There’s a very simple way to answer this sort of question that was posed — by condemning the blatant racism of the statements themselves while acknowledging he didn’t know if Kirk had said them — and he decided not to do that.

And he doesn’t even drink. Which calls to mind Hunter S. Thompson:

“It was Bogart who said, ‘You can’t trust a man who doesn’t drink.’ And it was Raoul Duke who said, ‘I’d never buy a used car from Nixon unless he was drunk.’”

30k was the new average? Good lord. Thankfully pandemic-era Covid restrictions meant my spouse and I were limited to 12 people in the room and no dancing — cutting a guest list of extended family and friends and vendors with an excuse like that saved a ton of headache and expense without the guilt of “we invited so-and-so, therefore this other person will be butthurt if they’re not invited.”