The Murder and Myth of Charlie Kirk

For years, fascist forces in America have been loosely bifurcated along spiritual and secular lines, one turning a hijacked faith into a holy war against “godless Liberals” and the other using metastasized political power to cripple democracy, curtail free speech, and crush the “lunatic Left." The murder of Charlie Kirk changed all that, and brought the two trajectories together, dramatically and dangerously.

A broad united front for fascism now confronts us. To propel its potency, the real Charlie Kirk had to be replaced by a mythologized one, something masters of deceit promptly manufactured.

The MAGA Martyr

In the wake of his death, comparing Charlie Kirk to martyred saints of the church, especially Stephen, was standard fare for MAGA pastors. Rob McCoy, who claims to have been Kirk’s pastor, declared that “we are in a spiritual battle; the same murderous spirit that raged against the prophets, that crucified Christ and martyred Stephen is raging again in our day.” A podcast called Reasons For Hope*Jesus produced a slick video on “Parallels in the Death of Stephen (Acts 7) and Charlie Kirk.” Garret Cuzick, a pastor in Kentucky, delivered a sermon on “The Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk” the Sunday following his murder pointing out that “Saint Stephen was killed and thousands rose up; I pray that because of Charlie Kirk’s death, thousands, if not millions, rise up. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” Bob Lonsberry, a member and former missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the same church affiliation as Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s assassin), broadcast a “sermon on the death of Charlie Kirk” also comparing Kirk to Stephen, both as martyrs: “We saw that with Stephen, and saw it with Charlie. When you speak divine truth to the powers of darkness, the cost can be very high.” Timothy Dolan, cardinal of NYC and former president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, identified Kirk as a “modern St. Paul.” Ralph Hathaway went a bit further in his September 20 article in Catholic365—“Charlie Kirk, JFK, RFK, MLK and St. Stephen: All Heroes and Saints for the Courage to Speak Out for Righteousness.”

Comparing Charlie Kirk to St. Stephen was also a common theme at his memorial service held in a packed NFL stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Donald Trump Jr. even claimed that Charlie, like Stephen, likely saw Jesus standing next to God welcoming him to heaven. Other speakers enhanced his hagiography with comparisons to St. Francis, Moses, Washington, Lincoln, JFK, and MLK. Robert Kennedy Jr. even has the audacity to explicitly (and incorrectly) assert that both Christ and Charlie died at age 31 and that both “changed the trajectory of history” with their lives and deaths.

The memorial service, which attracted a MAGA pantheon of elected and appointed officials, was held on September 21, World Peace Day, yet speakers repeatedly talked of a spiritual war engulfing America and the need to put on “the full armor of God.” Benny Johnson of Turning Point opened his tribute with shouts of “fight for Charlie Kirk” and then referenced Romans 13 to substantiate his call for godly rulers to “wield the sword against the terror of evil men in our nation.” Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, asserted that the opposition “cannot conceive of the army they have arisen in all of us,” and confidently proclaimed that “we will defeat forces of darkness.” Ben Carson, perhaps the only African-American at this event, raged against Marxists and proponents of the Social Gospel. US President Donald Trump raised the specter of “Antifa terrorists” and “radical left lunatics,” contrasting them with “the immortal” Charlie Kirk, “a great American hero” whose “voice will echo through the generations.”

The Nazi Martyr

Instead of these contrived comparisons of Charlie Kirk with saints of the church and heroes of the state, there is a strikingly real one with another racist reprobate glorified by fascists. Horst Wessel was the son of a Lutheran pastor and raised as a devout Christian. During the turbulent 1920s in Weimar Germany, he joined several right-wing political gangs before settling on membership in the Nazi Party in 1926 as part of the notorious and brutal SA, the Brown Shirts. His passion and pugnacity caught the attention of the Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels, who sent him to a Nazi youth camp in Vienna for training in militancy and agitation. He returned to Berlin as the SA leader of his neighborhood and eagerly took part in many fights, verbally and physically, against communists and other anti-fascists.

In mid-January 1930, the 22-year old Wessel was shot in the head during an eviction action by Albrecht Höhler, a reputed communist though the German Communist Party denied he was a member. Nevertheless, Goebbels capitalized on his murder to demand that “the degenerate communist subhumans be crushed to a pulp.” Sensing the enormous propagandistic value of having a young Christian fascist as a martyr, Goebbels characterized Wessel as “Christlike,” as “a man who calls out through his deeds—‘Come, follow me, I shall redeem you… a divine element works in him, making him the man he is and causing him to act in this way and no other. One man must set an example, and offer himself as a sacrifice.” Wessel died of sepsis in late February.

The parallels between the now defunct Horst Wessel myth and the rapidly growing Charlie Kirk myth are painfully obvious, as is the intended propagandistic function by their respective fascist creators.

His funeral in early March was attended by several dignitaries, including a son of Kaiser Wilhelm, as well as key Nazi leaders such as Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels. Out of security concerns, Hitler did not attend the funeral, but did give a speech at Wessel’s gravesite in early 1933 calling him a “Blutzeuge” (martyr) and stating that his sacrifice was “a monument more lasting than stone and bronze.” In his eulogy, Goebbels said, "His spirit is lifted up to live with us all, he marches on with us.” Some 30,000 residents of Berlin lined the streets to witness the passing of his coffin. Along with the SA regiments, they joined in singing the “Horst Wessel Song,” (“Die Fahne Hoch”), which subsequently became the Nazi co-anthem from 1933 until 1945. Every Nazi ceremony included its performance, and every school child throughout the Third Reich was required to sing it as part of the curriculum. It is not unlike the song “Carry the Flame: Charlie Kirk Tribute Anthem,” which went viral after its Apple Music release on September 13.

The Horst Wessel myth became a core ingredient of the Nazi propaganda machine. Several schools, streets, districts, and military units were named in his honor as was a naval vessel. A popular 1933 biographical film about Wessel emphasized his Christian background. His myth along with the Nazi regime came crashing down in 1945. In 2011, anti-fascists vandalized his grave marker with the words “Keine Ruhe für Nazis” (No Rest for Nazis).

Growl of a Dying Empire

The parallels between the now defunct Horst Wessel myth and the rapidly growing Charlie Kirk myth are painfully obvious, as is the intended propagandistic function by their respective fascist creators. The target in both cases is democracy, particularly its anti-fascist defenders and promoters. Although the outcome of the current dialectical conflict between the two emergent fronts, one for and one against fascism in America, is not absolutely certain, progressive forces have a distinct advantage. Much has changed since WWII when the USA inherited economic and political supremacy in the world. Unilateral US hegemony is no more. A multilateral world of shared power has steadily and irreversibly emerged over the past several decades.

Accordingly, the boisterous outcry and desperate attempt to use the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk as a divinely empowered sword to make America supreme again represents the growl of a dying empire.