politics

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1. Gender Identity Mr. Kirk appealed to conservative Christians who feared the growing acceptance of the L.G.B.T.Q. community in the United States. He was critical of gay and transgender rights and the separation of church and state.

2. Gun Control “I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” he said.

3. Race Mr. Kirk believed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a destructive force in American politics, calling its passage a “mistake” that he said has been turned into “an anti-white weapon.” He also blamed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the law and was highly critical of the slain civil rights leader, calling him an “awful” person. Mr. Kirk was also a staunch opponent of affirmative action and was highly critical of the Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, calling her a “diversity hire” who wasn’t qualified to serve on the highest court. His repudiation of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, known as D.E.I., stretched to comments many denounced as racist. In 2024, he said, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”

4. He was a proponent of “replacement theory,” a once-fringe conspiracy theory positing that Jews are trying to replace white Americans with nonwhite immigrants. That ideology motivated the gunman who killed 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. Mr. Kirk also accused Jewish philanthropists of fomenting anti-whiteness by supporting liberal antiracism causes like the Black Lives Matter movement. “The philosophical foundation of anti-whiteness has been largely financed by Jewish donors in the country,” he said on his show in 2023. Not long after, he accused Jews of controlling “not just the colleges — it’s the nonprofits, it’s the movies, it’s Hollywood, it’s all of it.”

5. “America’s largest city was attacked by radical Islam 24 years ago, and now a similar form of that pernicious force is poised to capture city hall,” Mr. Kirk said of Mr. Mamdani on X in June.

6. Free Speech In several instances, Mr. Kirk has used the First Amendment to sue universities that tried to block his presence. Critics have argued that Mr. Kirk’s promotion of free speech was tinged with hypocrisy, pointing to Turning Point USA’s “Professor Watchlist,” in which students were asked to list professors with leftist positions.