BREAKING: KIMMEL PULLED, Dems & Journalists Covering Up Growing "Near-Instant" Terror Networks (youtube.com)
Kimmel put on indefinite leave after he made jokes about that Kirk guy. Obviously, Kirk has become a thing distinct from the person he was. Kirk is now a ‘with us or against us’ fallacy. It's a lie, but if you believe it or at least support us in it, you're with us. This will offend people who prioritize truth and honesty, but it would be best for them to understand that Kirk is just a thing now, as I just mentioned, and move on to serious matters, if that's their interest.
But besides an us them thing, it probably is also meant as an explosive, triggering, messy outrage tool. Like any time a hard question is asked the Republicans now, they can steer things to Kirk and be outraged and aggreived and demand the questioner silence himself, and make the whole dialogue misdirect to Kirk and that stuff. Basic US politics.