For years, extremist groups, white nationalists, and militants like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, saw Charlie Kirk not as their ally, but as their enemy.
Although Kirk denigrated trans people, single Muslim women , and many minorities and advocated for America with Christianity at the center of all aspects of life, he was, in his views , moderate. For some, his unwavering support of the Israeli government made Kirk a target rather than a friend.
But after Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, those same groups, speaking at a turning point in the United States, were quick to frame the incident as an attack on one of their own, portraying Kirk’s death as part of what they see as an ongoing war on white, Christian men. Those same groups were relatively quiet on Friday after police announced they had arrested a 22-year-old from Utah for the murder, which had no apparent leftist connections.
These groups, many of whom have been relatively inactive since the mass arrests linked to the January 6th attack on the Capitol, have used the outpouring of grief surrounding Kirk’s death as a lightning rod, a signal that they must take control and act. Many of them, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, have used Kirk’s death as a recruiting and radicalization tool to persuade their supporters to adopt a more extreme worldview.
“Nothing can stop what’s coming,” Ryan Sanchez, the head of the far-right National Network who was caught on video giving a Nazi salute at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, wrote on his Telegram channel. “We are mobilizing young nationalists to defend our communities against the radical left — we need your help!”
The appeals appear to be working, at least somewhat: Sanchez’s post was accompanied by a screenshot showing a $1,000 donation he received on the Christian crowdfunding platform GiStsEndgo.
“This is the beginning of a movement that can define our nation,” the donor wrote on the website. “Use it for good and cleanse the country of this insane ideology.”
Another donor, who called himself a “white nationalist,” commented: “Time to take our country back to the folks. Get to work!”
Sánchez, an acolyte of far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, has already mobilized. A video of the Kirk’s vigil that Sánchez promoted in Huntington Beach, California, on Wednesday shows a group of men chanting, “White man fight back.” He shared another image of himself speaking at the vigil on his Telegram channel with the caption, “Death to the left.”
The Huntington Beach chanting video was shared by many other extremist groups, including the anti-communist Combat HQ channel on Telegram, which is a hub for amplifying anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from groups including the Active Clubs and The Active Clubs and The Racist and National Justice Party in the area.
