Writing on Sept. 14, four days after Kirk’s murder, Richardson accused “the radical right” of “working to distort the country’s understanding of what happened” to Kirk, who was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University at an event for his conservative activist group Turning Point USA.
[snip]
“But in fact, the alleged shooter was not someone on the left,” Richardson wrote in her newsletter, which consistently ranks among the top five most read politics newsletters on Substack. “The alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, is a young white man from a Republican, gun enthusiast family, who appears to have embraced the far right, disliking Kirk for being insufficiently radical.”
Richardson’s theory was already on shaky ground given that someone engraved, “Hey fascist, catch,” Italian anti-fascist song lyrics, and a playful, transgender-related phrase on bullets found in the Mauser .30 rifle that Robinson used in the shooting.
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Richardson, who the New York Times heralded as a “breakout star” of Substack who “calmly situates the news of the day,” was unbowed by that evidence. Following the indictment, Richardson told her readers that “the motive of the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, remains unclear.”
In an interview with the anti-Trump Bulwark podcast, Richardson said “we just don’t know” about Robinson’s motive. Richardson objected to podcast host Jonathan V. Last’s statement that the evidence so far suggests Robinson was upset over Kirk’s statements on transgender issues.
“But you even can’t say that,” said Richardson. “Anyone who studies history will tell you that sometimes the things that seem like they fit pretty clear patterns simply don’t.”
“It certainly looks one way, but it could be somebody he cut off in traffic for all you know,” she added.
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“Yesterday was a complete nightmare in my life,” she said.
Richardson is, by some measures, the most successful writer on Substack. She is hugely popular among her largely progressive readers for putting current events in the context of history. But Richardson’s Substacks do not appear to be edited with the same rigor one would expect from a tenured history professor.
Richardson has also repeatedly been criticized for letting her progressive political views distort her historical analysis. When she appeared on CNN in July 2024 to urge President Biden not to drop out, the historian Sam Haselby wrote that Richardson “is just making stuff up now.” Another eminent historian, Andrew Karhl, said that “Heather Cox Richardson is an embarrassment to the historical profession.”
Richardson is not the only prominent liberal to spread disinformation about Robinson’s politics.
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Joan Donovan, a “disinformation” researcher widely touted by liberals, told the Los Angeles Times in a viral interview that Kirk’s shooting appeared to be a “white supremacist gang hit.” Donovan, who teaches at Boston University, incorrectly claimed that messages found on Robinson’s bullets appeared to be “anti-gay.”
The widespread misinformation appears to have influenced public views of Robinson’s motives for murdering Kirk. According to a YouGov poll conducted on Sept. 14, 24 percent of respondents believed Kirk’s shooter was a Republican, while 21 percent believed he was a Democrat.
It’s unlikely to tarnish Richardson’s popularity with liberals, who have helped skyrocket Richardson’s newsletter to the top of Substack’s readership charts. According to one assessment from 2023, Richardson made $5 million a year from subscriptions to the newsletter. She charges between $50,000 and $100,000 for speaking engagements, according to her booking agent.
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She then suggested that a Free Beacon story highlighting her remarks will stoke an outpouring of hate mail.
“I understand your readers will want to read the story you are contemplating, but I’d like you to be aware of what my email looks like thanks to such stories,” wrote Richardson, who quoted from emails she allegedly received that call her “evil” and “delusional.”
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