Dave Smith: "Charlie Kirk was the most moderate human being."

In an impassioned segment of his podcast Part of the Problem released on Thursday, comedian and far-right pundit Dave Smith used the murder of his friend Charlie Kirk to assure his audience that if push comes to shove, the right will obliterate those pathetic and womanly gender studies majors on the left. 

The episode, in which Smith describes Kirk as a moderate Republican, was recorded and released before the arrest of suspect Tyler Robinson—by all accounts an online-poisoned nihilist lone wolf with no ties to the left—and also includes warnings against jumping to conclusions about the assassin and his motivations. ("You don't start hate mongering and getting everybody worked up and furious about the other side… It's easy to genuinely believe it in a moment like this, but you don't do that.”) Despite his high-minded calls for patience and equanimity, however, Smith makes clear that he blames the left for the killing, which he uses in the furtherance of his own political project. To wit:

Smith: To all of you goddamn r—ards, Charlie Kirk was the moderate. He was the fucking reasonable guy in the room, you dummy. He wasn't a far right activist. Are you kidding me? You have any idea what's out there? You think that was like the radical position? Charlie Kirk was the most moderate human being. He was a plumb line Republican. A plumb line Republican, as everybody who knows anything about anything knows, is one centimeter to the right of a plumb line Democrat. He was right just in the middle.

He supported Israel like the Democrats and Republicans do. He was a little bit more on the side of restrictive immigration policy. That was his big, radical policy was he was with 80% of the American people on immigration. It's nuts. So you sit there and what do you think? You think this is a victory for you? You think, oh, you took out—"Let me think this through here with all of my wisdom, I want to win a culture war. So what I did was I violently murdered the most high profile moderate voice on the other side." 

Hey geniuses, summon all your wisdom together and tell me, do you think that is likely to calm things down? Or might that lead to more radicalization? And what the, these dumbass fucking lefties celebrating? Like what exactly are you trying to start here, you fucking pussies. Jesus Christ, man. I mean, go live fucking your weird lives with your fucking pink hair and your 70 genders or whatever, but don't sit here and pretend you're ready for a fucking fight. What are you doing?

"It's much harder to get the right-wingers out on the streets because they have families and jobs and church to go to."

It's such a weird dynamic they have here where broadly speaking in the country, there's this culture war, and the left-wingers are almost always the ones who are out on the streets. They're the ones protesting. Yeah, you could point to January 6th, but it's like the one exception. It's the exception that proves the rule. But who is out in the Ferguson, Missouri protests and riots or the Trayvon Martin protests and riots, or the George Floyd protests and riots, or there's the pussy march, or there's the immigration march, or there's the campus activism over the last 15 years. The leftists take to the street. They're the first ones to go we're going to go out here and do a thing.

It's much harder to get the right-wingers out on the streets because they have families and jobs and church to go to. But the right wing is so much tougher, so much tougher. If this ever came down to a fight, the fight is right-wingers mowing down gender studies majors. What are we fucking talking about here? You ever see one of those videos where Antifa would actually get into a fight and then you'd realize that it's actually really funny. It was kind of jarring and a little weird. But there'd be all these videos where there'd be the black bloc guys, like seven kids in hoodies with one of them has got a pipe and they got the masks on. So you're almost like, "oh, these are kind of tough looking guys." And then one of them swings the girliest swing of a pipe and completely misses, and then a man punches him in the face and you hear the guy go, "Hey," and you're like, "oh, oh, you're not tough. You're just role playing." 

Like, what do you guys think? But you're trying to provoke this other side who will annihilate you? There are a real deal militias in this country. There are real deal gun enthusiasts in this country.

Kirk, of course, was no moderate. He was a racist, antisemitic, deeply antifeminist and transphobic Great Replacement theorist who helped organize the January 6th riots. (Obvious but necessary parenthetical: his murder is reprehensible and no one should be executed for their beliefs.) The reason Smith sees him as a moderate is because they are ideological allies, that is, they are both far-right extremists and white supremacists. Two days before Smith released the above segment, he released an episode defending Kirk against critics of his reaction to the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zaruska, a Ukrainian refugee in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kirk’s reaction was to blame the attack on Black people and Black crime generally, which Smith said was a reasonable conclusion:

Smith: …in terms of the narrative of "police shooting unarmed Black person," that actually does not happen a lot in this country at all. It's very, very, very rare. And they're very, usually very high profile situations when they happen. Black crime, on the other hand, is not like that. And this is not a thing that's like, "Oh, this isn't a real statistic or something like that. This is— oh, this happens nine times a year." Black crime—dude, Black men are like 6% of the population, and they commit 50% of the violent crime in the country. Now—

Robbie Bernstein: It's because society hurt them, Dave.

Smith: Well, look, dude, it might be actually. And—

Bernstein: But they're not responsible because society hurt them—

Smith: Right. But there's a difference—

Bernstein: —And we're looking at the wrong thing when we look at punishing—

Smith: But look. The thing about it is, that the truth is that the Black community used to be far less violently criminal than it is today. And so, yes, there are reasons, and some of those are from external factors that aren't Black people's fault. Also, it should be pointed out that when you say 6% of the population commits 50% of the crimes, that's not really true. It's not the entire 6% that do that. It's a tiny percentage within that. And there's lots of Black people. The overwhelming majority of them do not commit acts of violence like this.

That being said, it's a real factor that this is where 50% of the violent crime in America is coming from. And that's like—so Charlie Kirk isn't allowed to bring that up and apply the same standards that CNN uses to the same dynamic? That's complete bullshit. And what happens is that events like these, they create—it's terrorism in the sense that it terrorizes innocent people. And what ends up happening, which lefties have a tough time grappling with this because, number one, they don't like talking about Black crime, but the other—they're supposed to be like the champions of the working class.

"The Black community used to be far less violently criminal than it is today."

But the working-class people are the ones who get terrorized and are stuck in those conditions. And the people who got a little bit of money—look, I'll just say this. No woman in my family is getting on the subway anymore. No woman in my family is going to be in these situations because I have that option to keep them out of there. Other people who don't have that option are the ones who get stuck in these situations and terrorized by it.

And the fact that police are letting people who are violent offenders who have been arrested multiple times, in some cases, dozens and dozens of times, and they're still sent out on the street so that Van Jones can then come along and go, "Well, this person was hurting and we have to find out a way to how to reach these hurting people." It's like, dude, you're talking about a guy who you just saw stab a woman in the neck completely unprovoked, completely unprovoked, just senseless, horrific, violent crime.

A little before all of that, Smith made a few comments that he would have done well to heed in his subsequent episode on Kirk’s assassination:

Smith: I understand people having reactions to such a horrific killing. I completely understand, and it's only human to have reactions to these things. I try my best to just not jump on stories like this and then give my hot take about it, especially when it's like a random act of violence. I just think it is very easy to manipulate people's emotions around topics like this, and I'd rather kind of make a sound compelling, logical case to you if I'm going to make one. It also just, I'm not accusing anyone of anything. We're all human. 

I'm sure I'm guilty of this in lots of areas, but it does seem to be kind of in poor taste to me when you come out, there's an event like this, like a horrible incident, and then you come out and your conclusion from it immediately is, "Hey, guess what? All of my prior beliefs are proven right by this event." Just seems a little convenient and maybe not the best thing to do. But it's something that people do all the time and something certainly that CNN would do in a heartbeat. 

A little convenient indeed. 

“If you're a Black guy with a gun, you pretty much have to shoot another Black guy.”

Theo Von Says He’s Not Racist, He’s Just Scared of Black Neighborhoods

“I would like to go support more Black-owned businesses and see them in certain areas probably. But I think there’s sometimes where I’m just probably afraid. It’s like, I don’t want to risk my safety today to do that.”

HumorismSeth Simons

Interestingly, Dave Smith was not the only comedian to whinge about Black crime this week. Theo Von also raised the subject in an episode of his podcast featuring guest (and Riyadh Comedy Festival headliner) Chris Distefano. We’ll get to that in a second, but I would be remiss if I did not start by sharing the very first question Von asks Distefano: 

Von: Dude, is racism still alive, do you think? What do you think is really going on with racism?

Distefano: Racism, what I really think is going on is, I think that it's turning around now and now it's pretty much just whites and Blacks coming together to be racist against the Chinese.

Von: You do?

Distefano: Yeah. So that's what I think is the nice thing about racism is, we're kind of, everybody's teaming up now, you know? And so it's about a common enemy. 'Cause it used to be white versus Black, but that's not at all what it is anymore. And Latinos have been absorbed up into white and it's, everything is just—not Chinese Americans, just people from China.

Von: Okay. Well, some Black folks were beating up the Chinese during the Covid stuff. Remember that? 

Distefano: That was the big thing… I’m on a big group chat with like 30 cops and anytime there's like a protest, they'll just start writing “C.S.” and I'm like, “What the hell is that?” And they're like, “cracking skulls.”

Von: Yeah. Coughing time. Do you really think that? ‘Cause I, racism, it’s just gotten into, when I was young, it was like, I don’t want to say it was nice or whatever, but it was easy. It was like, okay, everybody was a certain thing and you kind of got to pick 'em out and you knew who was gonna pick on you type of thing. But then people started getting so mixed. It's like, you almost need like a calculator. You almost, you're like, what I'm only gonna be racist against half of this person, or a quarter of them? It's too confusing now. 

And I would be remiss if I did not also share the bit where Von and Distefano agree that if comedians like Druski can do whiteface, they should be allowed to do blackface: 

Distefano: Dude, I live in New York, so I don't know what it's like in the south, but I know racism exists. I also know that it's kept alive by the media and the internet and all that stuff. Because there's so many people that make so much profit off it that you're like—but I mean, I think that's fine. I mean, Druski doing that is just like a good bit. But I should be able to then fully dress Black.

Von: Well, that's where I'm going, right? Because at this point it's like, yeah, this is hilarious. Right? Yeah. Like I thought the part with the Black dude was so—it's tough to watch. 'Cause you're like, is he not perpetuating this thing that, that I don't, I don't think that shit happens, dude. Like, you know what I'm saying? I grew up in areas with a lot of racism, you know. I've dabbled in it. But I don't see that kind—I mean, I think you see that shit in A Time to Kill, an old movie. Or like, In the Heat of the Night. You know? And that's just my perception. But I don't even know if a lot of my Black friends would say that they see that kinda shit. Maybe they do, though. Maybe I'm completely blind. But I think at this point it's like, you could do that. Somebody could do a Black face if they wanted to, to create humor in it. Do you think so?

Distefano: I mean, I guess you can try. I think you could try whatever you want. I think you do it up. You try whatever you want. Me personally, i wouldn’t do it, just because I don’t have the comedy behind it.

Von: You wouldn’t look good as a African-American.

Distefano: Exactly, dude. ‘Cause I got a lot of skin tags. So even if I went blackface or Black full body—I would most likely just go Black chest.

Von: Oh, I’d go Black arms and legs and I’d get on the court and I’d ball. 

Okay, you get it. Now let’s fast forward to the bit on Black crime. 

Von: Oh, the Latinos have a lot of, they have some racism, a little bit. 

Distefano: Oh yeah. 

Von: Oh yeah. That's good to know. 'Cause you kind of don't know if they do sometimes. But you know those Black and Latino gang violence?

Distefano: Yeah. 

Von: But you don't hear much about it otherwise, but that's good. 

Distefano: Dude, Black guys, old school Black guys? Very racist. Yeah. Everybody's kind of racist, man. 

Von: Well, people are tribal too. 

Distefano: That's what it is. Tribalism. 

Von: Everybody wants to make it all race. It’s like, there’s a lot of Black crime in places. I'm not racist 'cause I don't want to be in some of those places. I had a friend one time who was trying to get me to come to this clothing shop that they had, and there's a lot of crime there. And it's young Black kids attacking people, stealing, carjacking shit. I'm not going, it's like, I'm not risk—it's like, that doesn't make me racist. I just want to preserve my own life.  

Distefano: I'm just trying to live, baby. But I think more and more now from, again, the little sense, just talking to people, not on the internet, just in real life, of every race. More people getting sick of it. More people are like, "yo, let's move past it now. Not everything's got to be racist, sexist." I think the MeToo—not MeToo, the pandemic. I think it hit its fever pitch and now it kind of broke. And it's just like, people are like, I'm exhausted by that. Don't talk to me about that. 

Von: Yeah, I agree. I think people see that it's also this thing that they try to get different political groups to fight over. It's all a smear camp—it's all like, hey, fight over this shit while everything else disappears. You know what I'm saying? 

Dedicated readers may recall that this is not the first time Von has mentioned his friend’s shop that for safety reasons he unfortunately was unable to patronize. He also mentioned it in a May episode featuring Las Vegas police officer Christopher Curtis, who assured him that his concerns about Black crime are perfectly reasonable: 

Von: …I don't think that there's more racism than there used to be. I think sometimes there is a fear of some Black cultures in areas, because I think people probably want to be safe and they fear that some of those areas don't have a lot of safety. But I don't know that that's true.

Curtis: It's true.

Von: And I also don't know—that kind of bums me out sometimes because it's like, well, I would like to go support more Black-owned businesses and see them in certain areas probably. But I think there's sometimes where I'm just probably afraid. It's like, I don't want to risk my safety today to do that.

Curtis: In a predominantly Black neighborhood?

Von: Right.

Curtis: Yes.

Von: And that may sound racist saying that—

Curtis: That doesn't sound ra—I don't know, why would that sound racist?

[…]

Von: Because the shitty part is, it's like, yeah, I had a friend and she had a hat store and she wanted me to come by, and I was like, “I—it's just, that's too—I don't want to be in that area. I don't want be in the area."

Curtis: I don't blame you.

Von: But to be like, I don't want to—it just kind of sucks. Shit like that kind of sucks. 

Curtis: Self-preservation is a thing. 

Von: Right. That's the first thing, and it's the best thing. It's like, I'm not going to fucking risk my life to get fucking fitted. At the same time, it would be nice—it's like, and that's not everywhere, but it's like, yeah, that kind of shit sucks, dude. You wish that shit would go away because it fucking sucks. And it makes cities bad, man. New Orleans has a lot of that murder over there, a lot of Black-on-Black murder, and it makes you not want to be around certain it makes you just not be able to relax and enjoy yourself. 

The subject of “Black-on-Black murder” weighs heavily on Von. He spent a solid three minutes of his act on it when I saw him in July, essentially joking that Black people are constantly shooting and killing other Black people:

Von: I'm from New Orleans, right? I'm from New Orleans area. [Someone in the audience whistles.] Yeah, you got a survivor from there. But where I'm from, if you're a Black guy with a gun, you pretty much have to shoot another Black guy. It is fucking chocolate freeze tag where I'm from. Like, "You're Black? I'm Black!" [Gunfire sounds.] Sometimes people are like, "Theo, you seem a little racist." I'm like, I've never shot a Black guy. That seems like the most racist shit you could do. I won't even introduce my Black friends in New Orleans to each other, 'cause I'm not being a part of that shit.

You know what I said? Two of my closest Black friends in my life got, both of them got killed in drive-by shootings in New Orleans. They both got killed by another young Black man who just shot. They didn't even know them. Didn't even fucking know 'em, dude. Yeah, we all wanna shoot somebody we don't know, but you can't fucking do it. And so I think it just made me angry. And so I was thinking about it. I was like, "Well dude, you can't get mad at Black people"—and so I started thinking like, well, what really makes you mad? And I started thinking about that aim, right? No community has shittier aim when it comes to gunfire than the Black community.

"It is fucking chocolate freeze tag where I'm from."

Un-fucking-believably bad. Because a lot of times you have a young man who wants to drive across town to shoot another man, right? "Found me." Every man I've ever met deserves to be shot. If a stranger walked up to me right now and goes, "You know what you did, motherfucker,” I'd be like, "How'd you know?" Every guy I've ever met deserves to be shot. The problem is a lot of these young Black men, they drive across town to shoot one guy. They don't even watch a YouTube video of how to shoot a gun, right? How to shoot just one guy. Put in the right prompts! They go to the place, they get there, they shoot. [Gunfire sounds.] Eleven guys, dude. Dude, the other day it happened outside of a Five Guys, dude. It says on the sign, the limit!

So we gotta start teaching these young Black men to shoot better, dude. And I don't know where we do it. Do it where we shoot, I guess. In schools, man, that’s where we got—you're shooting three corners, wait until you shoot this bitch. 

But if you're a Black man, buy your son a scope for Christmas. Help the rest of us. 'Cause we're losing our friends, dude. 

It’s interesting, isn’t it? The substance of Von’s rhetoric is the same as Charlie Kirk’s: that Black people are violent criminals by nature. But because he expresses this rhetoric in the form of jokes, no one would ever think to call him an extremist. He’s recording his hour for Netflix in two weeks. 

I will leave you with Whitney Cummings' take on the left's (supposed) reaction to Kirk's assassination:

You can see her live at the Riyadh Comedy Festival on September 26th.