Paul Tuns:

On Sept. 10, Charlie Kirk was killed during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University by a gunman opposed to Kirk’s political views.

Charlie Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 to advocate for conservative positions on high school and university campuses. TPUSA hosts annual conventions such as the Student Action Summit and Young Women’s Leadership Summit, and organized Kirk’s campus speaking tours in which Kirk would publicly engage with left-wing students in debate. Kirk said in early 2025, “I recognized that there was an ideological imbalance on a lot of these college campuses, and we wanted to provide a counterpoint rooted in conservative, pro-freedom, pro-liberty, America First ideas.”

There were more than 2000 college and high school chapters of TPUSA when Kirk, its executive director, was killed and the organization said that 32,000 inquiries about starting chapters were received after his death.

U.S. President Donald Trump credits Kirk with evangelizing youth, especially young men, to adopt conservative ideas and resist left-wing indoctrination in schools. Kirk’s campus debates, dubbed “prove me wrong,” were videotaped and posted on social media platforms including YouTube. In those segments, Kirk would politely but doggedly question interlocutors about their position to highlight inconsistencies, fallacies, and other weaknesses.

In 2019, Kirk launched Turning Point Action with the goal of electing more conservative-minded Republicans at all levels of government. In 2024, Trump campaign insiders credited Kirk’s organization for get-out-the-vote efforts for the Republican nominee’s slender victories in several hotly contested states.

Early in his career, Kirk was uncomfortable mixing faith and politics, but after being persuaded by Pentecostal pastor Rob McCoy about the Biblical foundations of the United States, Kirk took up moral issues with the same gusto as he did other political positions.

In May 2021, Kirk married former Miss Arizona USA Erika Frantze, and together they had a daughter and son, aged three and one. During campus debates and on his daily three-hour podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show, he would encourage young people to find meaning in God, get married, have children, and settle down.

Daniel Kishi wrote at Commonplace that Kirk “had friends in high places” including Donald Trump and JD Vance, but more importantly “he was a man of faith motivated by love of country, a political professional who would remind his audience that there was more to life than politics,” and they “should get married and go to church.” He called Kirk, as many others did, a “happy warrior.”

Brad Wilcox and Maria Baer of the Institute for Family Studies said following Kirk’s death, that he “was building the most influential movement of young conservatives in the country.” Wilcox and Baer argued “one of his most profound contributions to the Gen Z imagination was the example he set, in word and deed, as a husband and father, and as a man who relished those roles.”

Two days before being killed, Kirk told Laura Ingraham on Fox News that “Having children is more important than having a good career … my kids matter more than how many social media followers I have.” He added that settling down and making a family “is not about moralizing,” but “lifting up what is beautiful.”

On his daughter’s birthday in August, Kirk posted on Instagram the message: “Having a family will change your life in the best ways, so get married and have kids. You won’t regret it.”

Wilcox and Baer said that Kirk’s words and example were “a powerful counterweight to the anti-marriage message” coming from “the feminist left and the manosphere right.”

Kirk was pro-life without exceptions, supported the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, opposed men masquerading as women competing in female sports, and criticized the gender transitioning of confused children and teens.

Kirk was criticized by some in the mainstream media for peddling in conspiracy theories and was prone to making outrageous comments. In 2022, he called for a “patriot” to pay the bail of the man who attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul with a hammer. He was attacked by many on the left for a litany of isms and phobias: racism, Christian nationalism, sexism and misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Kirk said those charges are substitutes for debating the substance of his arguments on issues of immigration, multiculturalism, Black Lives Matter, feminism, and LGBQT issues.

It was during a discussion about transgender mass shooters that Kirk was shot in the neck, immediately after uttering the word “violence.” The alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, 22, fired a rifle from 200 yards away and would not have heard the conversation. Robinson was arrested two days later after his father turned him in, and was charged with aggravated murder and six other counts.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Robinson lived with a transgender roommate and was heavily involved in the online gaming culture. It reported that unfired bullets left at the scene of the crime had pro-transgender, “anti-fascist,” and esoteric gaming messages engraved on them.

Generally, conservatives and Republicans praised Kirk and his influence, while many reporters and Democrats implied Kirk had it coming because he was “divisive” and “controversial.” Many media outlets ran the same list of supposedly outrageous comments Kirk made on abortion, feminism and LGBQT issues. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that those who identify as transgender might experience “an alleviation of anxiety” with Kirk “no longer able to promote his racist, misogynist, homophobic, and transphobic worldview.” Transgender comedian “Brandy” Bryant joked: “Breaking: Charlie Kirk loses gun debate.” Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who was briefly suspended for his remarks, said that conservatives seemed excited about the prospect of blaming the left for Kirk’s murder.

Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine (NDP) posted on Instagram that Kirk was a “racist, xenophobic, transphobic, sexist white nationalist mouthpiece,” before stating, “I extend no sympathy for people like that.” She would later apologize for her post, saying “violence has no place in our democracy. Political debate is achieved with words and discussion.” Manitoba’s NDP Premier Wab Kinew said he would not ask for Fontaine’s resignation:

Kinew says it would be too easy to demote Fontaine: “We are going to work through this together and I am going to try and help you understand why we need to bring people together and not divide people at this time.”

Not everyone got off so easy for seeming to celebrate Kirk’s murder. USA Today reported that by Sept. 18, more than 100 people, including 50 teachers and college professors, had been suspended, dismissed, or under investigation for their comments.

On Sept. 14, there was a public vigil at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts attended by Trump administration and Republican legislators. On Sept. 21, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, between 60,000 and 90,000 people attended a six-hour memorial service that featured speakers from the Trump administration, including the president. In her address to the crowd, Kirk’s widow, Erika, said she forgave her husband’s killer. Following Kirk’s emotional tribute to her dead husband, Trump spoke and said he disagreed with Kirk. Unlike the late conservative activist, the president did not wish the best for his opponents, but rather that he “hated” them.