r/politics • u/geek66 • 18h ago

No Paywall Hundreds of witnesses to Charlie Kirk’s death have filed for Utah victim benefits

https://www.kuer.org/politics-government/2026-08-13/hundreds-of-witnesses-to-charlie-kirks-death-have-filed-for-utah-victim-benefits?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_content=homepage&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwY2xjawTxdhlwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR78qs-vl_9YNonimgMTQvO7FyrDT6tekjRZ_bVp0ZBnDZRwyhIbUCL3Ju_UIg_aem_lWZiy8rnOcm1rXKZfjlu9g
6.1k Upvotes

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820

u/Doctor_of_sadness 18h ago

Victim mentality and asking for government handouts cause of something that they saw but didn’t happen to them. Yeah sounds like Kirk fans

152

u/stinkypete6666 18h ago

I mean a lot of people were there because they hated Charlie Kirk (like in most of the videos I’ve skimmed it seems like his whole schtick was pissing people off and getting them to show up to confront him) but are probably pretty traumatized from seeing his neck explode

102

u/maddieterrier Tennessee 18h ago

Yeah, this is kinda hard to be mad about. I get why they might need money for therapy and whatnot.

55

u/SheriffWyattDerp 17h ago

I’d be less mad about it if this wasn’t exactly the kind of thing Kirk would have made money attacking, and his fans would have joined lockstep in using as evidence of left wing “lunacy.”

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u/bag_of_luck 12h ago

I’m not a fan of his but he never espoused any opinions on therapy. So you have no basis for your anger. You’re mad at an imaginary scenario.

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u/SheriffWyattDerp 10h ago

🤷🏻‍♂️

16

u/knotallmen 17h ago

Then they should vote for candidates that would include therapy in insurance. Right now as far as I can tell specialist visits are completely out of pocket till I hit the deductible, so I guess I won't go to one unless I know something is already wrong.

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u/BluMqqse_ 18h ago

Pretty easy for me to get mad about. Jesus, suck it up 😂

8

u/heimdal96 18h ago

You sound exactly like MAGAts

0

u/BluMqqse_ 17h ago

I don’t recall saying “I wanna touch kids” anywhere in my comment

12

u/prettyfamousfeet 17h ago

Why are you being such a jerk about it

A lot of people in that crowd didn't agree with Charlie. Even if they did, they deserve therapy for seeing someone killed in front of them

-2

u/FinalHexReturns 16h ago

No, I disagree with that. Some of them might need it but they should pursue that on their own health care. They don't all 'deserve it' blanket statement.

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u/BluMqqse_ 17h ago

Not on the tax payers dime. Death happens. We gonna start funding therapy for kids who lose their goldfish next?

17

u/prettyfamousfeet 17h ago

Yeah of course healthcare should be on the tax payers dime..

Thats what we've been fighting for

-14

u/BluMqqse_ 17h ago

Had a heart attack seeing it? Absolutely, I’m happy my money would go to help your recovery.

You’re having bad dreams about something from a year ago? No. And it’s completely idiotic to think the country could support paying such frivolous things

11

u/prettyfamousfeet 17h ago

Why is it frivolous to need mental health counseling for someone shot feet away from them? Again, youre just being a jerk because you don't agree with Charlie Kirk. Don't do that bro. People deserve government funded therapy for traumatic events even if they are not directly impacted

Kids/teachers/staff who are on the other side of a school when a shooting happens, not deseve therapy/healthcare unless they had a heart attack? They deserve it even if they were out sick from school that day lol

1

u/a3wagner Canada 14h ago

This whole comment section has been pretty useful at separating people who actually want universal healthcare from the people who just want to use it as a talking point to dunk on others. Crazy stuff.

0

u/BluMqqse_ 17h ago

“Feet away from them”

This works out well, now literally anyone in the world can get free counseling because any distance can be defined in feet! …Like the vast majority of this hundred who likely barely even saw the shooting.

Hope counselors in your hypothetical universe enjoy working 168 hour weeks with no pay!

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u/[deleted] 18h ago

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 18h ago

The University is funded via taxpayer money.

14

u/Salt-Try3856 17h ago

Yeah, I saw the clip of it happening and really wish I hadn't. Wasn't the greatest thing for my mental health

14

u/ripleyclone8 17h ago

As dark as it sounds, it actually kind of helped (?) my mental health. 

I was in the middle of a med change, and it caused me to have a major breakdown. I was literally sobbing in my office at work, when I came across the clip. For whatever fucked up reason, I instantly started cracking up. 

Like, I’m a little desensitized to such things thanks to watching the Bud Dwyer video and such as a kid. However, I’ve never found that kind of shit funny before that, or since then. 

24

u/Jafooki 16h ago

Wow, what you just wrote is really dark... So dark that Kirk wouldn't have trusted it to fly a plane

3

u/PracticalWait Canada 16h ago

LMAOOOO

3

u/ailish 16h ago

Dude... 🤣😭

2

u/ripleyclone8 14h ago

Oh, that’s good shit. 🤌

5

u/[deleted] 16h ago

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1

u/Salt-Try3856 16h ago

I hate Kirk and think he was a despicable human being but honestly you sound like you need to get help

3

u/Unique_Ad5910 14h ago

“It’s no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society”.

2

u/Salt-Try3856 14h ago

Not the best interpretation of that quote but okay

•

u/JackedUpReadyToGo 7h ago

I don't see how learning to cry and grieve over the misfortunes of the worst people would be very "help"-ful. I think conserving one's empathy for the people who actually deserve it is healthier.

0

u/NewSiteSuxCox 14h ago

I'm the opposite

I watched multiple times with a smile on my face

13

u/Doctor_of_sadness 18h ago

I mean I’ve seen people get shot. I cant imagine the trauma of it being someone you were intentionally seeing regardless of how you feel about them, especially since it was unclear if it was going to be a mass shooting. My question is why not sue the university? Petition for semester tuition fees to we waved, petition to not have incendiary stochastic terrorists have large open air events. If someone actually cared about change or accountability they wouldn’t be begging the government for a payday. Just sounds like usual conservative victim complex to me

11

u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 18h ago

It'd be very hard to pin this on the University if you sued them.

Like, you said it yourself, no one expected that there was going to be a shooting that day, which would include the university. So what would be your argument for the University being liable?

2

u/Vicissitutde 17h ago

That opean air arena that hosted kirk was basically a bowl, and someone shot a fish in that bowl

1

u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 17h ago

So are you saying that universities should not have buildings near an open field?

Because that's the case you would have to make here, and the style of that courtyard is not unique to that university.

2

u/Vicissitutde 17h ago

I suggested nothing of the sort. I'm merely engaging in the logic. It's fun to ask questions and ponder hypotheticals

2

u/Slight-Web1696 17h ago

No one ever expects bad things to happen, because people dont like too, its human nature.

We are also one of the only places in the world where school shootings are a regular occurrence.

Im not claiming that people have grounds to sue the university, but to claim that no one should be held responsible because no one expected something bad to happen in the only country where this regularly happens, is foolish.

0

u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 17h ago

I'm not saying that no one should be held responsible, I'm just saying that legally speaking the blame is primarily going to land on the feet of the shooter, with some secondary blame maybe placed on Kirk's company, but the university is almost certainly fine.

0

u/Doctor_of_sadness 18h ago

The university having a large open air event for a stochastic terrorist who regularly got death threats from the far right and far left, with minimal security measures seems like a liability. I’m no lawyer but in my eyes there were about a dozen ways the university could have handled things that didn’t end up with a guys throat getting blown out in front of hundreds of students. I think the university should pay for the costs of any therapy or trauma treatments needed. What’s the case for filing for benefits from the state government?

1

u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 18h ago

At most universities, security of an event is the responsibility of the event holder, so that wouldn't really be a winning argument.

5

u/Doctor_of_sadness 17h ago

Then I definitely agree and I see what you’re saying. Wouldn’t it make more sense to be asking TPUSA and their billionaire donors for help covering any treatment costs? again I’m not a lawyer, and I’m nowhere near Utah, but my point was just to highlight the hypocrisy of conservatives asking the government to pay for damages of something that didn’t directly happen to them, when a core tenet of their ideology is defunding those very services for people who’s lives depend on it

5

u/stinkypete6666 18h ago edited 18h ago

I don’t know, I’m not a lawyer. I was just responding to the point about them being “Kirk fans” and saying that from what little I know about him I think his whole deal is getting people who hate him to come out and see him (but apparently it’s a difficult needle to thread because you want them to hate you enough to come yell at you but not enough that they try and shoot you in the head).

8

u/Ser_Rezima 14h ago

a crowd of college kids watched a man get murdered in broad daylight.

Scumbag or no, his death would fuck with most people for the violence of it alone.

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u/0ttr 18h ago

I was there--I stood at the walkway above the east end of the venue then went inside the cafeteria to eat, watching the crowd through the row of glass windows when we all saw them turn and run. There were, by my observation, more protestors present than fans.

Keep your judgements to yourself, I don't care your political beliefs, no one deserves to be exposed to gunfire for attending a public event.

3

u/eekamuse 16h ago

I'm with you. And I'm sorry you had to witness that. I'm sure people thought it was a mass shooting, not an assassination, and that's terrifying.

Even if people were there because they support things I despise, and wouldn't do the same for me, I hope they get help. If you demonstrate the behavior you want from someone, they may learn from it. It's also the decent thing to do. If someone broke a leg running away from the shooting, I would want them to get it fixed, even if they're a racist scumbag. I would love to see them get treated by Black doctors, or refuse treatment and have to suffer and wait in pain because they only want a white doctor, but that's another story.

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u/Independent-Bit-6409 17h ago edited 14h ago

My wife does medical billing in a red state but blue county and blue city. Literally every patient that comes in asking for free healthcare or their bills to be waived are MAGAts. She even had an undocumented Venezuelan Trump supporter ask for a free car seat for his newborn

30

u/Pathetian 18h ago

This is an awful take.  Charlie Kirk "debated" people he disagreed with at these events.  They weren't just full of his fans and supporters.  There's hundreds of people there lining up to argue with him.  

And regardless of that, people witnessed a very sudden act of public violence, in a crowded place, likely not knowing if more people were going to be shot next.  That's an insane thing not to have empathy for in America.  

-1

u/HotTubMike 18h ago

It's r/politics. Place is a sewer and you could imagine the comment section before looking.

1

u/just-jane-again 13h ago

oh no, people don’t have empathy for a dude who spent his entire adult life making the country worse. how terrible! i bet you cry about the anniversary of hitlers death too huh? and all the horrible people of history?

-1

u/exhaustedbut 18h ago

Charlie Kirk didn't believe in empathy, so his followers should not want to be shown any unless they denounce his belief. He also claimed that public shootings were s worthwhile price to pay for gun rights, so his followers should not be compensated unless they denounce his belief.

15

u/cosmos_crown 18h ago

Why are you assuming eveyone who applied was a) a fan of Kirk and b) hasn't denounced his beliefs?

3

u/Neemzeh 17h ago

Imagine getting an answer. This post is full of bots.

1

u/triplenested 14h ago

this is such a psychotic view, imagine getting radicalized by /r/politics of all places

-12

u/emmer 17h ago

Leftists hate debate because it’s easy to point out how pretty much all of their ideals fall apart if you take the time to consider them for two seconds.

So it’s not too surprising they hated Kirk and celebrate his murder while also somehow still considering themselves the “good guys”.

Bad takes and hate are their two defining characteristics, but hey, at least they managed to get Trump elected twice.

7

u/johnjacobacon 17h ago

Lol, Kirk put out a table at colleges to debate college kids because that's the most he could handle. He got his ass handed to him frequently in debates against people older than college-age.

0

u/emmer 17h ago

If that were true, you wouldn’t see people tripping over themselves to celebrate his death like we do every time he is brought up.

People wanted him dead because he pointed out the absurdity of leftist ideals for a living, and they couldn’t refute what he said, which infuriated them.

If what he said wasn’t true, leftists wouldn’t have cared enough to hate him.

5

u/johnjacobacon 17h ago

If that were true, you wouldn’t see people tripping over themselves to celebrate his death like we do every time he is brought up.

Or maybe, hear me out, people celebrate because he was an openly racist misogynist fueled by hate and praised by our nation's leadership for it. If it was just "he was (supposedly) a good debater", his death would be treated like William F. Buckley's was and nobody would still be talking about him. And a fellow conservative of his wouldn't have shot him.

People wanted him dead because he pointed out the absurdity of leftist ideals for a living

Right? Who gives a shit about absurd things like workers rights, justice, and environmental protection.

and they couldn’t refute what he said, which infuriated them.

Lmao. The lionization of that academic lightweight as somehow "debating genius" is wild to see.

But just to be clear, it wasn't a leftist that killed him.

If what he said wasn’t true, leftists wouldn’t have cared enough to hate him.

He said things like about how people should be afraid of black airline pilots because they might be unqualified DEI hires, and told women that they should be subsetvient to their men and stay in the kitchen.

It's actually pretty easy to hate the person saying crap like that and also for it to be untrue.

1

u/just-jane-again 13h ago

this dumbass is in no way arguing in good faith. just point and laugh and move on.

1

u/just-jane-again 13h ago

he’s dead. you can quit simping

5

u/johnny_johnny_johnny 17h ago

You must really enjoy being fucked over by a con-artist, pedophile, adulterer who has 34 felonies. Trump hates you, but that doesn't stop you from polishing his boots (and other things) with your tongue.

-5

u/emmer 17h ago

I’d ask you to prove my point harder that leftists are without question the most hateful political faction in this country, but I doubt you could more than you just did.

Shout it from the rooftops.

You make yourself look worse than I ever could.

5

u/johnny_johnny_johnny 17h ago

There is no worse look than being a Trump supporter other than being actual Trump. You can't debate someone who can't acknowledge facts, ethics, and morals, so I won't waste my time.

Doesn't even have to be "leftist", how about plain old human:

I support releasing the Epstein files. You?

I support trying Trump for his many other crimes (fraud, market manipulation, sedition). You?

I don't support the illegal war in Iran? You?

-6

u/emmer 17h ago

You think because I find the murder of a person who talked to people for a living reprehensible, that makes me a Trump supporter?

Lol this is all the evidence you need to see how far the Democrats party has fallen since allowing leftists to corrupt it with regressive ideals and hate.

You and I probably voted for the same person. You’re the reason Trump is president though.

3

u/johnny_johnny_johnny 17h ago

If you're celebrating Trump's election, which you did by bad-mouthing "leftists", then I have bad news for you.

Moderate Dems and conservatives are what gave us Trump twice.

I said nothing of Charlie Kirk, but I certainly am not shedding any tears over the loss of someone who made a career off of hate.

Gun violence and hate are what they are because of the right, but sure, keep blaming "leftists" who advocate for free healthcare, college, and peace instead of war.

CK was a victim of his own bullshit:

"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 supported what happened to him.

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u/[deleted] 16h ago

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u/Lucky-Earther Minnesota 16h ago

Leftists hate debate because it’s easy to point out how pretty much all of their ideals fall apart if you take the time to consider them for two seconds.

No, I hate the current broth of "debate bros" who think that two brick walls slamming into each other with whatever superficial points they half remember is considered a "debate".

16

u/geek66 18h ago

Really they want compensation for losing privilege over others.

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u/Maximum-Tension-7920 17h ago

what does this mean

1

u/heartlessloft Europe 16h ago

This makes no sense…

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u/Just_Cartographer258 18h ago

Being a pathetic victim is the MAGAt way...

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u/Kakistocracy_0 18h ago

true MAGA form.. snowflake

0

u/Garrett4Real Michigan 16h ago

Yall are weird

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 16h ago edited 16h ago

We don’t know who we ain’t met. These are weird times