The brutal assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10 jolted the country and sent shockwaves through the right — and rightly so. Law enforcement moved quickly, a suspect was arrested, and the grieving conservative movement poured into stadiums to honor a man many saw as a fearless voice for their values.
At the massive memorial in Arizona, Tucker Carlson delivered a passionate eulogy that drew on biblical imagery to cast Kirk as a martyr for speaking truth to power, comparing his fate to the story of Jesus and painting a picture of elites plotting in a lamp-lit room. The line — which included a reference to men “eating hummus” — immediately became the flashpoint for national outrage and debate over meaning and intent.
Predictably, much of the mainstream press and a number of Jewish organizations rushed in with instant condemnations, calling Carlson’s metaphor a revival of age-old tropes and labeling the remarks antisemitic. Those reactions deserve scrutiny: calling someone an antisemite is a grave charge and should not be tossed around like a political cudgel the moment a conservative says something clumsy in grief.
On the other side, conservatives rightly bristle at what looks like a media mob ready to weaponize a line of imagery into character assassination. While some on the fringes did amplify conspiracy theories blaming Israel or Jewish actors for Kirk’s death, responsible conservatives must insist on evidence — not innuendo — even as they defend Carlson’s right to raise uncomfortable critiques about power and foreign influence.
Voices in the conservative media ecosystem reacted fast, including Dave Rubin, who has been posting short Direct Message segments to parse the fallout and to air conversations with figures like Dinesh D’Souza about Carlson’s remarks and the broader culture-war implications. These exchanges show how quickly narratives form in the right-wing media universe — and how essential it is for patriotic journalists to sort facts from rhetorical flourish before handing the story to the mobs.
Here’s the bottom line every hardworking American should remember: grief and rage do not excuse sloppy rhetoric, but neither do they justify cancel campaigns that bury context and demand reputations be destroyed on the spot. We owe Charlie Kirk the dignity of a sober investigation and we owe one another the restraint to avoid turning a funeral into a partisan bloodsport; demanding evidence, protecting free speech, and exposing media hypocrisy are not mutually exclusive — they are the only decent path forward.
If conservatives want to win hearts and minds, we have to do it with truth, courage, and discipline — not with reflexive conspiracies or silence in the face of censorship. Hold the media accountable, demand the facts from investigators, and refuse to let either the left’s smear machine or the right’s rumor mill define the narrative for a country that needs unity and justice, not cheap points scored on social platforms.
