(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) An apparent cognitive-dissonance campaign waged by leftists to deflect blame for the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk succeeded in confusing even Grok, Elon Musk’s AI-powered chatbot.
Grok is telling people that Charlie Kirk was killed for not being Conservative enough??
WTF @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/2XV2yL3XHl
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) September 13, 2025
Following the arrest of Tyler Robinson—a 22-year-old Utah resident who was turned in by his father, Mark, after reportedly confessing to Wednesday’s assassination—left-wing media and social-media commentary attempted, falsely, to paint the accused killer as a right-wing extremist.
A thread, appearing to have originated on Reddit, claimed that Robinson had targeted Kirk because he wasn’t conservative enough.
Leftists on Reddit and across social media are spreading viral lies that the Charlie Kirk assassin suspect is a far-right Christian nationalist. They’re doing this to protect Antifa and radical leftist politics.
No legacy media is challenging those lies and the platforms that do… pic.twitter.com/FDuHbR1zls
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) September 13, 2025
“Tyler Robinson, who turned himself in for murdering right wing activist Charlie Kirk, was not acting on left wing ideals but was deeply influenced by the far right ‘Groyper’ movement led by Nick Fuentes,” said the post, which was cut and pasted directly into other leftist social media, giving it a viral reach that Grok ultimately picked up.
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The Reddit campaign pointed to Robinson’s upbringing in a conservative, Mormon family that appeared to value Second Amendment rights. Photos sourced to the Facebook account of his mom, Amber Jones Robinson, purported to show the future assassin dressed in a “Pepe the Frog” costume, as well as a Donald Trump one.
The post also claimed that the pro-Antifa messages scratched onto the casings of ammunition apparently intended for Kirk had been “co-opted into the online ecosystem of Groypers and incels,” while suggesting that “the far right glamorizes violence and recruits followers while hiding behind irony.”
Fuentes, a popular and controversial podcaster who largely opposes Trump due to his pro-Israel policies, disavowed the smear attack.
“My followers and I are currently being framed for the murder of Charlie Kirk by the mainstream media based on literally zero evidence,” he wrote. “After the Left gunned him down, they celebrated and justified it. They said I was next. Now they are blaming me. These people are pure evil.”
My followers and I are currently being framed for the murder of Charlie Kirk by the mainstream media based on literally zero evidence.
After the Left gunned him down, they celebrated and justified it. They said I was next. Now they are blaming me.
These people are pure evil. pic.twitter.com/WRQdt7G3Dp
— Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes) September 13, 2025
Much remains to be discovered about the true motives of Robinson, who will be charged with the death penalty for slaying the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder, a husband and father of two.
Robinson’s voter registration reportedly lists him as “unaffiliated.”
Tyler Robinson‘s voter registration. Not a registered Republican. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/lAVwrJZuf3
— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) September 12, 2025
Accounts that purported to come from high school friends and acquaintances disputed the claims that he was right-wing, saying he was something of a black sheep in his conservative family.
The Guardian’s Anna Betts said that one friend had referred to Robinson as “pretty left on everything” in a phone interview.
NEW: The guy who scrawled "Hey fascist! Catch!" on one of the bullets he intended to murder Charlie Kirk with is a leftist, according to one of his high school friends — @guardian reports pic.twitter.com/hg2Fn4CXsw
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) September 12, 2025
“I knew he had strong political views, but I never thought it would go that far,” said the friend.
Another classmate identified Robinson as a weird “Reddit kid” in a Tiktok post.
High school classmate of Tyler Robinson describes him as a weird “Reddit kid”
That app is a liberal cesspool. pic.twitter.com/DZBNhibSsW
— American AF 🇺🇸 (@iAnonPatriot) September 12, 2025
“All I’m gonna say is, this is the kind of s**t that happens when you spend way too much time online, and all of a sudden your beliefs are all the way this way … and you do some dramatic s**t to please these people that are not your friends,” said the classmate.
Reports have indicated that Robinson had a presence on Discord—a gaming platform that has been used in previous mass-shooting incidents as a recruitment tool for young and vulnerable individuals.
However, the company said it had found no indication that Robinson plotted his attack there.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
