Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Episode: The Left Red-Pills America…
Date: September 12, 2025
Host: Sasha Stone
Episode Overview
In “The Left Red-Pills America…”, Sasha Stone delivers a passionate, contemplative, and critical monologue exploring the cultural and political aftermath of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The episode examines both the overt jubilation and the dissociative horror expressed online and in progressive circles, exposing what Stone argues is the left’s rapid moral and cultural decline. Using real social media posts and reactions, the episode charts the way the political left, in Stone’s view, has “red-pilled”—or awakened—millions of Americans by revealing, through their reactions, a profound loss of empathy, decency, and humanity. Stone weaves personal reflections, sampled commentary, and biting social critique to pose questions about violence, partisanship, collective morality, and the future of American politics.
1. The Death of Charlie Kirk and Initial Reactions
[00:00–07:30]
- Sasha Stone opens by declaring that Charlie Kirk's death and the public reaction to it have deeply shaken millions of Americans who “have managed to hold on to their humanity in the past 10 years.”
- Stone critiques Democratic and legacy media efforts to project “decency” while observing that “it was increasingly evident that they were no longer in control of their own party. Not even President Barack Obama himself could set the tone for these people.” ([00:25])
- She blames a decade-long strategy of promoting fear and labeling Trump supporters as existential threats, resulting in a “Frankenstein monster that is now roaming the quiet countryside and scaring the crap out of normal Americans.” ([01:10])
Key Insight:
Stone positions the reaction to Kirk’s assassination as a kind of Rubicon moment for the left, exposing a dangerous degree of moral desensitization and hatred.
2. Social Media Collages: Celebration and Dehumanization
[07:30–23:00]
- Audio montages from TikTok, X, and Blue Sky are played, sampling left-leaning users expressing elation or justification over Kirk's death, e.g.:
- “I'm not saying she deserved it, but I'm saying God's timing is always right.”
- “It is an objectively good thing when fascists die regardless of how they were taken out.”
- “This is a man who made paycheck after paycheck off of the dehumanization of so many individuals…" ([02:00–05:00])
- Other users frame Kirk’s legacy as wholly negative and insist that the only sympathetic figures are his children, not his wife or supporters:
- “Spare me the empathy because he didn’t believe in it either. And let's be clear: the only people I have sympathy for are his kids, not his wife. She chose him…” ([28:00])
- Contrasts are drawn between the intense online celebrations and the horror-struck reactions of others:
- “If you are so politicked out that you cannot cry with somebody on alive, you’re not as moral as you think you are. Sorry, the lifelong blue voter.” ([14:30])
- “I have a pit in my stomach about how low we have sunk… But I hated him… It makes me feel even more hopeless seeing the people I do agree with laughing about it and celebrating it.”
- Stone intersperses audio/quotes of people leaving the Democratic Party or changing their registration to Republican as a direct response:
- “Breaking fucking news. Charlie Kirk got shot in the neck. That was the last bastion. I can't be a liberal no more.”
- Jennifer Sey tweet: “Today I registered as a Republican. I was unaffiliated… had been meaning to anyway. This was the day I worked hard to stay in the light amid so much darkness.” ([17:00])
Notable Quote:
“If you voted Democrat like I did, you voted for a party that does not exist anymore. This is not the Kennedy Democratic Party… None of these things exist anymore in the Democratic Party. I am ashamed of the Democratic Party and I have been for a long time, which is why I consider myself an independent.” ([16:45])
3. The Broader Cultural Diagnosis
[23:00–37:00]
- Stone asserts the Democratic Party is out of policies, solutions, and vision, and has alienated both the center and Gen Z, now dominated by “fanatics.”
- “All they have left is Zorhan Mamdani and Gavin Newsom’s meme factory… They have no vision, no hope, no policies, no fixes, no solutions, nothing. All they have is this. Their hatred of anyone who doesn’t conform and comply.”
- Online posts liken Kirk’s killing to “karma” or even Hitler’s death:
- “He had wife and kids. Well, Hitler had a wife too, so apparently if it was around 1945, we would have likely had a timeline full sympathy for him.” ([26:00])
- “Charlie Kirk is the reason Charlie Kirk got shot.”
- TikTok voices from the left link Kirk’s death to the violent “culture built by Charlie Kirk” himself:
- “Charlie Kirk created the culture that killed him.”
- “Regardless, he was Trump’s ally, a faithful servant to a regime that glorifies violence…”
- “America has always been violent…” ([32:00])
- Stone critiques these rationalizations as robotic, Stepford Wives-style justifications, repeated endlessly for social approval, noting the lack of dissent or critical thinking.
Notable Moment:
Stone recalls a Democratic response during a congressional moment of silence for Kirk, where Democrats were “audibly booing,” highlighting the crescendo of public contempt ([39:00]).
4. Moral Collapse and Political Ramifications
[37:00–48:00]
- Stone closely critiques mainstream and progressive responses, suggesting that the left’s inability or unwillingness to condemn the violence “exposes how lacking in any common decency they have become.”
- “Registrations are down by the millions. They're losing the support of Gen Z. They have no plan to bring voters in except to draw more militant fanatics. And now they've once again exposed how lacking in any common decency they have become.”
- Ezra Klein’s NYT op-ed (“Charlie Kirk was practicing politics the right way”) is cited as a rare voice of attempted nuance, only to be met with derision and attack:
- “They began attacking him too. Because of course they did.”
- Stone brings in a conversation between Benny Johnson and Chris Cuomo about dehumanization and the fundamentally differing responses between right and left:
- Cuomo: “The dehumanization is wrong. It’s wrong… if I hear that Joe Biden gets a terminal cancer diagnosis, I’ll say a prayer for him…I’ll say that I hope he lives the rest of his days painless. That’s exactly what I said.”
- Johnson: “Not a single one celebrated Joe Biden’s terminal cancer diagnosis… there is a fundamental difference of those who glorify death on the… and it is demonic and it’s dark and it needs to be…”
Key Data Point:
- Stone cites a YouGov poll: “77% of Republicans believe it is always unacceptable to feel joy at the death of someone they oppose, while only 38% of Democrats share this view.” ([42:30])
5. Ripple Effects: Red-Pilling and New Political Alliances
[48:00–56:00]
- Stone predicts the left’s reaction will have enduring consequences:
- “They end up red-pilling Americans who shrink back in horror at who and what they've become and want no part of it.”
- “I'm not saying the left killed Charlie Kirk. Maybe someone on the left did, maybe they didn't. It doesn't really matter because they've shown their true colors in this perilous moment in our history.”
- She argues the moment will shape a generation, comparing its significance to the assassinations of MLK, RFK, and JFK:
- “These kids are smart… They know. They will remember the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It will shape their youth the way the killing of Martin Luther King Jr., RFK, and JFK shaped generations before.” ([54:00])
- Stone concludes that, ironically, Kirk’s death will ultimately strengthen the MAGA movement and conservative activism, inspiring new waves of engagement and political realignment.
6. Closing Reflections
[56:00–End]
- Stone offers a final tribute to Kirk, his family, and the positive influence he had on American youth, before closing with a Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah” reference—an elegiac tone that underscores the episode’s mournful, provocative spirit.
- “Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk. And peace and love. And God bless his wife Erica and their two beautiful children. And remember to thine own self be true.” ([End])
Notable Quotes & Timestamps
- “Not even President Barack Obama himself could set the tone for these people. So consumed with hatred are they.” — Sasha Stone ([00:25])
- “If you are so politicked out that you cannot cry with somebody on alive, you’re not as moral as you think you are. Sorry, the lifelong blue voter.” — TikTok commenter ([14:30])
- “Today I registered as a Republican... This was the day I worked hard to stay in the light amid so much darkness.” — Jennifer Sey tweet ([17:00])
- “Charlie Kirk created the culture that killed him… But America has always been violent.” — TikTok commenter ([32:00])
- “Registrations are down by the millions… They're losing the support of Gen Z. They have no plan to bring voters in except to draw more militant fanatics.” — Sasha Stone ([38:30])
- “The dehumanization is wrong. It’s wrong… Not a single one of us celebrated Joe Biden’s terminal cancer diagnosis... there is a fundamental difference…” — Chris Cuomo to Benny Johnson ([44:00])
Final Thoughts
Sasha Stone’s episode is a raw, unsparing indictment of leftist groupthink after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, capturing a moment of national crisis where empathy has seemingly dissolved into partisan poison. By curating visceral commentary from across the spectrum and adding her own searing analysis, Stone frames the wave of celebration and indifference as catalytic, “red-pilling” vast swaths of Americans and reshaping the future of U.S. politics. The episode is both an elegy and a rallying cry for decency, debate, and the possibility of redemption after tragedy.
For more: sashastone.com