To the editor:

I’ve been writing these letters for years, and to my memory I’ve never once mentioned Charlie Kirk, Nick Fuentes, or even Alex Jones or Rush Limbaugh. Why? Because nothing they’ve ever said has been worth a reply. Even now — barely a week after one of them was gunned down — I don’t think their words deserve my time.

What does deserve attention is the strategy. It’s always the same: Gaslight and lie with conviction, throw out straw men, lob insults and ad hom, scapegoat and overwhelm with Gish gallops. Repeat the falsehoods loudly and often enough, and some people will believe. None of this is original. Snake oil salesmen and cult leaders have been pulling these tricks forever. And they always end the same way–witch trials, the Beer Hall Putsch, Jonestown and Jan. 6. Violent rhetoric leads to violence.

Here’s why I’m speaking up now: The administration, which has thrived on these “useful idiots” and their lies, is using Kirk’s death not to reflect, but to double down. That’s a problem.

Before the shooter was even identified, Trump pointed fingers at Democrats. The irony is staggering. In recent years, only one notable attack has been carried out for a leftist cause — Luigi Mangione. Every other high-profile target of the past decade — Nancy Pelosi, Josh Shapiro, Melissa Hortman, Gretchen Whitmer — was carried out by MAGA Republicans. Even the two attempts on Trump came from his own disillusioned supporters.

The data backs this up. The National Institute of Justice reported in 2018 that far-right extremism was a greater threat than far-left or even Islamic extremism. Funny thing: Earlier this week the DOJ’s link to that report began leading to an error page. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

When it turned out the shooter was from a white, Christian, Republican household, right-wing media scrambled for an escape hatch. Suddenly, it was about “transvestism,” their latest boogeyman since the Minneapolis church shooting. But here’s the math: Since 2018, more than 4,000 mass shootings have taken place in America. Only eight were committed by trans-identifying individuals — 0.2 percent. That’s far lower than their percentage of the population. Facts, however, aren’t as convenient as fear.

And so, the cycle continues. Lies create outrage. Outrage fuels violence. Violence gets spun into more lies. Rinse, repeat.

On the slim chance that a Groyper, incel or Proud Boy stumbles on this letter — maybe you’re stockpiling ammo, dreaming of “civil war” like your leaders keep promising — hear this instead. Pastor Howard John-Wesley said it best:

“There is nowhere in the Bible where we are taught to honor evil, and how you die does not redeem how you lived. You don’t become a hero in death when you were a weapon of the enemy in life.”

That truth won’t trend on social media. It won’t get clipped into a viral rant. But it’s the only antidote to the poison: Stop mistaking loud lies for power. Stop mistaking violent ends for honor.

Because history shows us where this path leads. And it’s never anywhere worthwhile.

J. David Core

Toronto