Paradoxically, Charlie Kirk achieved this victory even though he can no longer enjoy it in this world. He devoted virtually his entire life to fighting progressive agendas such as gender ideology, transgender rights, and “woke” culture. His weapon was words, or more precisely, dialogue.
Unfortunately, winning a debate alone does not win a culture war. His debates with progressive students at American universities were only part of the battle. The result of these battles was that more and more young Americans realized that these ideologies are not natural, but have long been instilled in people. This awakening of consciousness was not only the result of Kirk's efforts, but also the work of other influencers in the US. But even that was not enough.
The murder that shook America
The real turning point came with Kirk's assassination. The death of an innocent person is always a unifying impulse. This was evident, for example, at Kirk's funeral, where Donald Trump and Elon Musk spoke together.
Kirk won the culture war posthumously because the entire establishment condemned the joyful reactions of progressive activists. Many of them got a taste of their own medicine when they risked public condemnation and some even lost their jobs for expressing their opinions—even though rejoicing over the death of an innocent person is not an opinion.
The progressive left no longer has the power to respond to such social pressure. It has simply lost the battle for American society. Its reactions are increasingly diverging from the views of the majority of society. The progressive left in America is thus becoming more and more entrenched in its bizarreness.
Since it is risky for one's professional career to rejoice in the death of an innocent person, some particularly progressive mothers have begun filming themselves swallowing large amounts of paracetamol during pregnancy to show how wrong Donald Trump is.
Trump recently cited paracetamol use during pregnancy as a cause of autism. How else can you define nihilism if a pregnant mother does not want the best for her child? Let's leave the scientific debates aside, but it is obvious that any unnatural medication can jeopardize a child's development. The loss of naturalness and the sense of it is an essential feature of this progressive nihilism. Nihilism will always fascinate, but only attract a handful of people. These truths are becoming increasingly obvious in American society after Kirk's assassination.
The gradual path to insignificance
The progressive left, as is typical of revolutionary movements, has devoured its own “mother.” The classic left has been completely overwhelmed. The struggle for the working class and the poor has been replaced by the cultural struggle for minority rights, migration, and the enforcement of equal opportunity.
The latest metastasis of the progressive left is “woke” movements. The problem with the progressive left is that its cultural revolution must constantly advance. Yesterday's progressives are today's conservatives.
This development is predictable and can be nicely illustrated by the evolution of feminism or the LGBT+ movement. While homosexual orientation has the appeal of the forbidden for most people, tempting part of the population into dangerous experiments, transgender issues take us into very dangerous territory from which it is difficult to return. Some changes may be irreversible. The progressive left is thus inherently losing its appeal.
The Olympics and Trump: a slap in the face
The first major indication that the progressive left would suffer a defeat was the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris. Much of the imagery promoting this ideology was met with incomprehension. Virtually everyone was able to express their disapproval of the ceremony without fear that their voice would not be heard by the majority. Progressive activists naturally tried to denounce the dissenting voices on social media, but their influence was already minimal at that point.
A few months after the end of the Olympics, Donald Trump won the US election, campaigning on a platform of ensuring that these progressive views would no longer be financed by American taxpayers.
This was another heavy blow that Trump could not afford during his first term in office. This blow was felt because the passion of many progressive activists is motivated not only by their zeal for the cause, but also by the paycheck at the end of the month that allows them to pay their mortgage. After this intervention, the ranks of progressives are slowly but surely thinning. When the source of subsidies dries up, their core will shrink to a few loyal supporters.
And then came the murder of the innocent Kirk.
The progressive left in the US is thus heading toward irrelevance. However, Western Europe lags five to ten years behind the US in its development. In Central Europe, the gap is even greater. Ultimately, however, American trends have always prevailed. Our progressives should therefore be aware that they are riding a dead horse today.
However, writing off the progressive left in the US does not mean that the struggles in American society are over.
There are strong tensions within the MAGA movement. The question is whether the patriotic right, which focuses primarily on the development of its own society, will prevail in the US, or whether the globalist right, which favors international cooperation, economic globalization, and liberal values at the expense of national interests, will win.
The decisive factor will be the attitude toward technology and technological progress, which will ultimately determine the direction in which American society will develop.