CNN’s attempt to humanize the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk was jaw-dropping even by the network’s low standards. On live television, veteran commentator Montel Williams described Tyler Robinson as a “love-torn child” and suggested the killing was more an act of misguided emotion than political violence, a line that landed like salt in a fresh wound for conservatives watching the country’s institutions disintegrate before our eyes.
Make no mistake: this is no academic debate about motives — it is a brutal political assassination that took the life of a leading conservative voice while he spoke to students. Utah prosecutors have charged Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder and multiple felonies in the attack that killed Kirk at Utah Valley University, and authorities say the evidence tying Robinson to the crime is substantial.
When confronted with the facts — text messages, physical evidence and chilling details from investigators — CNN’s casual sympathy collapsed under Republican scrutiny. Scott Jennings rightly exploded at Williams’s soft-peddling of motive, calling out evidence that indicates political hatred and even allegations that the killer engraved political slurs on bullet casings, a detail that removes any pretense of this being a rom-com tragedy.
This isn’t an isolated lapse; it’s part of a pattern where mainstream outlets reflexively excuse, romanticize or minimize violence committed against conservatives so long as the perpetrator can be framed as a tormented soul rather than an ideologue. That leniency from big media — praising “touching” texts while failing to fully reckon with motive — is dangerous and corrosive, and it has consequences beyond the newsroom.
Republicans and everyday Americans watching this spectacle aren’t asking for vindictiveness — we are demanding honesty, accountability, and equal application of justice. If the state believes this killing was politically motivated, they should pursue the full weight of the law; if the evidence shows otherwise, they should still reject the media’s narrative-shaping that excuses murder with sentimentality.
What we saw on CNN was a reminder that cultural institutions have skewed so far that basic decency and fairness now require constant vigilance from those who love this country. Conservatives must keep calling out double standards, protect free speech on campuses and in the public square, and ensure that law enforcement and the courts treat political violence with the seriousness it deserves.
Credit where it’s due: commentators like Scott Jennings and independent voices such as Dave Rubin who amplify these pushbacks are doing the hard work of holding the powerful to account. Hardworking Americans should take this moment to stand united in defense of truth, demand that media stop sanitizing political violence, and honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy by continuing the fight to restore sanity and safety to our civic life.
