In the latest edition of "The Schmidt Storm", I answer your questions about the Charlie Kirk assassination, America's dangerous game in Venezuela and the current state of the US economy:The Warning with Steve Schmidt is a reader-supported publication.
The alleged shooter, Tyler James Robinson, comes from a Republican family, though Tyler is not registered to any party. His father is a retired sheriff in Washington County, Utah. There are photos of Tyler and his family with guns. Tyler Robinson dressed as Donald Trump for Halloween: a devout supporter, it would seem, who donated to Donald Trump in 2020. Tyler, we know, hated Charlie Kirk because he was not far enough to the right.
Grifting to turn grief into grievance, manipulating the many’s mourning, Donald Trump solicits rage that he can exploit for violence—before there is any proof the left contributed to the shooting. The facts do not matter to Trump. That is irresponsible leadership from Trump. Republican members in Congress mimic their leader in jumping to conclusions whose only foundation is a pack of prior Trump lies. They are all ignoring history and that tells us they are deluded cultists. Gross irresponsibility of this magnitude is criminal malfeasance.
It is Trump who constantly and vociferously demonizes the left with his rhetoric. He does not seek to quench the Nation’s anger, to break with violence. He seeks to inflame any given moment, stoking the flames well before investigation uncovers any facts at all. It is he and Kirk that traded in vile, demonizing, and inflammatory rhetoric designed to incite violence. They both traded in an inflammatory speech to monetize the anger they created. The cult no longer has the intellectual ability to rationalize the moment.
These two people monetized their hostility like the money changers they are. They gaslighted the rest of us whenever a fire broke out, and they simultaneously fanned those flames while pouring gasoline on the fire.
History dictates that the shooter will be a Republican supporter. They are all angry white men with right leanings. EVERY ONE! If you do not see that, yours is a delusional world. Have you paid no attention at all to the political and racist violence of last decade? If so, you know the party of violence. I gathered a list for you. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/bilious-hate-mongering?r=3m1bs
HE like many other MAGA’s, figured out how to MONETIZE online provocative hate. Followed by their greed for more $$$$ and addiction to FAME in Gods Name. BOTH - UnAmeriKKKan + UnKKKhristian!!!
Trump is tearing down everything. The left are political opponents, according to this con man apparently we are all the source of all problems and need to be eliminated. Along the way rights will have to be further eroded or eliminated. Kirk said gun deaths were worth the second amendment, but what they mean is your death, my death and all the children that have been shot - as long as it's not his two kids I guess. His shooting was what? Oops, shot the wrong person that's bad! Regular daily gun violence in America? Not his wife kids or friends and hey they're probably not white, do not s big deal.
All this tearing down is for all this great stuff happening Trump and blind administration point to everyday. The greatest this and that and thank you Mr Pres for all your great work.
Trump's abysmal tariffs and his "Big Beautiful Bill" are propelling the country toward economic collapse. I agree that this will bring him down. But I don't think it will happen as a result of the public turning overwhelmingly against him. It was Murdoch's Wall Street Journal that released Trump's notorious drawing and statement contained in Epstein's "Birthday Book." I think Murdoch is turning on Trump because of the economic damage he is doing. If Murdoch instructs his stooges on Faux News to begin telling the truth about Trump, he is done. Trump will be removed by impeachment or more likely invocation of the 25th amendment. Vance has surely agreed to do whatever the wealthy elites tell him to do.
The loss of the Dear Leader will, however, not sit well with the everyday cultists. The outcome may be the end of Maga and the restoration of normality in government. However, it will take years to undo the harm Trump has done. Just replacing the people working in science, health, and engineering that we have lost to Musk's mindless chainsaw attack on government agencies and Trump's ending research grants to universities refusing to tow the line, will not be easy. Regaining the trust of our traditional allies and restoring our standing as leader in the fight for global human rights and concern for the impoverished around the world will take time and effort. But it will be done.
I just read that Spain and Switzerland are planning to cancel their purchase of Lockheed's F-35 jets in retaliation against Trump's tariffs. The company will lose over 10b. dollars. They will spend the money on European made jets. And this is just the beginning of what will bring the American economy to its knees. The dollar is falling due to Trump's economic policies and his alienation of former allies.
Steve, I know that killing a person because of their opinions is just wrong. If you don't like what you hear, get up and leave, but don't shoot them.
That being said, when I go to church today, I will be praying for my Soul.
The hate that is spewed by this Administration is beyond anything I every thought I would hear from a President of this country. The nasty retorts by congressmen/women like Nancy Mace is disgusting. These self-involved sycophants whose salaries I pay should be expelled by Congress.
When Trump called the shooter "a radical left lunatic" and pledged to get rid of all of us and what
funded us, he made it personal. He didn't walk his comments back. He didn't apologize.
He spewed his anger and hate against millions of Americans, simply because we don't agree with his view for OUR country.
I despise him and all he represents. JD Vance's comments regarding Venezuala should qualify him for impeachment. The main stream media's normalization and fawning at Trump has eaten away any semblance of honesty.
I am changed by all of this. My compassion for my fellow American is eroding. My soul is slowly collapsing because of the hate and destruction of OUR Country. A country that used to have so much promise and possibility. A country that I was proud to call "mine". Not any more.
Banality of evil is distortion of Truth , let's face it Project 2025 is department of 1984, to racist evil of all races not white, displacement of history, please tell I'm wrong, trumps people who love the agenda to wipe out our institutions of order and truth, deposing good people who run them for our health, improvement of life gone with goons like Musk a Nazi billionaire who hates us off colored people of kindred love thy neighbor. Economy is caving, to his liking, for if we are all weak, it works in his favor to have people down and out. So, as he implements Fascist 1984, hay yaw, he has no conscious about others anyway. This the way He takes us, a disgrace, resist this menace of evil.
Anger is double edged sword It can be destructive which gives this emotion a bad rap But it can be constructive when used in way to respond to threat WE the People are under a Nazi takeover threat and WE are angry at what is transpiring Our only hope is that the Democratic Party can meet the moment with anger and continue to not play by the rules and civility to quash the Nazis in what can only be termed a political civil war
With that said WE the People are behind the Democrats no matter how bad we may think their policies are because they stand between the democratic republic and a Russian dictatorship And I think that there is enough public animosity about this Nazi takeover that a Congressional mandate will become apparent in the 2026 midterms
So what does a Democratic platform look like? It better be darn close to what that anger that brought about the Democratic election results No more civility No more compromise No more reaching across the aisle It should look like a knockdown drag out fight and no taking prisioners This should include election reform to include mandatory mail in voting in every state and removal of gerrymandering , SCOTUS expansion, abortion rights and women’s reproductive health initiatives, end Citizens United and big money in politics, AND revocation of tax relief for billionaires and corporations
I continue to fascinated by the one shot that was able to kill Kirk. I’m not suggesting any conspiracy but it seems hitting one man in particular who was standing in a crowd of people is quite difficult.
Gammyjill, according to the gun experts out there, the shot that killed Kirk wasn't that difficult for an EXPERIENCED shooter. That is, the shot didn't necessitate an EXPERT shooter. They say the reason Kirk was hit in the neck was because Robinson didn't calculate for drop. He was aiming for a head shot but instead got a throat/neck shot. Either, obviously, being deadly.
Kirk'S killer was no leftlie, as quick-thinking righties immediately threw out there, while lefties were busy mourning and focusing on gun control--their favorite cuds to chew. Kirk had many righties pissed off because he supported release of Epstein's tapes. The shooting offered distraction, which MAGA seized hold of, but the distraction was incidentally caused. If people lose hold of the importance of the tapes, this country is doomed. Billionaires, millionaires, DC politicians on both sides of the aisle, foreign dignitaries of high rank, famous entertainers, CEOs and high ranking corporate execs, etc etc etc are scared shitless of the tapes release. They will do anything in their power (very heavy purses) to stop the release of the tapes. They have never been so scared of anything else in their lives, knowing the impact of the pedophilia branding cannot be erased or morally tolerated. Their guilt will forever be like a tattoo on their face.
The tapes thus far has given a rainbow of opportunity for reversing the tide. For the first time, the padlock of the current political split has been picked. Note how quickly Epstein was murdered in his cell, despite the clumsy narrative of decoy. There was not enough democratic demand for clarity on Epstein's murder--ask yourself why. Kirk represented the worst elements of rightwing philosophy, amassed great, mostly young voting support but no matter, his death served distraction from the tapes, so alligator tears but no real regret. Lose control of the tapes and their contents, you have lost control of your country.
I really dont know what to say. One day all this will be over, i don’t know when. There will only be a looking back, on this decade or two and the questions why and how will be asked.
I wonder if the murder of Kirk, a far-right Christian Nationalist wingnut, will temper the rhetoric around here by some who in the past year, at different times, have expressed a desire for the taking up of arms against the right by the left. Civil War is NOT inevitable. Like Dowd suggested, the thought of violence can lead to the talk of violence, and the talk of violence WILL lead to the act of violence. I think one of the things that can help stem this violence talk by those on the right who are enraged by Kirk's murder is to remind them that there was a recent violent assault and murder of 2 democrat politicians and their spouses in MN, yet there has not been any desire by those on the right, including the president, to memorialize those individuals. Make it perfectly clear that it is the right who will be starting this civil war people talk about and not the left. Isolate the right on this issue of violence by not speaking of violent retaliation. More civil disobedience and more love, and less giving into, out of desperation, violence talk.
Besides being a joke and all those other descriptives, it stands that he too could be proven a pedophile. Release the files, so we can make our determinations.
The alleged shooter, Tyler James Robinson, comes from a Republican family, though Tyler is not registered to any party. His father is a retired sheriff in Washington County, Utah. There are photos of Tyler and his family with guns. Tyler Robinson dressed as Donald Trump for Halloween: a devout supporter, it would seem, who donated to Donald Trump in 2020. Tyler, we know, hated Charlie Kirk because he was not far enough to the right.
Grifting to turn grief into grievance, manipulating the many’s mourning, Donald Trump solicits rage that he can exploit for violence—before there is any proof the left contributed to the shooting. The facts do not matter to Trump. That is irresponsible leadership from Trump. Republican members in Congress mimic their leader in jumping to conclusions whose only foundation is a pack of prior Trump lies. They are all ignoring history and that tells us they are deluded cultists. Gross irresponsibility of this magnitude is criminal malfeasance.
It is Trump who constantly and vociferously demonizes the left with his rhetoric. He does not seek to quench the Nation’s anger, to break with violence. He seeks to inflame any given moment, stoking the flames well before investigation uncovers any facts at all. It is he and Kirk that traded in vile, demonizing, and inflammatory rhetoric designed to incite violence. They both traded in an inflammatory speech to monetize the anger they created. The cult no longer has the intellectual ability to rationalize the moment.
These two people monetized their hostility like the money changers they are. They gaslighted the rest of us whenever a fire broke out, and they simultaneously fanned those flames while pouring gasoline on the fire.
History dictates that the shooter will be a Republican supporter. They are all angry white men with right leanings. EVERY ONE! If you do not see that, yours is a delusional world. Have you paid no attention at all to the political and racist violence of last decade? If so, you know the party of violence. I gathered a list for you. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/bilious-hate-mongering?r=3m1bs
So true! Thank you for this post.
Thank you. I just subscribed
He marinates himself in self-pity and rage.
The truth IMO -
HE like many other MAGA’s, figured out how to MONETIZE online provocative hate. Followed by their greed for more $$$$ and addiction to FAME in Gods Name. BOTH - UnAmeriKKKan + UnKKKhristian!!!
Trump is tearing down everything. The left are political opponents, according to this con man apparently we are all the source of all problems and need to be eliminated. Along the way rights will have to be further eroded or eliminated. Kirk said gun deaths were worth the second amendment, but what they mean is your death, my death and all the children that have been shot - as long as it's not his two kids I guess. His shooting was what? Oops, shot the wrong person that's bad! Regular daily gun violence in America? Not his wife kids or friends and hey they're probably not white, do not s big deal.
All this tearing down is for all this great stuff happening Trump and blind administration point to everyday. The greatest this and that and thank you Mr Pres for all your great work.
How crazy is this.....
An economic collapse that exceeds 1929 is necessary. It is the only way out because it might have the effect of waking people up.
Trump's abysmal tariffs and his "Big Beautiful Bill" are propelling the country toward economic collapse. I agree that this will bring him down. But I don't think it will happen as a result of the public turning overwhelmingly against him. It was Murdoch's Wall Street Journal that released Trump's notorious drawing and statement contained in Epstein's "Birthday Book." I think Murdoch is turning on Trump because of the economic damage he is doing. If Murdoch instructs his stooges on Faux News to begin telling the truth about Trump, he is done. Trump will be removed by impeachment or more likely invocation of the 25th amendment. Vance has surely agreed to do whatever the wealthy elites tell him to do.
The loss of the Dear Leader will, however, not sit well with the everyday cultists. The outcome may be the end of Maga and the restoration of normality in government. However, it will take years to undo the harm Trump has done. Just replacing the people working in science, health, and engineering that we have lost to Musk's mindless chainsaw attack on government agencies and Trump's ending research grants to universities refusing to tow the line, will not be easy. Regaining the trust of our traditional allies and restoring our standing as leader in the fight for global human rights and concern for the impoverished around the world will take time and effort. But it will be done.
I just read that Spain and Switzerland are planning to cancel their purchase of Lockheed's F-35 jets in retaliation against Trump's tariffs. The company will lose over 10b. dollars. They will spend the money on European made jets. And this is just the beginning of what will bring the American economy to its knees. The dollar is falling due to Trump's economic policies and his alienation of former allies.
https://pekinhardy.com/why-the-u-s-dollar-is-falling-under-trumps-second-term/
How long will the big money behind Trump tolerate this? My guess, not much longer.
Exactly right. Thank you.
Steve, I know that killing a person because of their opinions is just wrong. If you don't like what you hear, get up and leave, but don't shoot them.
That being said, when I go to church today, I will be praying for my Soul.
The hate that is spewed by this Administration is beyond anything I every thought I would hear from a President of this country. The nasty retorts by congressmen/women like Nancy Mace is disgusting. These self-involved sycophants whose salaries I pay should be expelled by Congress.
When Trump called the shooter "a radical left lunatic" and pledged to get rid of all of us and what
funded us, he made it personal. He didn't walk his comments back. He didn't apologize.
He spewed his anger and hate against millions of Americans, simply because we don't agree with his view for OUR country.
I despise him and all he represents. JD Vance's comments regarding Venezuala should qualify him for impeachment. The main stream media's normalization and fawning at Trump has eaten away any semblance of honesty.
I am changed by all of this. My compassion for my fellow American is eroding. My soul is slowly collapsing because of the hate and destruction of OUR Country. A country that used to have so much promise and possibility. A country that I was proud to call "mine". Not any more.
I feel the same way as you Christine
Brilliant post, thanks Steve
Banality of evil is distortion of Truth , let's face it Project 2025 is department of 1984, to racist evil of all races not white, displacement of history, please tell I'm wrong, trumps people who love the agenda to wipe out our institutions of order and truth, deposing good people who run them for our health, improvement of life gone with goons like Musk a Nazi billionaire who hates us off colored people of kindred love thy neighbor. Economy is caving, to his liking, for if we are all weak, it works in his favor to have people down and out. So, as he implements Fascist 1984, hay yaw, he has no conscious about others anyway. This the way He takes us, a disgrace, resist this menace of evil.
Using The Angry Mob Mentality For Change
Anger is double edged sword It can be destructive which gives this emotion a bad rap But it can be constructive when used in way to respond to threat WE the People are under a Nazi takeover threat and WE are angry at what is transpiring Our only hope is that the Democratic Party can meet the moment with anger and continue to not play by the rules and civility to quash the Nazis in what can only be termed a political civil war
With that said WE the People are behind the Democrats no matter how bad we may think their policies are because they stand between the democratic republic and a Russian dictatorship And I think that there is enough public animosity about this Nazi takeover that a Congressional mandate will become apparent in the 2026 midterms
So what does a Democratic platform look like? It better be darn close to what that anger that brought about the Democratic election results No more civility No more compromise No more reaching across the aisle It should look like a knockdown drag out fight and no taking prisioners This should include election reform to include mandatory mail in voting in every state and removal of gerrymandering , SCOTUS expansion, abortion rights and women’s reproductive health initiatives, end Citizens United and big money in politics, AND revocation of tax relief for billionaires and corporations
I continue to fascinated by the one shot that was able to kill Kirk. I’m not suggesting any conspiracy but it seems hitting one man in particular who was standing in a crowd of people is quite difficult.
I truly don’t know what to think…
Gammyjill, according to the gun experts out there, the shot that killed Kirk wasn't that difficult for an EXPERIENCED shooter. That is, the shot didn't necessitate an EXPERT shooter. They say the reason Kirk was hit in the neck was because Robinson didn't calculate for drop. He was aiming for a head shot but instead got a throat/neck shot. Either, obviously, being deadly.
Thanks, Mary.
Kirk'S killer was no leftlie, as quick-thinking righties immediately threw out there, while lefties were busy mourning and focusing on gun control--their favorite cuds to chew. Kirk had many righties pissed off because he supported release of Epstein's tapes. The shooting offered distraction, which MAGA seized hold of, but the distraction was incidentally caused. If people lose hold of the importance of the tapes, this country is doomed. Billionaires, millionaires, DC politicians on both sides of the aisle, foreign dignitaries of high rank, famous entertainers, CEOs and high ranking corporate execs, etc etc etc are scared shitless of the tapes release. They will do anything in their power (very heavy purses) to stop the release of the tapes. They have never been so scared of anything else in their lives, knowing the impact of the pedophilia branding cannot be erased or morally tolerated. Their guilt will forever be like a tattoo on their face.
The tapes thus far has given a rainbow of opportunity for reversing the tide. For the first time, the padlock of the current political split has been picked. Note how quickly Epstein was murdered in his cell, despite the clumsy narrative of decoy. There was not enough democratic demand for clarity on Epstein's murder--ask yourself why. Kirk represented the worst elements of rightwing philosophy, amassed great, mostly young voting support but no matter, his death served distraction from the tapes, so alligator tears but no real regret. Lose control of the tapes and their contents, you have lost control of your country.
I really dont know what to say. One day all this will be over, i don’t know when. There will only be a looking back, on this decade or two and the questions why and how will be asked.
That was an articulate and direct assessment of this mess. Thank you! I love the Schmidt Storm!
I wonder if the murder of Kirk, a far-right Christian Nationalist wingnut, will temper the rhetoric around here by some who in the past year, at different times, have expressed a desire for the taking up of arms against the right by the left. Civil War is NOT inevitable. Like Dowd suggested, the thought of violence can lead to the talk of violence, and the talk of violence WILL lead to the act of violence. I think one of the things that can help stem this violence talk by those on the right who are enraged by Kirk's murder is to remind them that there was a recent violent assault and murder of 2 democrat politicians and their spouses in MN, yet there has not been any desire by those on the right, including the president, to memorialize those individuals. Make it perfectly clear that it is the right who will be starting this civil war people talk about and not the left. Isolate the right on this issue of violence by not speaking of violent retaliation. More civil disobedience and more love, and less giving into, out of desperation, violence talk.
Besides being a joke and all those other descriptives, it stands that he too could be proven a pedophile. Release the files, so we can make our determinations.