Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. This week, the day before the 24th anniversary of September 11, the country experienced a political assassination that will also be remembered as a day of infamy. Many are calling the murder a watershed moment, and hopefully they are right. It is important to remember that Charlie Kirk called his organization, “Turning Point.”
Here are some reflections on our loss and other happenings this week:
Charlie Kirk’s Mission — Prove Him Wrong
So much has been said and will continue to be said about the amazing Charlie Kirk – brilliant thinker, inspired leader, husband, father, man of faith who changed the political landscape in America. I met Charlie after hearing him speak at a large conservative event a number of years ago—I don’t remember which one.
I didn’t take him seriously at the time, after he stated his mission was to win over younger voters. I have been in and around politics for decades, and every election cycle or two somebody rises up and professes they will win the next election by getting out the youth vote. It had never worked before.
Charlie Kirk changed that, wading onto college campuses across the country, and talking to students about everything from Marxism to immigration to Native American health care to sex before marriage — whatever they wanted to debate with him. He believed that in order to save the greatest country in the world it was critical to talk with people who disagree with you. He said:
“…when people stop talking, really bad stuff starts. When marriages stop talking, divorce happens. When civilizations stop talking, civil war ensues. When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to want to commit violence against that group. . . . What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable disagreement, where violence is not an option.”
Charlie was an evangelical Christian who recently told the Catholic News Service that if he died, he wanted to be remembered for acting with the courage of his faith. This moved me to go back and re-listen to his appearance on comedian Bill Maher’s podcast “Club Random.”
Maher is the most prominent and outspoken atheist of our time. He not only doesn’t believe in God, he believes religion is a malevolent force in our culture. His documentary film, “Religulous” combines the words religion and ridiculous and is designed to expose what he sees as the absurdity of faith.
But, like Charlie, Maher believes dialogue and disagreement are critical. “Everybody is a monster until you talk with them,” Maher says.
Charlie sat down with him in April. You can listen to their conversation here. In the opening minutes, Maher casually comments on the security people Charlie brought with him, asking “do you need security?” Knowing what we know now, the exchange is chilling.
Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel notes that what usually happens in America after heart-breaking political violence like this is the country is on good behavior for a week or so before politicians on both sides go back to stoking up their supporters, insisting that their political opponents will bring tyranny and an end to civilization as we know it. The likely suspect captured today apparently believed killing Charlie was fighting fascism. Ironically, when a student once accused Charlie of being a fascist to his face, Charlie asked him to “name one fascist thing about me.” The student not only didn’t know what Charlie stood for, he also didn’t really know what fascism was.
Charlie believed talking to people who disagree with you is the only path to real change. He bet his life on it.
LOSER: Texas A&M Professor Fired for Closing Minds
Melissa McCoul, an English professor at Texas A&M, was fired this week after a recording of her was leaked revealing her response to a student who questioned a lesson on gender identity. The class was focused on “children’s literature,” so the professor was instructing a class on how to teach gender identity to kids.
On the leaked tape, the student pointed out that President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on gender extremism affirming that there are only two genders. The student asked if it is legal for the professor to be teaching that there are multiple genders and she also said the topic went against her religious beliefs.
The professor insisted she was free to teach whatever she wanted and the student was free to leave. After she was fired, the professor hired a lawyer and now claims her academic freedom was violated. Just the opposite is true.
Academic freedom is about open debate and discussion. The professor demanded that a student who disagreed with her leave the classroom—that’s indoctrination. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department Chair were removed from their positions, but it is not clear whether they were terminated.
LOSER: Texas State Professor Fired for Wanting to Overthrow U.S. Government
Meanwhile, at Texas State University in San Marcos, a professor was fired for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. Thomas Alter, who teaches history, said on a zoom call that, “without organization, how can anyone expect to overthrow the most bloodthirsty, profit-driven mad organization in the history of the world, that of the U.S. government?”
According to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), college instructors across the state are thinking about leaving Texas because of legislation passed in the last couple sessions that prohibits so-called DEI offices on campus and requires universities to adjust all programs and classes to focus on merit, open inquiry and debate instead of ideological indoctrination, race, gender and political identity.
To hear the AAUP tell it, there’s a stampede for the border, but the facts don’t bear that out. Fewer than 5% of Texas professors are members of the AAUP and most campuses report piles of resumes for every job opening.
Loser: Texas Universities Show Little Improvement on Freedom of Speech
The day before Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) released part of their latest annual campus survey with the headline “1 in 3 students say some level of violence acceptable to stop campus speech.”
In Texas universities, the percentage of students who say violence is at least sometimes acceptable to stop someone from speaking is 35% while 71% believe it is OK to shout someone down to prevent them from talking. Overall, FIRE gives Texas university students an “F” on political tolerance—their willingness to hear speakers with whom they disagree.
On campuses across the state, there are roughly two liberal students for every conservative—a sharp contrast to the statewide profile of Texas where 6.5 million conservatives voted for Trump last year compared to 4.6 million who voted for Harris.
Breaking down the “F” on political tolerance, shouting down speakers is very popular in Texas. 80% of Aggies approve of it, at least in some situations. At the University of Texas at Austin 76% of students say shouting down a speaker you disagree with is sometimes acceptable and 42% believe violence can also be called for. Among the Longhorns, the ratio of liberals to conservatives is just short of 4 to 1. At Texas Tech 68% of students said shouting down a speaker was sometimes ok, while 34% condoned occasional violence.
LOSERS: Matthew Dowd, Elizabeth Warren and AOC
Political commentator and former advisor to George W. Bush, Matthew Dowd, was fired from his pundit role at MSNBC for blaming the victim, saying of Charlie Kirk, “harsh words lead to harsh actions.” Those who realize that Dowd is a Texan will remember that he briefly launched a run for Lt. Governor in 2021 before announcing that he was stepping aside because a “diverse” Democrat candidate was needed. Dowd is white. Texas Democrats nominated Mike Collier for Lieutenant Governor. Collier is also white.
Most Democrats, especially U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, were respectful and thoughtful regarding Kirk’s murder, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, decidedly was not, claiming that the president’s hateful rhetoric created a climate of violence. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, tried to blame the shooting on a lack of gun control.
LOSERS: Democrats Love Socialism
The new Gallup Poll released this week found that 66% of Democrats view socialism favorably while only 42% of the folks on the Blue Team have a favorable view of capitalism. Among Republicans, only 14% have a favorable view of socialism and 75% are fans of capitalism.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, who is a winner, said he visited a communist country one time where he asked people there about the Democrats going soft on socialism and communism. He said they told him “they are morons,” to even consider socialism. Fetterman is sticking with the “morons” assessment.
Winner: Cell Phone Ban (Except in San Antonio)
The Texas public school cell phone ban has only been in effect for a couple of weeks but reports from around the state are that it is going better than most people imagined—even the kids like it. They are talking to each other at lunch, playing games, and engaging. The research showing that banning cell phones in class substantially improved student performance appears to have been right.
Ironically, it appears parents are complaining the most. A large majority want their kids to have phones so they can get ahold of them whenever they want. Two large San Antonio school districts have buckled under parental pressure. Northeast Independent School District and Alamo Heights Independent School District insist they have found a loophole in the cell phone ban signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, which allowed them to re-define the school day to only the time a student is in class. They can use their phone before every class, while passing between classes, after every class, at lunch, when they go to the restroom—anytime they are not sitting at their desk.
State Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo, points out the “loophole policy” completely defeats the purpose of the cellphone ban which was written to be enforced “bell to bell.” The mission is to create and expand phone-free environments for kids rather than turning the classroom into a place where students wait until they can be back on their phones again. Fairly is currently the youngest member of the Legislature—she’s 26 and a tenacious fighter. You can bet she’ll get that loophole closed.
WINNING: Week 3 of College Football
Texas A&M has a lot on the line this weekend as they travel to South Bend to play Notre Dame. The Aggies go in as underdogs, but that doesn’t mean anything to the fans. The game starts at 6:30. The University of Texas at Austin will play the University of Texas at El Paso at home with a 3:15 kickoff while Texas Tech will play the Oregon State Beavers in Lubbock starting at 2:30.
Looks like a solid football Saturday. Have a great weekend.