If Charlie Kirk had been accidentally run over by a bus instead of intentionally shot,

[Ocelot II]

would he have been lauded as if he were the Second Coming and given such an over-the-top memorial service? Would a special day have been designated in his honor? I think not. There would have been an acknowledgement, of course, and expressions of condolence to his family, and an unduly laudatory obituary. But the circumstances of his death were much more important to MAGA than Kirk himself because it gave them a chance to vilify, loudly and everywhere, The Other (e.g., liberals, Democrats, trans people, anybody who doesn't love Trump), even though there's no evidence at all that the collective "they" had anything to do with the killing. If Kirk had died in some kind of accident there wouldn't have been a "them" to blame - just a negligent bus driver or a careless pedestrian. If the bus driver had been Black, trans or an immigrant, so much the better, but an actual murder serves the narrative so much better. MAGA cares much more about the means of Kirk's death and finding a scapegoat for it than they ever did about Kirk himself.