MAGA conspiracy machine steers Trump team's Kirk investigation
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FBI director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 16. Photo: Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
MAGA activists are demanding real-world retribution for Charlie Kirk's assassination, dragging their allies in government down a rabbit hole of online conspiracy theories.
Why it matters: MAGA is hungry for a crackdown — but its enemy is ill-defined, and its definition of success is wholly unclear. A lack of answers from the Trump administration could leave vast swathes of the base deeply disappointed.
The big picture: The Trump administration is unusually responsive to pressure from the MAGA ecosystem, with conspiracy-fueled narratives and personnel flowing freely between the movement and the government.
- As a result, theories about sprawling "leftist" networks, accomplices at the scene of Kirk's slaying in Utah, or overseas involvement are being treated as live leads — even in the absence of hard evidence.
Zoom in: MAGA influencers aren't buying the idea that Tyler Robinson, the alleged 22-year-old assassin, acted alone.
- Some believe text messages with his partner and friends — including a batch released by Utah prosecutors — were staged to clear others of culpability for supposed knowledge of the shooting beforehand.
- Others have gone further, suggesting that a network of shadowy liberal networks financed the shooting — or at least incited it. Some top Trump officials have endorsed that theory.
No evidence has emerged to suggest any of that is true, but that hasn't stopped MAGA activists from demanding punishments for alleged perpetrators beyond just Robinson.
What they're saying: "You've got to get to the bottom of these groups, you've got to get to the bottom of antifa, you've got to see if there's any connections to Butler," said "War Room" host Steve Bannon, referring to the assassination attempt against President Trump in Pennsylvania last year.
- "We've got a whole lot of work to do, and no, I'm not buying the script that was in the text messages," he added.
Driving the news: Trump signed an executive order Monday designating antifa as a "domestic terror organization," describing it as "a network of Radical Left terrorists that aim to overthrow the government through violence and agitation."
- Robinson has no known connections to antifa — a decentralized left-wing movement accused of fomenting violent protests and assaults on law enforcement in major cities.
- MAGA has long treated antifa as a bogeyman and catch-all for its liberal enemies. In 2021, Trump falsely blamed "antifa people" for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that was carried out by his own supporters.
Between the lines: FBI director Kash Patel has amplified the conspiratorial swirl rather than narrow it, taking the extraordinary step of publicly listing theories the bureau is treating as part of its investigation.
- Patel said the FBI is investigating everything from alleged accomplices and staged text messages to Discord chats, bullet trajectories, and even hand gestures of people around Kirk that some claim were "signals" before the shooting.
- Many of those ideas originated in MAGA media or online forums, and several — like the hand-gesture theory — have already been debunked.
The intrigue: The baseless suggestion that Israel was somehow involved in Kirk's killing prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release a stunning direct-to-camera video refuting the conspiracy theory.
- Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet also addressed "discussion about the lack of an exit wound," and said Kirk's surgeon believed his bone density stopped the bullet from potentially harming those around him.
- "In the end, the coroner did find the bullet just beneath the skin. Even in death, Charlie managed to save the lives of those around him," Kolvet said.
The bottom line: Conspiracy theories are an inevitable part of any assassination. But with MAGA's grip on the Trump administration, unproven speculation is being elevated into official policy.
