TL;DR: Charlie Kirk, founder and President of conservative activist group Turning Point USA, recently expressed his sudden “outrage” at the plight of Silk Road’s Ross Ulbricht, calling it a “total miscarriage of justice.” Ulbricht is currently serving two life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole, and perhaps a last-ditch effort to free him is in convincing President Trump for a commutation. Kirk famously has The Donald’s ear.

Turning Point USA Founder & President Charlie Kirk on Ross Ulbricht

“The more I learn about Ross Ulbricht,” Kirk tweeted, “and his over-prosecution the more outraged I am about this total miscarriage of justice. Ross, a first time NON VIOLENT offender got TWO LIFE sentences for building a website. Meanwhile Epstein got a slap on the wrist in early 2000’s. Outrage,” and pointed his 1.4 million followers at FreeRoss.org to “learn more here.”

That’s a giant public relations win for the Ulbricht family and his supporters. They’ve campaigned tirelessly to frame the issues around his charges, arrest, prosecution, and subsequent incarceration. Libertarian groups and progressive organizations have embraced Ulbricht’s cause to greater and lesser degrees, be it by way of an overzealous War on Drugs angle or through disproportionate sentencing and prison reform causes.

A decidedly tougher nut to crack has been US conservatives, long-standing law and order types who often chafe at harder Civil Rights cases when pitted against the police establishment. That’s changing in the Trump era for reasons too complex and beyond the scope of this news outlet, but it might not be controversial to write those who support the White House are growing more skeptical of official prosecutorial narratives and media hysteria — both of which played large roles in Ulbricht’s sentencing fate.

Trump Commuted Johnson with the Help of a Kardashian

Former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson once reasoned, “Should Ross Ulbricht’s unduly harsh sentence be left to stand, it would be harmful to both our legal system and the trust that the public places in our courts to impartially administer the law.” Popular libertarian hero Ron Paul when asked about Ulbricht insisted, “pardon everybody that was in prison for a non-violent crime.”

Progressive thought leader Noam Chomsky called it, “A shocking miscarriage of justice.” Heck, even the saintly actor Keanu Reeves commented, “The Silk Road and trial of Ross Ulbricht involve many important and complex issues that impact the life of Mr. Ulbricht and us all.” And, of course, for Bitcoiners, Ulbricht and Silk Road hold a significant place in the history of cryptocurrency gaining value as a peer-to-peer electronic cash through its usage on the platform.

Ross Ulbricht helped to found Silk Road, then an online market specializing in matching buyers and sellers of goods and services which governments disapproved, including illegal drugs. It ran for about two years until Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 for its creation and operation. He was charged and ultimately convicted of hacking-related crimes, money laundering, conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents and narcotics by online means. He was given double life plus forty years without parole, and no more formal court appeals for relief remain.

In response, a Change.org petition for clemency to free Ulbricht has gathered nearly a quarter-million signatures. It asks for an audience with President Trump, hoping to sway the maverick Commander-in-Chief to make a bold, humane choice. And it’s not entirely out of the question, considering Kim Kardashian West’s successful advocacy of commutation for Alice Marie Johnson, who was also serving a life sentence as a first-time, non-violent offender connected to drug trafficking. Johnson was released summer of 2018 by Trump as a result. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk is close to the Trumps and has been chummy with Kanye West, Kardashian’s rap star husband who is also becoming a more vocal prison reform advocate.

CONTINUE THE SPICE and check out our piping hot VIDEOS. Our podcast, The CoinSpice Podcast, has amazing guests. Follow CoinSpice on Twitter. Join our Telegram feed to make sure you never miss a post. Drop some BCH at the merch shop — we’ve got some spicy shirts for men and women. Don’t forget to help spread the word about CoinSpice on social media.

DYOR: CoinSpice is your home for just spicy crypto things. We’re not affiliated with any cryptocurrency project or token. Each published piece is intended for information purposes only, not investment advice and not in the hope of impacting speculative markets. There are plenty of trading sites and coin-specific advocacy journals out there, we’re neither. CoinSpice strives for rigorous accuracy in our reporting. Information presented here is contingent usually on a host of factors, and the ecosystem moves fast — prices change, projects change, and at warp speed. Do your own research.

DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.