.

Some Republican politicians have pledged a censorship crackdown on the left to avenge Charlie Kirk’s death, with one lawmaker saying that he’s “going to use Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” and that he’s “also going after their business licenses and permitting, their businesses will be blacklisted aggressively, they should be kicked from every school, and their drivers licenses should be revoked. I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination.” (While random people on the internet might have made light of his death given that Kirk was a Neo-Nazi who made a living spreading hate and advocating for violence, no prominent Democratic politicians or left-leaning media figures celebrated his death.) The State Department even suggested revoking visas for anyone who was insufficiently mournful of Kirk’s death on social media. Given that the Trump administration has already begun searching through the social media accounts of people who enter the U.S., there is a real threat that, if I were to return to the U.S., they could find what I’ve written on social media or the research that I’ve published, and if they don’t like my political speech, they could have me detained in a men’s detention center, where I would be raped.

Charlie Kirk’s death has brought about a watershed of persecution and targeting of people on the left for their political speech, with a bill now working its way through Congress that would allow Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to singularly, and without due process, revoke the passports of any U.S. citizen who engages in political speech that Trump and his MAGA allies don’t like. When this goes into effect, it means that if I were to return to the U.S., and if airport or border security searched my phone or found my published research, under orders from the Secretary of State, if they don’t like what they read, I could have my passport taken away. This would prevent me from being able to flee the U.S. again in the future. It also means that if I return before this goes into effect, I would face immense difficulty in fleeing again.

For what it’s worth, Tyler Robinson, the young man who killed Charlie Kirk, was not trans or part of the political left, but appears to have been a part of a different faction of White Christian Nationalism than Charlie Kirk, one that has been at odds with Kirk’s brand of White Christian Nationalism. Reporting indicates that Tyler Robinson was likely part of the far-right groyper movement, which is comprised of predominantly young white men steeped in a specific internet subculture with its own lingo and meme culture and who idolize known white supremacist, Nick Fuentes. In fact, Robinson grew up Mormon, itself a religion that was founded on White Christian Nationalism. All of this is to say, a member of the far-right killed another member of the far-right, which has led to increased threats of violence and persecution against trans people and the political left.