Gavin Newsom: Hey social media team!

@mekkaokereke
Oh dear. What did he say this time?

@ohmu "I knew Charlie, and I admired his passion and commitment to debate… The best way to honor Charlie's memory is to continue his work: engage with each other, across ideology, through spirited discourse."

@pixplz @ohmu I absolutely hate the fact that I can see a reasonable (political) position he might be coming from: within the constant churn and fight for status in far-right circles, Kirk was actually (believe me I know how this sounds) less horrible than some other people, especially Nick Fuentes, who arguably got him killed.

I wonder if Newsom is trying to signal that he wishes more right-wingers would move away from the "civil war now, murder your neighbors" attitude, even if it's toward Kirk's own brand of hate. That could be seen as a bit of progress, if it worked.

Kirk was hate and violence, all the way down. But there are worse. Hate and violence *always *have something even more horrible waiting. Maybe I'm giving Newsom too much credit. Maybe he just wanted to suck up to right-wingers by eulogizing a dead cult leader. IDK.

@guyjantic Newsom says we should continue the work of Charlie Kirk which included, among other things, a "professor watchlist" that led to harassment, firings and death threats. Given the facts, there's nothing reasonable about Newsom's comments.

@pixplz I think Newsom has qualified that statement, saying the "work" he wants continued is debate and discussion.

That's me saying the globalization of Newsom's comments isn't what he actually said (AFAIK).

But Kirk was a hatemonger and IMO his "debate" furthered that hate with practically every word, so I personally don't think Newsom gets much credit for being specific with his comments.