Hal Brown's Substack (fomerly Hal Brown's Blog)

September 14, 2025

"You know the type of person." Donald Trump's comment about killer of Charlie Kirk says a lot about the president. Cox's words say a lot about the governor. Utah's Gov. Cox isn't self-centered like Trump, in fact he's presidentially governorial.

“You know, the type of person who would do something like that to Charlie Kirk would love to do it to us,” Utah Gov. Cox said Trump told him when he called him after his press conference a short time after the news that Tyler Robinson had been apprehended.

Trump then went on to recite statistics suggesting that the presidency was “one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet.” (From The Atlantic)

Cox has been praised for what he said when he addressed the nation after Kirk’s killer was taken into custody. It was what was needed. It came from a governor, but one could call it “presidential.”

I can only surmise that Trump thought he was talking to a kindred spirit because Cox is a Republican and would be more concerned with protecting his own life than with healing the nation.

Perhaps Trump wasn’t aware that Cox, who is considered a moderate, in the primary for his second term, beat a candidate to the right of him who bragged about how much he supported the president (read article).

According to The Times: “Though Mr. Trump did not weigh in on the governor’s race, Mr. Lyman emphasized his support for the former president throughout his campaign.”

There are 27 state governors so I can understand why Trump might not know whether all of them are firm supporters of him. He may assume that if they have an R after their name they are as self-centered as he is.

I doubt Trump listened to or read about what Gov. Cox said in his lengthy interview with Martha Raddatzof ABC News. Here are excerpts:

RADDATZ: And -- and, Governor, let’s go back to Friday and your very powerful words and advice. You said this was a watershed moment that could be a turning point in the history, depending on the collective actions.
What needs to happen for this to be a good turning point?
COX: Well, you know, right -- right now we’re -- we’re in a dark place. Everybody gets that, I think. And we -- we have choices. And we, in my political philosophy, in my -- in my religious philosophy, we believe in -- in agency. That every one of us gets to make our own decisions.
And -- and I think -- I -- I hate this idea that what, you know, what a governor says or what the president says, that’s what matters more than anything else. It -- it is not. And if we’re waiting for a -- a president or a governor of Utah or anywhere else to -- to get us out of this mess, that’s -- that’s just never going to happen.
And -- and so we -- every one of us has to make a decision. Are we going to hate our neighbor? Are we going to hate the other side? Are we going to return violence with violence? Or are we going to find a different path? Are we going to get out of those social media, those dark places of the internet where the conflict entrepreneurs reside, who are preying upon us, these -- these companies with trillion dollar market caps who are using dopamine, just like fentanyl, to addict us to our product and -- and lead us -- again, those algorithms lead us to more outrage? Can we put that aside? Can we go and -- and serve our -- our fellow human beings? Can we do some good in our neighborhood? Can we hug a family member? Can we talk to a neighbor that we disagree with? That’s -- that’s up to us. And that’s the only way out of this. There is nothing else we can do to -- to solve this -- this dark chapter in our history.

Cox went on to say:

RADDATZ: And -- and, Governor, let’s go back to Friday and your very powerful words and advice. You said this was a watershed moment that could be a turning point in the history, depending on the collective actions.
What needs to happen for this to be a good turning point?
COX: Well, you know, right -- right now we’re -- we’re in a dark place. Everybody gets that, I think. And we -- we have choices. And we, in my political philosophy, in my -- in my religious philosophy, we believe in -- in agency. That every one of us gets to make our own decisions.
And -- and I think -- I -- I hate this idea that what, you know, what a governor says or what the president says, that’s what matters more than anything else. It -- it is not. And if we’re waiting for a -- a president or a governor of Utah or anywhere else to -- to get us out of this mess, that’s -- that’s just never going to happen.
And -- and so we -- every one of us has to make a decision. Are we going to hate our neighbor? Are we going to hate the other side? Are we going to return violence with violence? Or are we going to find a different path? Are we going to get out of those social media, those dark places of the internet where the conflict entrepreneurs reside, who are preying upon us, these -- these companies with trillion dollar market caps who are using dopamine, just like fentanyl, to addict us to our product and -- and lead us -- again, those algorithms lead us to more outrage? Can we put that aside? Can we go and -- and serve our -- our fellow human beings? Can we do some good in our neighborhood? Can we hug a family member? Can we talk to a neighbor that we disagree with? That’s -- that’s up to us. And that’s the only way out of this. There is nothing else we can do to -- to solve this -- this dark chapter in our history

Then Raddatz asked him about his conversation with Trump.

RADDATZ: Did -- did he warn you that this type of violence could affect you?
COX: Yes. Yes, he did. He -- I mean this -- this is a -- a very dark conversation, but -- but he, of course, was almost assassinated. A fraction of an inch away from having this very thing happen to him. And that’s what we talked about. These are -- these are very dangerous jobs these days and -- and -- and so, it’s not lost on us.
We’re -- we’re human beings too. President Trump is a human being. Whether you love him or -- or you hate him, he’s -- he’s a -- he’s a human being and these are -- these are very tragic circumstances that impact all of us.
RADDATZ: And -- and, Governor, just -- just lastly, you immediately talked about Democrats who had already been targeted. President Trump said nothing about the political violence against Democrats. In fact, he blamed the radical left. What’s your reaction to that? Is that something you think he should be doing?
COX: Well, look, President Trump is -- is very angry. And Charlie is his close, personal friend. There is a lot of anger. A lot of anger on -- on the right, on -- on my side of the aisle. And I've certainly felt that. And in this case, it -- it does appear that that’s true. Again, more -- more information is coming, and we’ll learn more over time.

I am struck by Cox expressing empathy for the president even though we don’t know whether he was taken aback by how self-centered he was.

Read the transcript of the entire interview here.

There are two defintions of the word “presidential.” One is anything coming from a president, as in “a presidential proclamation.” The other is something said by a president which is dignified and worthy of someone leading a country.

Cox’s words have been presidential. There is such a word as “governorial” (see defintion) but it isn’t commonly used. We could call him presidentially governorial.

We could call him presidentially governorial

Check back later.

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September 13, 2025

What if Tyler Robinson turns out to be a far-right radical lunatic? There's evidence suggesting he's a Groyper. By Hal M. Brown

I didn’t know what a Groyper was although I’d heard the term. The cartoon below (click to enlarge), which someone posted in a Facebook comment, explains what it is and why there is good evidence to suggest that the reason Tyler Robinson shot Charlie Kirk was because he wasn’t extreme enough.

For a fulsome explanation of the Groyper movement here’s the Wikipedia entry.

Excerpt:

The Groypers, sometimes called the Groyper Army, are a group of alt-right, white nationalist, and Christian nationalist activists led by Nick Fuentes. Members of the group have attempted to introduce alt-right politics into mainstream conservatism in the United States and participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack and the protests leading up to it. They have targeted other conservative groups and individuals whose agendas they view as too moderate and insufficiently racist and nationalist. The Groyper movement has been described as white nationalist, homophobic, nativist, fascist, sexist, antisemitic, and an attempt to rebrand the declining alt-right movement.
Groypers are a loosely defined group of Fuentes's followers and fans. After him, there is no clear second in the Groyper hierarchy. Groypers are named after a cartoon amphibian named "Groyper", a variant of the Internet meme Pepe the Frog. In February 2021, the Groyper movement splintered between Fuentes and Patrick Casey over fears of infiltration by federal informants and doxing at the 2021 America First Political Action Conference, held by Fuentes. Jaden McNeil of America First Students joined in support of Fuentes's conference and accused Casey of disloyalty to Fuentes. In May 2022, McNeil distanced himself from Fuentes in an "interpersonal clash of egos" following conflict over his former position as treasurer of Fuentes's America First Foundation.

You probably recall that Donald Trump hosted a dinner with Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) at Mar-a-Lago on November 22, 2022. That meeting drew criticism due to Fuentes' known racist and antisemitic views. Trump later claimed he was unaware of Fuentes' background at the time of the dinner.

The following, from Wikipedia, is very relevant because it describes a major falling out between Nick Fuentes and Charlie Kirk:

In the fall of 2019, Charlie Kirk launched a college speaking tour with Turning Point USA titled "Culture War", featuring himself and guests such as Rand Paul, Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lara Trump, and Dan Crenshaw.^[3] In retaliation for the firing of St. Clair and the Politicon incident, Fuentes began organizing a social media campaign asking his followers to go to Kirk's events and ask provocative and controversial leading questions about his stances on immigration, Israel, and LGBT rights to expose Kirk as a "fake conservative". At a Culture War event hosted by Ohio State University on October 29, 11 out of 14 questions were asked by Groypers.^[28] Their questions included "Can you prove that our white European ideals will be maintained if the country is no longer made up of white European descendants?"^[31] They asked Kirk's co-host Rob Smith, a gay, black Iraq War veteran, "How does anal sex help us win the culture war?"^] Fuentes's social media campaign against Kirk became known as the "Groyper Wars".^[8]^[24] Kirk, Smith, and others at Turning Point USA, including Benny Johnson, began calling the questioners white supremacists and antisemites.^[25]^[32]
Another Turning Point USA event the Groypers targeted was a promotional event for Donald Trump Jr.'s book Triggered, featuring Trump, Kirk, and Guilfoyle at the University of California, Los Angeles in November 2019. Anticipating further questions from Fuentes's followers, it was announced that the event's Q&A portion would be canceled, which led to heckling and boos from the mostly pro-Trump audience.^[33]The disruptions forced the event, originally scheduled to last two hours, to end after 30 minutes.^[34]^[35]^[11]^[36]
Groypers' targets for heckling quickly expanded beyond Kirk and Turning Point USA^[24]^[37] to other mainstream conservative groups and individuals, which they sometimes collectively call "Conservative Inc.", including Young America's Foundation and its student outreach branch Young Americans for Freedom, which included such speakers as Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire and Jonah Goldberg of The Dispatch.^[5]^[37] Groypers' questions often focus on United States–Israel relations, immigration policy, affirmative action, and LGBTQ conservatives.^[6]^[38]^[8] They regularly use antisemitic dog-whistles, including questions about the USS Liberty incident and references to the "dancing Israelis" conspiracy theory alleging Israeli involvement in the September 11 attacks.^[11]^[3]

The only hard evidence that has come out so far as the what might have motivated Tyler Robinson to shoot Charlie Kirk is literally “hard” evidence because it is what he reportedly wrote on his 2 ½ long 30-06 shell casings which the police recovered.

The idea that Robinson was motivated to shoot Kirk because he wasn’t extreme enough is the complete opposite of the narrative MAGA is spinning. It may turn out that instead of his being a far-left radical lunatic he is a far-right radical lunatic.

If, and this “if” must be taken cautiously unless and until we know more, if we discover that Robinson was a militant Groyper and supporter of Nick Fuentes this would totally derail and upend the MAGA portrayal of him as a far-left radical lunatic.

This morning’s Substack:

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The Nobel Peace Prize aspirant says to beat the hell out of radical-left lunatics.

I don’t know whether or not Trump personally approved the NFT card of him standing behind a roaring ferocious fiery lion with giant fangs and sharp claws. I wonder if he did, if he meant for the claw of one paw to be directly over Washington, DC. This is a small point, but such a depiction is hardly one of a peacemaker.

The lion is called the king of the beasts. Trump’s lion is wearing a crown that has the number 45 on it representing that Trump was at the time the 45th president. There’s no doubt that the lion represents Trump.

Trump claims to be a Christian. He also thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. I doubt he could quote one of the most famous lines from Jesus in Matthew 5:9. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."

This brings me to how he has handled the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Trump offered a one-liner on “Fox and Friends” yesterday that was all over the news.

In less volatile times he could claim that beating the hell out of radical-left lunatics meant beating them at the polls.

We should also look at other things Trump has said endorsing people being treated roughly, to think he is referring to voting. When he says beat someone he means this to mean to strike them, not defeat them at the polls.

First, here’s a reminder of what President Bush said after 9/11”

“The face of terrorism not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace, they represent evil and war . . . When we think of Islam, we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world . . .and that’s made brothers and sisters out of every race,” then-President Bush told a shell-shocked and grieving America. (Reference)

Now to the present day:

In a Substack Michael Cohen wrote:

Anthony Scaramucci—who, like me, knows the cost of being chewed up and spit out by Trump’s orbit—said it best: this is a moment when the President should have invited Biden, Obama, Bush, and Clinton to the White House. Imagine that picture for a second: five presidents standing together, saying, We may not agree on many things, but this must stop.

Thomas Friedman in A Plea for President Trump With a Fragile Country on Edge suggested something similar.

Make peace at home. Make peace between Americans. That is the peace prize that you don’t have to wait for anyone to confer on you. It is there for your making and the taking. This American peace prize will not be awarded by Scandinavians. It will be awarded by history. It will say that when Americans came closer to civil war than perhaps any other time since the Civil War, President Donald Trump surprised everyone on the upside: He called Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and House and all nine Supreme Court Justices and said: Come to the White House and let the country see us standing together against political violence and vowing that we will model civil discourse and disagreement — in our speeches and online — and we will call out the opposite when we see it among our supporters as well our rivals.

I concluded yesterday’s Substack writing:

Here, once again, is a chance to do it the right way, but there is only one person who can stop this from leading to more violence. This, it should be unnecessary to point out, is Donald Trump.
If he could manage this I am willing to entertain the idea that he might deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
I am not optimistic.

If only Trump could find his North Star and follow a moral compass.