The Daily Zeitgeist - Hot-Crossed Trends 9/11: Charlie Kirk, Eurovision

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

In this edition of Hot-Crossed Trends, Jack and Miles discuss the assassination of Charlie Kirk, some Eurovision drama and much more!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? Answer, a new podcast called Wisecrack, where a comedian finds himself at the center of a chilling true crime story. Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story. It's about the scariest night of my life. This is Wisecrack, available now.

Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream. It was a battlefield. It's a freaking war zone. These people are animals. The Model Wars podcast peels back the glossy cover and reveals a high-stakes game where survival meant more than beauty. Hosted by me, Vanessa Grigoriatis, this is the untold story of an industry built a ruthless ambition. to Model Wars on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. On the new podcast, America's Crime Lab, every case has a story to tell. And the DNA holds the truth.

He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. And I was just like, ah, got you. This technology is already solving so many cases. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the Internet, and welcome to this episode of Hot Cross Trends, Hot Cross Trends, One, a trendy to a trendy, hot cross trend. So what Hot Cross Trends? See how they trend. See how they trend. It's three blind mice, I think.

It is. Yo, they ripped off three blind mice, bro. Tell your boy. Do you think three blind mice was like a banger, everybody knew about? And then like the cross bun, hot cross buns people like bought that for their ad and like turned it into, you know what I mean? All I know is I heard Scooter Braun was behind it. It was like the equivalent of seal going on a mountain dew commercial and changing the lyrics to. No, I don't know about that.

I feel like it's... It's probably more like when Soldier Boy accused Drake of stealing his whole flow. Right, right. You know? He's like, that's me. It was back when they only had three notes that they knew about. Damn, bro. Yo, he put them in that order?

What the fuck? Hey, it's your cousin, Marvin Berry. Marvin, three blind mice. All right. My name is Jack O'Brien. That over there is Mr. is the episode where we tell you what is trending we are recording this on September 11th at about 11 a.m. in the morning the day after Charlie Kirk was

murdered and everybody watched it I think that's like a thing that's I don't know like there's been a lot of death on you know social media videos but just there does feel like something new about how many people saw this happen immediately like all the gory like I saw I saw it happen on the New York Times homepage right within an hour after it happening like I saw the fucking video of it yeah and it's I it just feels like significant that that's a thing that I feel like is hitting people's nervous systems like uh in a way that is is probably, you know, I don't think there's ever been anything like that, right?

We used to, yeah, I mean, we used to live in a time, like, if you really wanted to see something gruesome, like, you had to put the effort in, you know, like, you'd have to go on Reddit or fucking nothing toxic back in the day, rotten.com, so shit like that, whereas, like, now it's being just straight up, I just remember when we were recording yesterday, Justin's like, guys, Charlie Kirk just got shot. And I just went to Twitter to Rick Reed, whatever, the report was and then the fucking there were like two angles immediately that were being served up to you yeah um that's a little that was jarring for sure and it's yeah i like everyone that i was texting yesterday too there were like people who were like basically saying like

dude i didn't even want to see it and i fucking saw it and then other people were like i'm just trying to a fucking avoid seeing any kind of murder video right now and i'm like yeah sure it's it's fucking gruesome. Yeah. So I don't know. We'll get into, you know, the political moment. And, you know, I guess the big thing is that another sort of new barrier that we're crossing is like the way Trump responded to it. Yeah. By, you know, making a statement from the Oval Office immediately blaming what he called the radical left for Kirk's death. Like, it was language. It was language that is critical of his ideology is what he is saying, is what he's like essentially waging war on. He said, quote, this kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing

in our country today and it must stop right now. My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund and support it, as well as those who go after our judge's law enforcement and other blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, yeah, it's, and then you also see all these other people maga figures who are being like the gloves are off it's time like yeah it's this is war i call on you to invoke the insurrection act and go full blown just cross into you know full authoritarianism in the united states yeah um and this is something like i said we've been talking about like they're this administration is looking for a reason to really yeah to blow up the norms that we have i mean

they're already completely they're an abusive parent that That's like, give me a reason. And yeah, there, this feels like, you know, we were talking about how Putin, we like to compare this administration to Putin because there's a really smart writer, M. Gessen, who lived through Putin's kind of sweep to authoritarian power and now lives in the United States and is like, this is exactly, this is on schedule. And one of the things that happened with Putin was a bombing of an apartment building, turned out that was, you know, an inside job most likely. Yeah. Like all evidence points to it, being an inside job. And he used that as an excuse to seize power.

And we've been speculating as to like what that would be for Trump. And this feels like, I'm sure it's not going to be one thing. But this certainly feels like straight up saying like we're going to go after anybody who contributed to this. and the contributions being anybody who, like, compared the Trump administration to Nazis. And keep in mind, he's saying this. We're recording this. Like, they still, no one has been arrested. No motive has been determined.

They have an image of a person of interest. They have an image of a person of interest. They found the weapon. They found the weapon. They say that there are trans ideologies. And that's what the Wall Street Journal posted. And then everyone else is. not reporting that and there was a

even a comment from another like official with the investigation like it's way too early to be saying things like this like what is a Wall Street Journal doing but I think it goes into the bullets which feels very yeah it feels very like this is how you're giving someone a neat sequence of events

to then be like and this is why now we are going to just do summary executions in the street of people yeah um like it feels like that is where they're headed for that's what they're going for people people were like you know uh on the other hand like trump somebody shot at trump and everybody forgot about it a week later um but i don't think that's happening here i don't think

this is it's about it's about how much the media makes you know like that's really what all how it what it all boils down to in the u.s it's how much the media keeps talking about it like we saw that with the epstein thing like they took their foot off there's still clearly people who i mean there's just a bloomberg just published a bunch of emails today yeah that was between Galane Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein where he's like, take Trump off that one list. Yeah. And you're like, what the fuck?

Yeah. What list? But I mean, yeah, the amount of energy that you're seeing, especially from like the extreme parts of the MAGA online influencer set. I mean, like, they're, they're using this to say like, this is war. It's time for war. like with like you know there's no compromise with evil and i think the one thing you know i do look at is like that that is a subset of a larger group and it's not it's not the main thing however charlie kirk is one of the more well-known like you know right-wing

influencer so this is clearly going to resonate with a lot of people um on the right i just think the combination of it being somebody that everybody like i don't know if he's a household name for other people but i feel like he had i mean he was a fucking south park character like He was pretty much a household name, the graphicness of it, and the immediacy of it, and the fact that it's being prosecuted before they've even like, they even know what happens just makes it feel particularly volatile. And also, was it Trump that basically confirmed? Was he the first one to confirm that he died? It seemed like that was. Or that was where I saw it. Yeah, that's where I saw it.

And I'm just like, what's the point of that? It's from one of my favorite reporters. I mean, I think the thing that I really grapple with is like I'd obviously people who listen to the show know we fucking do not not into anything Charlie Kirk says. It's everything he says is fucking abhorrent. But the thing that I've really like grappled with, A, is seeing immediately like the weird revisionist like hagiographies that people are posting about Charlie Kirk or like people talk. talking about his work without actually discussing the specifics of what he would talk about, what his values were. Yeah, and that's kind of been across the board.

Yeah. I think because suddenly it's like, well, don't, don't, don't, you know, don't drag him through the mud or whatever. I'm like, objectively, this is what he stood for. And I think to act as if that weren't the case, I think is a disservice. And also, I think it's, I don't know, it doesn't surprise me, given how much we've seen the media capitulate to the right and not want to be. seen as being improper, but again, and we'll talk about this on probably on tomorrow's show and

just throughout the week or however long this story continues to eat up all the air. It's like, this isn't how conservatives react at all when political violence is coming from their side, not to say this is coming from the left or anything, but just generally, if the victim is a Democrat or someone on the left, it's a joke. It's, it's memes or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, there were two politicians assassinated earlier this year. and well yeah one yeah her uh was Melissa hi I think what was her name Melissa oh yeah politician and her husband her husband and then another was shot along with their golden retriever by a Trump supporter but I mean at the end of the day like I'm kind of netting out to

I for someone who preached anti empathy all the time I'm I'm shockingly finding it hard for myself to have empathy for him in this case I do I don't think people deserve to die for what their views are I certainly don't feel like I deserve to. I don't deserve harm for what my beliefs are. But at the same time, uh, I, like when you look at how this man would even speak about deaths for,

of people who look like me and how flippant he was about that. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I struggle to find the grief or to like try and mourn that. I'm just, I'm like,

I'd probably just keep it moving the same way Charlie Kirk would keep it moving when, you know, people of color or trans people die and it just becomes more of a talking point for him to sort of ra-rah-rah the development of the United States as like a white nationalist entity even further. I definitely, I think my grief is for the people like going forward, you know, well, first of all, I don't think I don't like violence of any sort and then just going forward the violence that's going to be enacted on behalf of this event. That's the freakyest thing is what they are going to try and. and justify with this killing, you know, and I think that's all, I mean, we've seen the flimsyest

shit be used as a justification for some really terrible policies. Yeah. So for something like, for an event that is like this visceral. Yes. That's the, yeah, the, how this role it is to have, everybody have seen that happen immediately, I think is, you know, it's going to be a thing that we're going to have to rack them with um i mean uh the other thing that we just always like to bring up because i'm not giving up on it yet uh gun control the you know not nobody's saying anything about guns uh just open carry is legal on university and college campuses in utah with very few exceptions um those laws were loosened a few months ago where they were like well well 18 year olds aren't allowed to carry guns, so they loosen the laws to allow for teenagers to open carry weapons

on college campuses. There's something about me. Call me old-fashioned, but I feel like the natural order of things should be when you see someone with a gun, somebody should shout, he's got a gun, and everybody should like go scattering and heading towards a world where like, you know, this shooter could like blend in with a campus full of people with guns is probably not the best natural state of things. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, there's so many. So the natural state of so many things is really. Yeah. Really could be a lot better. But yeah, I mean, I think it's just this is kind of like, I don't know. I'm really, really bracing myself to hear of like how this is going to ramp up. Because the other part is, too, like for how sloppy the investigation is. is it's just creating a information vacuum where people are like first cash

Patel's like we got someone oh wait no that was we got another guy okay no that was that those people had nothing to do with it but that chaos allows for yeah what they like which is a lot of theories a lot of fulminating ideas um right now like there's a lot of people like one of the top headlines on drudge is like multiple eyewitnesses say there were multiple people involved in the shooting, like that it was a conspiracy, which is always a thing that you see in the aftermath of a shooting is, uh, like that there's the show on the media, like, studies, you know, media accounts and media biases and media myths. And they point what one of their like keys is that like anytime there's a shooting, there's always a bias towards people being like,

there were multiple shooters or there was like a, it was a team of people. And almost always it ends up being just like a single person, but like, yeah, I was watching some eyewitness be like, yeah, and like somebody was, one person asked the question, uh, and that person asked a question about trans rights right before he was shot. And first of all, that wasn't the question that was asked right before he was shot. And also like, and people are like, there was somebody behind him making, signaling, signaling, like baseball signals, which first of all, I, I haven't watched that video because I don't want to watch this. person got murdered again, but

I do they just not know what American sign language is? No, it's like pulling the ear and like touching the brim of the hat and like touching the arm. I don't know. Like it. There's a thing that happened immediately after the Zapruder film was made public

where people noticed that as the Kennedy motorcade drove by like you know, seconds before he was assassinated, there was someone standing bright on the side of the motorcade who like put up an umbrella

like raised an umbrella and everyone was like that was a, it was like a perfectly clear blue day why would somebody raising an umbrella if it hadn't been like some sort of signal and that was like a real like person of interest and like conspiracy theories were obsessed with that for years

and then they like finally found the person and it was just like the guy ended up being someone who was like protesting some policy of like like Joseph Kennedy like and like it was like some weird political cartoon as act of protest that like hadn't absolutely nothing to do with it but it's just when you're examining like every single like angle of a crowd of like hundreds of people you're going to be able to like find whatever you're you know you're going to be able to find weird shit well i don't know i mean yeah we live in a real fucking great time for this kind of confusion because between that and

fucking AI nonsense who knows what kind of like I yeah man I'm I'm just I think Ben Collins posted something on blue sky I've just sort of like kind of like I think I'm like in a pre-grief stage for like whatever imperial boomerang with x-ray vision is about to come back at us yeah it's about to be bad um and I think that it's been bad but uh that another thing that I'm guessing always says about the uh rise of authoritarianism in russia is it can always get worse like it and it does get worse you'll you'll be like well how could it get worse it's like this is as bad as it can be and then a year later you look back and be like man we could have done something then we could have like protested we could have like pushed back back then now it's like so much worse um yeah

and i feel like that is you know anybody he's like what are you talking about it's bad it's been bad it's like yeah there are levels of bad and i feel like yeah think about the worst place on earth you can think of right it could get there and even worse at some point you know and i think that's you know that you see people real i've i've read articles where people are like really trying to to say like come on now let's cool our jets like one conservative i think person was posting about being like i'm seeing some really wacky shit being posted from people who i know as good christians that i just want to like you know like this person was calling for calm and didn't seem to be connecting

much um but yeah i i think this is just such it's such a really uh this is such a very unique situation because you have someone who has like a track record of like hate speech yeah um and then because of the you know where power lies right now in this country on the political spectrum like you're seeing this sort of like this version of talking about charlie kirk without talking about what his work was or what he stood for yeah and then you also have people like you know the like the woman who runs libs of ticot who like is like yes i'm proud to be a stochastic terrorist it's like what in the past in the past yeah yeah yeah like it's just you're seeing that it's a complete double standard yeah yeah and it and it makes perfect sense because

Because this is exactly how they need to operate to continue, you know, forging ahead with this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we've talked for a long time on the show about, like, the sampling error that white supremacy takes advantage of where, you know, everything from like the local news being more likely to show disproportionately, like, crimes committed by black and brown people than is the actual case, you know, from the start.

They've taken advantage of that anytime, you know, there's a crime that supports their white supremacist view of the world. They show you that and they are less likely to show you the crimes that don't support that. And now this sort of right-leaning authoritarian government is using that to make it so that we only see and react to act. You know, Trump mentioned acts of political violence and didn't mention. the what the January 6th even yeah January 6th

the people who were assassinated earlier this year Paul Pelosi yeah Paul Pelosi exactly they just made a joke about Paul Pelosi right away yeah I think it's just

again I'm I mean you know being a person of color in this country I'm not surprised when you know you see a lack of empathy go to the people

who are who succumb to the systems of oppression that exist in this country yeah that's right and to see an emphasis on this person's life without acknowledging that he stood for the just abject hatred of other people. Yeah. And qualifying, you know, he had a very narrow definition of what was

an American. Yes. And not see the same empathy go towards the marginalized people who he was targeting and the broader conservative movement is targeting. Yeah. And who lives their lives every day because of those policies. Yeah, and like, and that's where I'm like when you're like, but the everything in the media is like, oh my God, like, you know, like there's so much emphasis on this. And all I can think of is the countless other people who get no mention. Right.

For the way their lives are ended prematurely. And like kind of grappling with that is a real fucking mind fuck. But yeah, that's what living in America in 2025 is like, yeah. Our writer Jam pointed out that things are getting so crazy. out there that Paddington Bear had to delete a tweet because earlier in the day Paddington posted today is the day to try something new and people immediately started like retweeting that after the assassination happened and so um they Paddington took that down like that's not what's not what I'm I'm Paddington bear okay I'm not I don't know what you

think I am I'm just I'm just a bear guys let's take a quick break we'll be right back My name is Ed. Everyone say, hello, Ed. From a very rural background myself, my dad is a farmer, and my mom is a cousin, so it's not like... What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago.

I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. Well, 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app,

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or wherever you get your podcast. And we're back. We're back. I guess just continue. I mean, it is it is 9-11. J.D. Vance is reportedly pulling out of a 9-11 memorial ceremony in New York in order to travel to Utah and pay respects to the family of Charlie Kirk. But Donald Trump will still go to New York in order to attend the Yankees game.

The Yankees had held a big moment of silence for Charlie. Kirk. So they're kind of becoming a symbol or like something that Trump is using. And there will be a pregame ceremony at the Yankees game to recognize the victims and heroes of 9-11 and also to honor Trump Tower looking so much taller after the World Trade Center's collapse. Oh yeah. That was at his quote. That was yeah. Yeah. I think it was the day of 9-11, perhaps the day after he went on a radio show and was talking about what a tragedy it was and couldn't help but squeeze in a brag that also he hit trump tower was now i think incorrectly he said was now the tallest of course i mean incorrectly it's redundant when mentioning anything that he uttered yeah um all right should we talk

eurovision miles yeah you know just just to switch gears really quick ireland out here coming i mean yeah ireland is joining line boy. They're joining countries like Iceland, Slovenia, and Spain, who have basically stated that they would be withdrawing from the music competition if Israel is allowed to compete, you know, because of like the genocide and all the other violence that's happening around the region. Unaccountable war crimes. Yeah. They're committing. So in a statement Thursday, RTE, which is the broadcaster there in Ireland, said that participating quote would be an unconscious, would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza. the group that's behind Eurovision, like they're gathering for like the next few months and they said they're going to be making a decision whether or not Israel will be allowed to participate this year. And they're doing their best. They said like we're trying to balance the geopolitical tensions and figure out what is the best decision to make going forward. But it's like interesting.

When you juxtapose that with the fact that like Russia got booted out of the competition with the quickness when they invaded Ukraine. yet determining whether or not Israel should participate is a real head scratcher. You're like, okay, well, let's, I think you can, I think you can just arrive at the right decision. Because, I mean, like, if you think about last year's Eurovision contest, there were, like, all kinds of protests happening when the, like, Israeli artist was performing. So we'll see, we'll see. We will see. All right. Those are some of the things that are trending on this Thursday, September 11th.

We're back tomorrow with a whole last episode of the show. Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourselves. Get your vaccines while you still can. Get your flu shots, but you still can. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. And we will talk to you all tomorrow. Bye.

Bye. The Daily Zykeyes is executive produced by Catherine Law. Co-produced by Bay Wang. Co-produced by Victor Wright. Co-written by J.M. McNabb. And edited and engineered by Brian Jeffries. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club?

Answer, a new podcast called Wisecrack, where a comedian finds himself at the center of a chilling true crime story. Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story. It's about the scariest night of my life. This is Wisecrack. now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream. It was a battlefield. It's a freaking war zone.

These people are animals. The Model Wars podcast peels back the glossy cover and reveals a high-stakes game where survival meant more than beauty. Hosted by me, Vanessa Grigoriatis, this is the untold story of an industry built a ruthless ambition. Listen to Model Wars on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. On the new podcast, America's Crime Lab, every case has a story to tell. And the DNA holds the truth.

He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. I was just like, ah, gotcha. This technology is already solving so many. cases. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What would

you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York

state number, and we own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.