It is difficult to imagine how one could cover the cold-blooded murder of Charlie Kirk and manage to cast the alleged killer in a sympathetic light.
Yet that is exactly what ABC’s Matt Gutman managed to do in his coverage of newly released text messages from suspect Tyler Robinson to his transgender partner. His description of those exchanges as “very touching” has left many stunned — not because the texts lack intimacy, but because of the staggering blindness required to romanticize them in the shadow of a political assassination.
I’ll take “Shit I immediately wish I hadn’t said for $1 zillion, Ken” https://t.co/oASNKoucJr
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) September 16, 2025
The texts, released by Utah authorities, were chilling in their substance. Robinson described the murder weapon, its concealment, and his intent. He wrote of targeting Kirk precisely because of the conservative leader’s views, demonstrating premeditation and ideological motive. And yet, nestled alongside this evidence, Robinson wrote tenderly to his partner, calling them “my love” and insisting he was acting in part to “protect” them.
Gutman seized on that incongruity — the brutal reality of the crime paired with the language of affection — and chose to highlight the latter. He spoke of the “heartbreaking duality,” praising the text exchange as “robust, fulsome, and very human.”
At one point, he even marveled at Robinson’s academic record: a 34 ACT score, a 4.0 GPA. The picture, intentionally or not, became one of a brilliant, sensitive young man caught in tragic contradiction.
Did anyone on the left REALLY believe that some right-winger killed @charliekirk11 because reasons?
I’d say it’s impossible, it would have to be bad faith, but having seen how dumb they were during Covid, I’m not so sure pic.twitter.com/JDflwS2X9P
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) September 17, 2025
But this is where journalism’s duty to clarity collides with the temptation to dramatize. Whatever affection Robinson expressed to his partner, those words were wrapped around the confession of a crime that left a father, husband, and national figure dead in front of students.
To describe such exchanges as “touching” is to risk confusing the intimacy of language with the morality of action. Love notes cannot sanitize bullets.
