Hey, Ray Gennawey. Don't be this guy.

We all agree the murder of Charlie Kirk was a disgusting act of violence. So why is Laguna Niguel's mayor politicizing it for points?

Gennawey with a lion in better days.

It’s a shame that I feel the need to even express this, but the murder of Charlie Kirk is a disgusting, diabolical act that offers no redeeming element to the United States of America. It was violent, callous and the antithesis of a society that values and embraces free speech. Worst of it, it will almost certainly inspire more people to resort to this level of vileness. Or, as Collective Soul once noted, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.

So it is not with any great pleasure that I write this post.

But, alas, I have something important that needs to be addressed …

Yesterday morning, in the aftermath of Kirk’s death at age 31, the official City of Laguna Niguel Instagram feed posted this message, written by Mayor Ray Gennawey …

And, like, c’mon, man.

Seriously, c’mon.

I will note, again and with great clarity, that Kirk’s death is tragic, and whoever shot him deserves a lifetime in prison. But why is Gennawey—an arch-conservative Republican who has never (literally, not a single time) publicly criticized Donald Trump—using the city’s social media feed to tell us Kirk, “represented the highest ideal of free speech in America. He facilitated respectful and civil discourses on college campuses across the nation about the issues challenging society.” Um, what? Seriously—what? Did Ray Gennawey ever listen to Charlie Kirk? Did he ever see him at campus events? I say this respectfully, but Charlie Kirk’s rise and reign was due to his position as a professional troll; as a dude who lived for making “the opposition” look stupid and silly and naive, often via deceptive editing and abbreviated clips. He was not trying to have open dialogue. He certainly wasn’t seeking enlightenment, insight, friendship, understanding.

No, he was a professional agitator. A remarkably successful one.

Here are a couple of his greatest hits:

“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.”

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 23 January 2024

“If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because affirmative action?”

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 3 January 2024

“We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.”

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 April 2024

“The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.”

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 20 March 2024

“America has freedom of religion, of course, but we should be frank: large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 30 April 2025

Did Kirk deserve to be shot and killed? Again—of course not. But should the City of Laguna Niguel be painting him as a hero and pledging to fly flags at half mast and joining the hard right in making him a martyr? Absolutely no.

Also, not for nothing, why is Ray Gennawey honoring Charlie Kirk, but not the children wounded in a Colorado school shooting the very same day? And where was Ray Gennawey’s voice after attackers stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6? Hell, I’ll let Valerie Burchfield Rhodes make the point …

Ultimately, Ray Gennawey wrote what he wrote and posted what he posted because, once someone spends enough time in politics, he struggles to escape the weird cocoon that is the life of an elected figure. It absorbs you. Consumes you. Transforms you from normal and sane to eccentric and tone deaf.

Charlie Kirk’s death is an American tragedy.

Our mayor didn’t need to manipulate it for personal gain.