Charlie Kirk's Assassination Backfired: MAGA's Attempt at Martyrdom Sparked Mockery, Not Cultural Dominance
Source: Luke Winkie. "Charlie Kirk’s assassination turns out to have been the turning point for MAGA—away from cultural dominance.." September 10, 2026. slate.com
The Gist
The author argues that when MAGA tried to turn Charlie Kirk's assassination into a rallying cry and enforced solemn martyrdom around him—even punishing critics like Jimmy Kimmel—it backfired spectacularly. Instead of cementing conservative cultural dominance, this heavy-handed approach triggered a year of internet mockery and meme culture that shows Americans refused to forget who Kirk really was, marking the actual peak and subsequent decline of MAGA's cultural power.
Conclusion
Charlie Kirk's assassination, rather than cementing MAGA's cultural dominance through martyrdom, actually marked the turning point away from MAGA's peak cultural ascendancy, as evidenced by the widespread mockery and meme-ification of Kirk's memory a year later.
Premises
- In the immediate aftermath, the MAGA movement and Trump administration attempted to elevate Kirk to sainthood status through a state funeral, proposed Capitol lying-in-state, statues, and comparisons to figures like Nelson Mandela.
- The administration used Kirk's death to justify authoritarian overreach, including Stephen Miller's crackdown on 'far-left terror networks' and pressure that led to Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off air for a joke.
- This coercive imposition of enforced reverence—demanding Americans treat Kirk with the solemnity reserved for popes or veterans—was rejected by millions who remembered Kirk's actual record as a divisive, bigoted figure.
- One year later, Kirk has become one of the internet's biggest memes, with irreverent content including AI-generated videos, a dedicated subreddit (r/kirkified) with thousands of mocking edits, and slang terms like 'getting Kirked' entering common usage.
- This widespread derision and meme culture represents a form of rebellion against the top-down, coercive narrative the MAGA machine tried to impose about how Kirk should be remembered.
- The summer of 2025, just before Kirk's death, represented MAGA's cultural high-water mark, with wokeness in retreat and even Democratic elites courting Kirk's favor.
Assumptions
- Widespread meme mockery of a public figure is a valid indicator of that figure's (and by extension, their movement's) declining cultural power, rather than merely reflecting internet culture's general nihilism toward tragedy.
- The public's collective memory of Kirk's actual statements and actions (e.g., racist comments, involvement in Stop the Steal) outweighs the sanitized martyrdom narrative pushed by MAGA leadership.
- Coercive attempts to enforce reverence (state actions, media suppression) naturally provoke backlash rather than compliance.
- The proliferation of Kirk memes is primarily an act of political rebellion against MAGA rather than simple entertainment, shock humor, or generational irony detached from politics.