Will MAGA Continue Charlie Kirk's Mission to Discredit MLK, Jr.?

With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day taking place tomorrow, I cannot help but think of Charlie Kirk.

I cannot help this for two reasons.

First, because both men were struck down by the bullets of an assassin.

Second, because in the final years of his life, Kirk went from admiring King to launching an effort to discredit his name. 

During his remarks at TurningPoint USA's AmericaFest in December 2023, Kirk said this about King:

MLK was awful. He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe.

Mind you, in 2015, Kirk described King as a "hero" and even as late as 2022 called him "a civil rights icon." By the following year, Kirk had changed his tune considerably:

I have a very, very radical view on this, but I can defend it, and I’ve thought about it. We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.

In reality, Charlie Kirk's thought was that if he could discredit Dr. King then he could delegitimize the Civil Rights Act.  

On MLK, Jr. Day in 2024 Kirk said that King is "not worthy of a national holiday" describing such an honor as "harmful."

Alas, Kirk did not live to see his plan come to pass.

The question remains whether MAGA or specific figures within MAGA will pick up Kirk's cudgel to bash King and ultimately eliminate the Civil Rights Act.

I suspect that someone will pick up the mantel at some point although at the moment I think MAGA is more fixated ICE rounding up and deporting as many people as possible, be they here illegally or not, and those who get in the way of said fixation.

For its part, while the Trump Administration cannot unilaterally end MLK, Jr. Day, it has tried to diminish its status such as ending "fee-free" days with the National Parks Service. Still, it is a far cry from not recognizing MLK, Jr. Day at all.

Yet who can where we will be in 2040 or in 2050? Will the United States exist as we have previously understood it? By mid-century, anyone who was around when Dr. King was alive will be next to no one. At which time, Charlie Kirk's successors might have a far easier time to discredit Dr. King and to delegitimize the Civil Rights Act.