Trumpism accentuates persecution on universities in the wake of Kirk's murder

WashingtonTyler Robinson, the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk, was not a college student—he was only enrolled for one semester in an electrical engineering program, which he dropped out of—and experts are also unclear whether he was a "left-wing radical," as Donald Trump defined him before his identity was even known. Many of the inscriptions on the bullet casings, which the investigation cites as evidence of a "radicalization process," are inspired by the world of video games. One of the phrases is a reference to the video game Headliners 2: "Hey fascist, take it!", which was accompanied by three arrows. But the facts are no longer of interest to Trumpist circles, who have launched an online witch hunt and are targeting universities as "centers of Marxist radicalization."

One of the formulas that, suspiciously, is repeated most in X's publications – and which has even spread to the Catalan digital bubble – is the story of how an ordinary boy raised in a republican and Trumpist family ended up radicalized in the "far left" after going to the far left. "Our universities are no longer institutions of higher education and places to explore thought. They are the breeding ground for radical Marxists and communists," wrote a user with more than 50,000 followers. "I would like to know the names of the professors who radicalized this young man. I wonder if they could be accused of inciting this political murder," wrote another profile with more than five million followers.

It wasn't a teacher who introduced Robinson to the use of weapons so he knew how to handle the hunting rifle with which he fired the precise shot that fatally wounded Charlie Kirk from more than 180 meters away, but his family. On his Facebook profile, photographs of the much younger boy handling all kinds of weapons can be seen. The perpetrator of the latest episode of armed violence in the United States developed his passion for weapons at home.

One of the big questions is where Trump will lead all the revulsion generated by Kirk's murder. The MAGA bases are already pointing the way: finishing off the universities. After more than half a year of covert ideological persecution as cultural war in educational centers With the withdrawal of funds and the cancellation of student visas, the ground is now being laid for the president to take tougher action. This also applies to the media. influencer Laura Loomer, another figure in the MAGA world with direct connections to the White House, is calling for "massive lawsuits and for the propaganda media to have to pay for what they've done." "They're radicalizing people to commit cold-blooded murders," Loomer adds.

While the siege of Harvard and Columbia is the most well-known case, the reality is that Trump has also been harassing law firms to prevent them from agreeing to file lawsuits against his executive actions and in the media. In the White House press room, there are increasingly more communicators from the new media that were born in the shadow of Trumpism and who are displacing journalists. The result is that at press conferences, friendly questions—and even praise for Trump—are gaining ground over those that question the president.

Trumpist bases have turned X –the network controlled by Elon Musk– into a kind of digital act of faith where the names and surnames of anonymous people are displayed for their position on Kirk's murder. Screenshots of the LinkedIn, Facebook and even stories Instagram posts are flooding the internet, while calls are being made for the firing of those cited. The same ultraconservative movement that criticized cancel culture and claimed that wokism had set aside freedom of expression to criticize hate and racist speech has now become the new internet police, reviewing the profiles of government employees and large companies like Apple to see what they've written.