Turning Point USA (TPUSA) activist and student Coleman Theodore told Breitbart News that transgender professor Rachel McKinnon at the College of Charleston openly celebrates the deaths of people who do not subscribe to his leftist dogma. McKinnon has previous garnered criticism for winning women’s cycling events as a biological man. Theodore joined SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily host Alex Marlow in a Wednesday interview for TPUSA’s weekly campus report.
“It kinda started with a tweet that went viral — which basically said it’s okay to cheer when bad people die,” said Theodore. “Specifically, she was referring to two people, David Koch, who recently died — because she considers this individual a bad person — and, a member of the LGBT community, because they didn’t support certain trans rights, in her opinion.”
Professor Rachel McKinnon — a biological male identifying as a woman — tweeted, “It’s okay to be happy, even celebrate, when bad people die” on August 23, the day of philanthropist David Koch’s death.
The professor has also reportedly tweeted, “Don’t be the sort of person who people you’ve harmed are happy you’re dying of brain cancer,” in reference to the U.K.-based feminist, Magdalen Berns, who is terminally ill with a rare type of brain tumor.
The TPUSA activist said that the school responded to the controversy by stating that McKinnon is protected by the First Amendment. “The school’s response is actually kind of funny,” said Theodore, who added that the College of Charleston was recently sued over its “First Amendment practices for not allowing a club on campus.”
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The College of Charleston has, in fact, recently agreed to pay $20,000 in order to settle a free-speech lawsuit over a student group it had rejected, according to a report by Charleston City Paper.
But when it comes to leftist professors wishing death on others for not sharing the same political views, however, Theodore says the college then turns to the “First Amendment.”
“So, that’s what the college’s official stance was regarding her comments,” said Theodore. “There’s a letter going around, actually, from the LGBT community — and it’s to our head of the philosophy department [Larry Krasnoff] — I think it’s up to about 2,500 signatures asking some sort of repercussions for her comments.”
The student added that professor McKinnon even boasts about being “protected” by his tenure.
“I believe she received tenure in March two years ago,” said Theodore. “This is also something she brags about regarding her most recent tweet about David Koch, saying things like, ‘have fun trying to fire a professor of philosophy talking about if it’s okay whether or not people die’ — bragging, like, ‘you can’t fire me.'”
Theodore also pointed out that McKinnon dominates women’s sporting events, which he participates in as a biological man. “She is a biological male who now identifies as a female, and she does track, for cycling, and she is one of the best in the world, because she’s able to compete in women’s events.” McKinnon has made the argument that to exclude biological males who identify as transgender women from women’s sports would be equivalent to excluding black women from the competition as well.
On a more positive note, the TPUSA activist also talked about the two main issues that drive him politically, adding that he has been able to find common ground with individuals on the “center-left” regarding one of his topics of political interest.
The biggest issue for me is fiscal responsibility, and actual solutions to climate change — that was one of the things that I get a lot of hate for on campus — because I’m conservative, I can’t say that climate change is real — which is just another example of the left just continuously hating on people, and making assumptions [about people] that they know nothing about. So, those are the two biggest issues that I try to draw conversations about on campus, and I’ve actually gotten a lot of support, even from people who are more centrists, and the center-left, because they come up to me and say, “I can’t deal with this crazy field of Democrats promising free stuff for everybody.”
Theodore mentioned two possible solutions regarding the environment.
“The biggest two things that I’ve seen that would work, would be carbon catch,” said Theodore, “[which is] essentially taking the excess carbon release from oil, coal, natural gas, and putting it back towards something productive, making sure it doesn’t go into the air.”
“The other thing that I’d like to see is for people to realize that batteries — for cars — lithium-ion mining is worse of the environment than even just having a fossil fuel car,” continued the student, “and most people just are like, ‘electric is going to be the new future for everyone,’ but it’s worse for the environment.”
Theodore is not alone regarding his concerns about this particular subject, as a recent poll shows that a growing number of his like-minded peers — young conservatives — are worried about the environment, particularly with how human behavior is damaging the planet.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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