'MAGA is hungry for a crackdown': Right-wing conspiracies thrive in Charlie Kirk case

24 September

Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk on March 6, 2025 (Sua Sponte Photography/Shutterstock.com)

In their quest for retribution for the slaying of far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk, MAGA is "dragging their allies in government down a rabbit hole of online conspiracy theories," according to an Axios report.

Following the FBI's failure to connect Kirk's killer to any left-wing movement or ideology, MAGA, says Axios, is "hungry for a crackdown."

The problem is, Axios says, "its enemy is ill-defined, and its definition of success is wholly unclear. A lack of answers from the Trump administration could leave vast swathes of the base deeply disappointed."

In their desperation for someone or something to point their fingers at, "theories about sprawling 'leftist' networks, accomplices at the scene of Kirk's slaying in Utah, or overseas involvement are being treated as live leads — even in the absence of hard evidence," Axios explains.

One of those conspiracy theories is that Kirk's alleged assassin Tyler Robinson didn't act alone, despite any evidence of any accomplice(s). Another focuses on Robinson's text messages with his roommate and alleged partner and friends, which conspiracy theorists allege were staged to clear others of any connection to knowledge of the shooting before it happened.

Experts told NBC News that "the Trump administration appears to be using Kirk’s assassination as an excuse to crack down on left-wing people and groups."

"You've got to get to the bottom of these groups, you've got to get to the bottom of antifa, you've got to see if there's any connections to Butler," said "War Room" host and President Donald Trump's first term chief White House strategist Steve Bannon, referring to the 2024 assassination attempt Trump in Pennsylvania.'

"We've got a whole lot of work to do, and no, I'm not buying the script that was in the text messages," he added.

Axios says that Trump's recent crackdown on the nonexistent antifa — a portmanteau for "Anti Fascist" — is also driving the conspiracy theories, despite the fact that experts say Robinson was anything but an anti-fascist even if he did write "Hey fascist! Catch!" on a bullet casing.

"Robinson is not a central-casting, rabble-rousing, far-left activist. He sounds about as far as you can get from antifa. He drove a Dodge Challenger, for goodness' sake," quipped the Daily Beast's David Gardner in an op-ed.

Another suggestion Axios calls "baseless" is that Israel was involved in Kirk's killing, leading to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release a video debunking it, calling it a "monstrous lie."

"Conspiracy theories are an inevitable part of any assassination," Axios says. "But with MAGA's grip on the Trump administration, unproven speculation is being elevated into official policy."

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