Trump: National Guard to be deployed to Memphis

Trump: National Guard to be deployed to Memphis.

Suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination captured; motive debate rages.

President Trump announced earlier today that Memphis will be the next city to see a large-scale deployment of National Guard troops in order to fight crime. Trump told Fox News that “the mayor is happy” and “the governor is happy” about the upcoming deployment. Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee indeed seems to welcome the news and said he would be speaking with Trump to “work out the details.” He also said he was “grateful for the President’s unwavering support and commitment to providing every resource necessary to serve Memphians”.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, confirmed the deployment was coming, but said he did not ask for it. He also said that Memphis’ crime is down 44% from this time last year and that he didn’t believe a military deployment was the way to bring down crime. Young also said several questions remained unanswered: “When will they come? How many people are gonna come? How long will they be here? What are they going to wear?”.

Trump said that Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena (who was formerly on the board of FedEx) had urged Trump earlier this week to address crime in Memphis.

Suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination captured; motive debate rages

Today, authorities announced that they had arrested Tyler Robinson, 22, as the prime suspect in the assassination of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk earlier this week. The state of Utah has charged Robinson with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice. Federal charges have not yet been announced but are likely to come soon. Robinson is being held without bail.

Officials have not offered any possible motive for the killing. There are certain things that are known and other details which have fueled speculation. More information may come to light in the coming days or at trial (if Robinson does not plead guilty).

Charlie Kirk’s prominent and controversial profile in right-wing punditry has bolstered the assumption that his killing was politically-motivated. It could also be the case that mental illness or attention-seeking may be a factor. It is also possible that no clear motive will ever come to light, as often happens in cases of murder.

What we know so far about Robinson and his arrest

Robinson was arrested at his parents’ home in St. George, UT. St. George is more than a 3.5-hour drive to Orem, UT, where the shooting took place on the Utah Valley University campus. had received some higher education. A Utah Valley University spokesperson confirmed to The Guardian that Robinson was a third-year student in an electrical apprenticeship program and had attended Utah State University for one semester in 2021.

Robinson’s family have been identified as members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, colloquially known as Mormons. Reports indicate that members of Robinson’s family recognized him from suspect photos released by the police and turned him in.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said in a news conference that members of Robinson’s family had become “more political” in recent years. They told investigators that Robinson had spoken disparagingly about Charlie Kirk at a recently family dinner.

State records show that Robinson’s parents are registered Republicans and that Robinson himself registered as unaffiliated.

Robinson was active on Discord, an online chat platform. Officials claimed that Robinson sent Discord messages to another user that he was going to pickup up a rifle from “a drop point”. The messages also purportedly referred to carved shell-casings. However, Discord has disputed these claims. They claim the reported messages were not sent on their platform and that their internal investigation revealed no evidence that Robinson used their platform to plan Charlie Kirk’s murder.

Speculation on motive

Officials have not commented on Robinson’s political views or their role in the shooting. Nevertheless, both the media and the public are speculating based on the few clues we do have, and have come to radically different conclusions. Much of the speculation has centered on messages inscribed on the shell casings tied to the crime. The texts of these are as follows:

On the fired casing:

Notices bulges OwO What’s This?

On the unfired casings:

Hey Fascist! Catch! (followed by arrow symbols ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️)
Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao.
If you’re reading this, you’re gay LMAO.

Media outlets have identified some of the slogans as deriving from online gamer culture. Some have concluded that the reference to fascism and the phrase “Bella ciao” (an Italian WWII antifascist resistance song) identify the shooter as having anti-fascist sentiments. However, “Notices bulges OwO What’s This?” is a phrase used online to denigrate members of the furry community and “If you’re reading this, you’re gay LMAO” could be construed as homophobic.

Analysts familiar with online culture have suggested that the messages have more affinity with online troll platforms like 4chan and “Groypers”, the fan community of far-right commentator Nick Fuentes. Major news outlets are also beginning to acknowledge the potential connection.

Left-on-right violence or right-on-right violence?

Numerous conservative politicians and pundits have blamed “the radical left” or “the Democrats” for Kirk’s killing. While liberals have latched onto Robinson’s apparently conservative family background, it is not out of the question that Robinson himself is liberal. If he is, that could partially explain what allegedly drove him to target a prominent conservative firebrand like Kirk.

There is also the increasingly divided and fractious ideological environment within the online right commentariat. Texas Monthly writer Robert Downen posted an informative thread on this divide on Twitter yesterday. Ideological disagreements (and competition for audience) have driven intense feuds between online conservative commentators in which devoted followers are inevitably caught up.

Far-right commentator Nick Fuentes has repeatedly denounced Charlie Kirk and other conservative commentators whom Fuentes considers to be too moderate. In 2019, Fuentes declared the “Groyper War” encouraging his followers to confront Kirk at his speaking events.

Fuentes has never advocated for violence against Kirk and has condemned his killing. Following Kirk’s assassination, Fuentes said to his followers, “If you take up arms, I disavow you, I disown you in the strongest possible terms. That is not what we are about. And the same goes obviously for the other side”. It’s not clear whether he said this fearing one of his followers could be responsible given their feud, or whether he was responding to calls for vengeance against the left by conservatives.

“A cancer on our society”

Whatever the politics behind this killing ultimately prove to be, it seems that this killing like so many acts of violence may have been driven in part by someone being “too online” and losing perspective as a consequence.

Utah Gov. Cox decried the role of social media in this killing, calling it “a cancer on our society“. Cox urged those listening to “log off, turn off, touch grass. Hug a family member. Get out and do good in your community”.