The charges filed against Tyler Robinson on Tuesday in the killing of Charlie Kirk depicted him as a lone assassin with hardening left-wing, pro-L.G.B.T.Q. views that led him to violence.
What the charging document did not include, however, was any mention of the more provocative theories circulating about what kind of radical political ideology was to blame.
Mr. Robinson is evidently not a disgruntled member of the hard-right, white nationalist “groyper” movement, as some on the left had insisted in recent days. Several prominent progressive activists on Bluesky had insisted that the suspect must have been inspired by ideology farther to the right than Mr. Kirk’s. Many scoured social media for clues, and some on the left claimed an old Halloween photo and a Spotify playlist were signs showing that Mr. Robinson could not be one of their own.
Nor did the charging document contain any suggestion that Mr. Robinson was working with either a local transgender terror cell, as Elon Musk theorized, or a vast network of progressive radicals, a hypothetical that Trump administration officials said they would pursue.
Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff who has deep-rooted relationships with conservative activists, said on Monday that an “organized campaign” was behind Mr. Kirk’s death. He did not offer any evidence for his claim and vowed to marshal the resources of the federal government to crack down on what he described as a “vast domestic terror movement” on the left.
That echoed President Trump’s comments shortly after the shooting in which he tried to link the accused to a broader political conflict that he said was incited by his enemies. “We have radical left lunatics out there, and we just have to beat the hell out of them,” he said.
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The post In Charlie Kirk Killing, Finger Pointing Began Before the Evidence Was In appeared first on New York Times.
