There’s a term floating around right now — “the woke right.” And if you haven’t heard it before, you’re about to hear it a lot. It’s being used to describe conservatives who are suddenly embracing the very tactics they’ve spent years mocking: moral shaming, loyalty tests and cancel culture-style pile-ons.

James Lindsay — a writer who actually used to work with Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — coined the phrase a long time ago. He warned that if conservatives kept moving in this direction, they’d be walking down a self-destructive path. Well, here we are.

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the calls for retribution against anyone who dares criticize him have been deafening. Some conservatives want people fired, publicly shamed, even prosecuted. And here’s the irony: Charlie Kirk built his career as a warrior for free speech. Now, in his name, some of his closest allies are undermining the very thing he fought for.

Candace Owens

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