I have written a speech for Pat Burns

The Huntington Beach mayor will most certainly not say the right things Tuesday night. But, if he has a change of heart, here you go ...

Burns (bald dude in the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” shirt) with his fellow HB council peeps at a Charlie Kirk vigil.

There is a Huntington Beach City Council meeting Tuesday night. It will be held in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, as well as some recent neo-Nazi gatherings in town. I have written this for Pat Burns, the mayor, to open the meeting with …

So, my fellow citizens of Huntington Beach, before we begin this meeting I’d like to say something …

I know stuff gets heated around here. I know we have our issues. I know my fellow board members and I have different feelings about Charlie Kirk than many of you who attend these sessions. I understand that.

But I want you to know—actually, we, the board, want you to know—that we are as horrified as you guys are by the white supremacist, neo-Nazi events that took place in our town last week. We want to be clear that there is no place for the violence, the hateful rhetoric, the lack of common human decency. Huntington Beach is a city made up of people of all stripes, and there is zero tolerance for hate groups to come here and threaten anyone. When I say ‘Zero tolerance,’ I mean zero. Zip. None. Nada. I saw the same footage many of you did, and it was a grotesque display of humanity at its worst.

And since I have the mic, and since my title is ‘Mayor,’ I want to say something else: Charlie Kirk was someone I admired very much. I did, and I’m not apologizing for that. To me, he was someone who went to America’s universities and debated with civility and decency. Again, I know many of you disagree. I understand. But that’s who Charlie Kirk was to me. And, in that spirit, I am committed to turning down the heat around here. These days, everything feels way too hostile, too forceful. I take some blame for that, and maybe some of you do, too. Regardless, I will honor Charlie Kirk by committing to taking a step back from the anger and intensity. Let’s, as a community, try and talk more. Let’s hear one another out. I am hurting over Charlie Kirk, in the way liberals here were, perhaps, hurting over the bombing of Josh Shapiro’s home, or the murders in Minnesota. We, as a community, need to strive to do better. I, as a mayor, need to strive and do better.

So that’s my pledge tonight, and I ask everyone here to join me. We are all Huntington Beach residents. We all love this city. Let’s collectively make an effort to be better neighbors, better community members, better colleagues.

Thank you.

•••

Do I believe Burns is capable of such magnanimity? No. In the aftermath of the white power events, nary a single Huntington Beach City Council member posted a single message of condemnation on their social media feeds. It’s actually bonkers, if you think about it: Neo-Nazi scumbags take to your streets, and none of you have the wherewithal to take a stand.

Truth be told, my guess is many of the Council members (all seven of whom are MAGA) lean closer to QAnon than, oh, Mitt Romney. I don’t know if they liked seeing white power shitheads in Huntington Beach, but they weren’t moved enough to express outrage

Tuesday night will be a test, both for the Council and HB’s residents. Stay tuned.

PS: Here are some of the things Kirk said about Black women. Just to have handy when the Council members inevitably compare him to Christ …