This Week in America: Charlie Kirk, Ted Cruz, and Afghanistan

It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. ‘This Week in America’ is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.

This week:

• The weaponisation of Charlie Kirk’s assassination
• What we mean by ‘the mythologies of white supremacy’
• Two standout reflections on Charlie Kirk: Ta-Nehesi Coates and Jamelle Bouie
• Australia to join 150 countries to recognise state of Palestine, Ted Cruz warns of ‘punitive measures’
• Trump considers going back into Afghanistan

The weaponisation of Charlie Kirk’s assassination

The assassination of Charlie Kirk, and, more importantly, the way the administration is weaponising his death, continues to dominate the news. I wrote about that this week in The Conversation.

In that piece, I write about Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Miller – described by one former White House aide as “Waffen SS” – is a hugely influential figure in the administration. And he understands how to use power. At Kirk’s funeral, Miller spoke of defeating “wickedness” and “evil”, cleverly and – for those in those circles – very clearly drawing on the mythologies of white supremacy.

“Our lineage and our legacy,” said Miller

“…hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello. Our ancestors built the cities. They produced the art and architecture. They built the industry. Erica [Kirk] stands on the shoulders of thousands of years of warriors of women who raised up families, raised up city, raised up industry, raised up civilization, who pulled us out of the caves and the darkness into the light.”

 

‘The mythologies of white supremacy’

For more on what I mean about the mythologies of white supremacy and how they’re at play here – especially that seemingly weird reference to “art and architecture” – try this by India Block in the Guardian. It’s from the first Trump administration, but it stands up – and it reminds us that they’ve always told us who they are and what they want.

That’s especially true of Miller. If you haven’t had enough chilling reading, this Rolling Stone piece describes him as “America’s — if not the world’s — most powerful unelected bureaucrat”.

Standout reflections on Charlie Kirk

More broadly, there’s been an avalanche of coverage of Kirk and the fallout, of course. Two that really stood out to me, and that I’ll keep coming back to, are Ta-Nehesi Coates in Vanity Fair and Jamelle Bouie in The New York Times (Bouie also does great video explainers and commentary on Instagram and TikTok, and often posts gift links on socials for non-subscribers).

 

Australia to join 150 countries to recognise state of Palestine, Ted Cruz warns of ‘punitive measures’

Meanwhile, the Australian PM is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this week. He was met by a lovely letter from a bunch of Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz, warning Australia of possible “punitive measures” in response to Australia’s recognition the state of Palestine (joining the 150 or so other nations which already do so).

Despite that, and Cruz’s party’s efforts to destroy the rule of law and democracy at home and abroad, the Australian government is apparently still very keen to lock down that meeting with the President. It is genuinely hard to understand why, when the best possible result from that meeting is that the PM is only a little bit humiliated.

Oh, and did I mention that the Trump administration is considering going back into Afghanistan?

 

This Week in America, link roundup: 

• Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation is the latest sign we’re witnessing the end of US democracy | Emma Shortis, The Conversation
• When classical beauty is in the eye of the rightwing beholder | India Block, The Guardian
• Inside Stephen Miller’s reign of terror | Asawin Suebsaeng, Nikki McCann Ramirez, Andrew Perez; Rolling Stone
• Charlie Kirk, redeemed: A political class finds its lost cause | Ta-Nehesi Coates, Vanity Fair
• The MAGA movement is not a debating society | Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times
• Jamelle Bouie on Instagram and TikTok
• US Republicans warn Australia of ‘punitive measures’ over recognition of Palestinian state | Tom McIlroy, The Guardian
• The US return to Bagram isn’t a bad idea | Editorial Board, The Washington Post