Despite stepping into the position of CEO of Turning Point USA after her husband was shot and killed on a Utah college campus two weeks ago, there are legitimate reasons why Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative Charlie Kirk, will not be able to adequately fill his shoes, according to one political analyst.
In her column for Salon, feminist writer Amanda Marcotte suggested that the very nature of the far-right conservative group is not conducive to a woman being the figurehead and that Erika Kirk does not appear to have the rabble-rousing tools that made her husband popular.
Noting that Charlie Kirk has based much of his appeal in biblical terms, in particular, the subservient role of a woman in man’s life, Marcotte pointed out that Kirk’s widow will have an uphill battle to change that narrative.
Add to that, she won’t be able to deliver the red meat that made her husband a MAGA favorite.
“To replace her husband, Erika Kirk will have to give the slobbering MAGA masses the same titillating, abrasive content in which her husband specialized,” she wrote before confessing, “Frankly, I don’t think she’s up to it.”
“Right now, MAGA crowds are trying to airbrush Erika Kirk into an anti-feminist icon. In her speech at the memorial, she promoted her husband’s belief in female submission, declaring that ‘true manhood’ means being the 'head of your home' and that good women accept their second-class status as a ‘helper,’” she wrote before adding, “Erika Kirk’s presence was not as a leader, but as a shield. Her husband doesn’t hate women, the images implied — just the ones that talk back to men.”
Marcotte noted, “Without her husband, Erika Kirk can no longer play the role of the soothing housewife. But it’s also unlikely she can become her husband and make a name for herself yelling at college kids. Charlie Kirk was an aspirational figure for his male audience. They wished they could go on campuses and condescend to cute girls, but they knew — they continue to know — that wouldn’t go well for them. They’d get ignored, mocked or worse, have campus security called on them.”
“Charlie Kirk, though, had the charisma, money and organization to tilt the field so that he ‘won’ every encounter — even though the kids that approached him usually had better arguments. He offered a fantasy of male domination,” she added before predicting, “His audience will never accept a woman in this fake ‘alpha male’ role.”