Charles James Kirk (October 14, 1993 – September 10, 2025) was an Americanright-wing political activist, entrepreneur, and media personality. He co-founded the conservative student organizationTurning Point USA (TPUSA) in 2012 and served as its executive director untilhis assassination in 2025. He published a range of books and hosted thepodcastThe Charlie Kirk Show. A key ally ofDonald Trump, he was one of the most prominent voices of theMAGA movement within theRepublican Party.
On September10, 2025, Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a TPUSA public debate event on theUtah Valley University campus. His death garnered international attention and led to the condemnation ofpolitical violence by prominent domestic and international figures, as well as partisan dispute and recriminations. Trump awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom to Kirk in October.
Early life and education
Charles James Kirk was born on October 14, 1993, in the Chicago suburb ofArlington Heights, Illinois,[1] and raised in nearbyProspect Heights.[2] His father Robert W. Kirk is an architect who was involved in the construction ofTrump Tower.[3][4] His mother Kathryn (née Smith) is a former trader at theChicago Mercantile Exchange who subsequently worked as a mental health counselor.[5][2][3][4] He had one sibling, a younger sister Mary, who went on to become anart curator in Chicago.[6]
In 2010, during his junior year atWheeling High School, Kirk volunteered for the successful U.S. Senate campaign of Illinois RepublicanMark Kirk (no relation).[9] Also during his junior year, he began listening toThe Rush Limbaugh Show, a prominentconservative talk radio broadcast.[1] In his senior year, he initiated a boycott of cookies at the school's cafeteria to reverse a price increase.[2] He also wrote an essay forBreitbart News alleging liberal bias in high-school textbooks; it led to his first media appearance onFox Business at age 17.[10][11]
Kirk speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland
In May 2012, Kirk gave a speech atBenedictine University's "Youth Government Day", where he metBill Montgomery, a 72-year-old retiree who was then aTea Party–backed legislative candidate.[14][15] Montgomery later said that the speakers at the event had bored the audience of a few hundred high-school kids, but they began to pay rapt attention when Kirk started speaking. Montgomery then encouraged Kirk to pursue political activism full-time.[16][1] A month after they first met, Montgomery and Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA, wanting to start an organization rivalingliberal groups such asMoveOn.org.[17][14] Kirk described it as a student organization advocating for free markets and limited government.[18] At the2012 Republican National Convention, Kirk metFoster Friess, a former investment manager and prominent Republican donor, and persuaded him to finance the organization.[14][17]
Kirk remained the executive director, chief fundraiser, and the public face of Turning Point USA until his death in 2025.[19][7][18] He became known for visiting college campuses to debate with ideological opponents, typically students, and persuade them to consider conservative candidates.[20] According to theAssociated Press, video clips of Kirk's campus appearances spread online, helping him "secure a steady stream of donations that transformed Turning Point into one of the country's largest political organizations".[18] Turning Point eventually began holding massive rallies in which top conservative leaders addressed tens of thousands of young voters.[18] In 2025, TPUSA said it had chapters at more than 2,000 college and high school campuses, and that it had received 32,000 inquiries about starting new chapters in the days after Kirk's death.[21]
TPUSA's activities include publication of theProfessor Watchlist and the School Board Watchlist.[22] Critics of these watchlists say they threaten academic freedom and have led to the targeted harassment of academics.[23][24] In 2019, the Professor Watchlist was briefly suspended by its web host.[25] In 2020,ProPublica investigated TPUSA's finances and found that the organization made "misleading financial claims", that the audits were not done by an independent auditor, and that the leaders had enriched themselves while advocating for Trump. ProPublica also reported that Kirk's salary from TPUSA had increased from $27,000 to nearly $300,000 and that he had bought an $855,000 condo inLongboat Key, Florida.[26] In 2020, Turning Point USA had $39.2 million in revenue.[27] Kirk earned a salary of more than $325,000 from TPUSA and related organizations.[28]
Turning Point Academy
Kirk appearing with his patron Foster Friess in Arizona, 2019
In 2021, TPUSA announced it would launch an online academy as an alternative to schools "poisoning our youth with anti-American ideas". Turning Point Academy was intended to cater to families seeking an "America-first education".[29] Arizona education firm StrongMind initially partnered with TPUSA with plans to open the academy by the fall of 2022 and assessed its "potential to generate over $40 million in gross revenue at full capacity (10,000 students)".[29] The partnership ended after StrongMind received backlash from its own employees, and key subcontractor Freedom Learning Group, which prepared course content for the academy, also backed out.[29] In 2022, Turning Point partnered with Dream City Christian School, a private school that has campuses inGlendale andScottsdale, Arizona, and is affiliated withDream City Church.[30][31] In the 2022–2023 school year, the school received $900,000 in Arizona school voucher funds.[30]
Kirk and PresidentDonald Trump speaking with attendees at a Turning Point Action Conference in 2023
In May 2019, it was reported that Kirk was preparing to launch Turning Point Action, a501(c)(4) entity designed to elect more conservatives.[32] In July 2019, Kirk announced that Turning Point Action had acquired Students for Trump along with "all associated media assets".[33] He became chairman and launched a campaign to mobilize the youth vote for the 2020 Trump reelection campaign.[10] The unsuccessful effort led TPUSA and the2020 Trump campaign to blame each other for an overall decline in Trump's youth support.[34] In December 2022, Kirk announced the Mount Vernon Project, an initiative by Turning Point Action to remove members from theRepublican National Committee who were not "grassroot conservatives".[35]
Kirk andCandace Owens speaking at the Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA, West Palm Beach, Florida, December 2018
On January 5, 2021, the day before the Washington, D.C., protest that led to theJanuary 6 U.S. Capitol attack, Kirk wrote on Twitter that Turning Point Action and Students for Trump were sending more than 80 "buses of patriots to D.C. to fight for this president".[36][37] A spokesman for Turning Point said that the groups ended up sending seven buses, not 80, with 350 students.[36][38] In the lead-up to the storming, Kirk said he was "getting 500 emails a minute calling for a civil war".[39]Publix heiressJulie Fancelli gave Kirk's organizations $1.25 million to fund the buses to the January 6 event. Kirk also paid $60,000 forKimberly Guilfoyle to speak at the rally.[40]
Afterward, Kirk said the violent acts at the Capitol were not an insurrection and did not represent mainstream Trump supporters.[41][42] Appearing before theU.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack in December 2022, he pleaded theFifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. His team provided the committee "with 8,000 pages of records in response to its requests".[43] In another closed-door meeting of the House January 6 Committee,Ali Alexander blamed Kirk and TPUSA for financing the travel of demonstrators to theSave America rally.[44] TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet denied that Kirk advocated for violence and gave a statement saying "Charlie wants to save America with words, persuasion, courage and common sense. The left is desperate to conjure up some Christian bogeyman that simply doesn't exist. We're telling churches: Either get involved and have a say in the direction of your country or you'll leave a void that someone else who doesn't share your values will fill."[45]
In 2020, the Falkirk Center spent at least $50,000 on Facebook advertisements promoting Trump and Republican candidates.[49] Students and alumni raised objections to the organization's aggressive political tone, which they considered inconsistent with the university's mission.[47] Falwell resigned as president of Liberty University in August 2020, and the university did not renew Kirk's one-year contract in late 2020. In 2021, the university renamed the organization Standing for Freedom Center.[47]
Turning Point Faith
AfterLiberty University did not renew Kirk's contract with theFalkirk Center for Faith and Liberty in 2021, Kirk andPentecostal pastor Rob McCoy founded Turning Point Faith, an organization that encouraged pastors and other church leaders to be active in local and national political issues.[47][50] Its activities include faith-based voter drives and promotion of TPUSA's views, with the stated goal to help churches become more civically engaged so that American society can "return to foundational Christian values".[51] According to TPUSA's 2021 Investor Prospectus, the program—with a budget of $6.4 million—"will 'address America's crumbling religious foundation by engaging thousands of pastors nationwide' in order to 'breathe renewed civic engagement into our churches'".[52]
Media
Kirk debating with a college student at theUniversity of Utah in April 2024
From October 2020 until his death, Kirk hosted a daily three-hour radio talk show,The Charlie Kirk Show, onSalem Media Group's "The Answer" radio channel.[53][54] It was among the most-popular podcast on Apple Podcasts. According to internal data from TPUSA, Kirk's podcast was downloaded between 500,000 and 750,000 times each day in 2024.[55] Kirk's "Turning Point Live" was a three-hour streaming talk show aimed atGeneration Z. TPUSA's monthly online average grew to 111,000 unique visitors in 2021.[56] A February 2023Brookings Institution study found Kirk's podcast contained the second-highest proportion of false, misleading, and unsubstantiated statements among 36,603 episodes produced by 79 prominent political podcasters.[57]
In a 2022 episode of his podcast, Kirk called for a "patriot" to bail out of jail the man who broke intoNancy Pelosi's house andattacked and tried to murder her husband with a hammer.[58][59] Also in 2022, journalistBari Weiss released a report of internal Twitter documents dubbed "TheTwitter Files", which alleged that Twitter was censoring conservative personalities on the social media platform. Weiss posted screenshots of Twitter tools that moderators could use to limit the reach of posts and accounts. According toRolling Stone magazine, Kirk's Twitter account was flagged under "do not amplify", which meant algorithms would not highlight tweets coming from it.[60][61]
In April 2024, Kirk created aTikTok account after previously expressing skepticism of the social media platform. His account gained popularity after he posted numerous videos of himself talking to college students on his campus tours, with some videos garnering as many as 50 million views.[62] In February 2025, Kirk signed with theTrinity Broadcasting Network to host a weekday talk show,Charlie Kirk Today.[63]
Debate style
At TPUSA's college events, Kirk often propounded right-wing populist and nationalist views and invited students to prove him wrong in front of an audience of noisy supporters.[64]The New York Times reviewed more than four dozen debates at Kirk's twice-yearly university tours and discussed them with four debate coaches and university professors. The analysis showed Kirk using the debate format to create viral confrontations and "deliver a consistent hard-line message while orchestrating highly shareable moments".The Times described him as having the advantage of having refined his debate performance against hundreds of people and used arguments likely to result in agitated and defensive responses by his less experienced opponents.[65]
Kirk was influential within the conservative movement, particularly among young Christians.[66][67]The New York Times said Kirk symbolized hope for theChristian right.[68] From others, Kirk's political activism received criticism.[69] His rhetoric was described as divisive, racist,xenophobic, and extreme by groups that studiedhate speech, including theSouthern Poverty Law Center. Kirk disagreed with critics that he created a toxic environment online, arguing: "Disagreement is a healthy part of our systems."[70] Kirk's positions have been described asfar-right by a variety of outlets and academics,[71][72][73] and others state that these positions are now in the mainstream of American conservatism.[74]
Kirk was theWilliam F. Buckley Jr. Council Member of theCouncil for National Policy (CNP), a group "that has served for decades as a hub for a nationwide network of conservative activists and the donors who support them",[75] according to the CNP's September 2020 membership directory leaked in February 2021.[76][77][78] He was a spokesperson for CNP Action, the political arm of the CNP.[77] In March 2025, Trump appointed Kirk to theU.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors.[79][80] Kirk's last political rally took place in Kentucky, where he appeared alongside U.S. Senate candidateNate Morris.[81][82]
Republican and pro-Trump activism
In an interview withWired magazine during the2016 Republican National Convention, he said that while he "was not the world's biggest Donald Trump fan", he would vote for him, and that Trump's candidacy made Turning Point's mission more difficult.[83] Kirk flipped to supporting Trump at the convention and spent the remainder of the campaign assisting with travel and media arrangements forDonald Trump Jr.[84] In October 2016, Kirk participated in aFox News event along with TrumpJr.,Eric Trump, andLara Trump that had a pro-Donald Trump tone.[85]
In July 2019, Kirk became chairman ofStudents for Trump, which had been acquired by Turning Point Action.[10] The unsuccessful effort of his youth mobilization campaign led TPUSA and the Trump campaign to blame each other for an overall decline in Trump's youth support.[34] In April 2020,Matthew Rosenberg and Katie Rogers wrote inThe New York Times that Kirk "[walks] the line between mainstream conservative opinion and outrightdisinformation" and that "with a powerful ally in the president's eldest son, Donald TrumpJr., Mr.Kirk both amplifies the president's message and helps shape it."[84]
Kirk and SenatorRand Paul in Palm Beach, Florida, December 18, 2019Kirk withDonald Trump at a rally in 2021
On March 3, 2020, Kirk released his bookThe MAGA Doctrine, a manifesto for theMake America Great Again (MAGA) movement, in which he wrote that the Republican Party is "in some sense no longer a conservative party, no longer the party of Reagan, but instead a Trump-remade populist party".[86] At an August 2020 meeting of theCouncil for National Policy, Kirk said: "Democrats have done a really foolish thing byshutting down all these campuses... It's gonna removeballot harvesting opportunities and all theirvoter fraud that they usually do on college campuses—so they're actually removing half a million votes off the table. So please keep the campuses closed—it's a great thing. Whatever!"[75] In December 2022, Kirk urged theRepublican National Committee to listen to their grassroots voters, saying, "If ignored, we will have the most stunted and muted Republican Party in the history of the conservative movement, the likes of which we haven't seen in generations."[35] In 2023, Kirk called for the imprisonment or the death penalty ofJoe Biden for "crimes against America".[87]
Kirk was an early investor in1789 Capital, which invests in MAGA businesses. TrumpJr. joined 1789 Capital in November 2024, after Trump won the 2024 election.[88][89] Before the2024 U.S. presidential election, Kirk visited approximately 25 college campuses, marketed as the "You're Being Brainwashed" tour. His aim was to stir up moreGenZ voter turnout, and he engaged and debated students on many topics. According to Turning Point Action, the tour produced around two billion views on social media.[90] The tour has been praised as having a "critical role" in Trump's election.[91] Kirk aided the president-elect in choosing leadership positions for his administration, including cabinet positions.[92] During 2025, Kirk endorsed a number of Republican candidates, includingAndy Biggs in the Arizona Governor contest andNate Morris in the Kentucky U.S. Senate primary.[93][94] On July 15, 2025, Kirk conducted extensive interviews aboutJeffrey Epstein on his podcast and pressured Trump's administration to release more information.[95] By then, Kirk was one of the most prominent figures in the MAGA movement and often called the face of the movement.[96][95][97]
According toForbes, Kirk was known for "his repudiation of liberal college education and embrace ofpro-Trump conspiracy theories".[98] He promoted theCultural Marxism conspiracy theory,[99][100][101] and called universities "islands of totalitarianism".[7] In a 2015 speech at the Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley, Kirk said he had applied for nomination to theU.S. Military Academy inWest Point, New York, and was not accepted.[19] He said that "the slot he considered his went to 'a far less-qualified candidate of a different gender and a different persuasion'" whose test scores he claimed he knew.[7] He toldThe New Yorker in 2017 that he was being sarcastic when he said it.[7] He told theChicago Tribune in 2018 that "he was just repeating something he'd been told",[2][102] while at aNew Hampshire Turning Point event featuringRand Paul in October 2019 he claimed he never said it.[102]
Kirk promoted debunked claims aboutGeorge Floyd, such as that he was "illegally counterfeiting currency" and had once "put a gun to a pregnant woman's stomach".[103] On Facebook, YouTube, and Rumble, Kirk repeatedly promoted the false claim that the medical examiner who performed the autopsy declared Floyd had died of an overdose. After a fact check byAgence France-Presse that noted the doctor stood by the classification of Floyd's death as a homicide, corrections were added to Kirk's posts on social media.[104]
In July 2018, Kirk falsely claimed on social media thatU.S. Justice Department statistics showed an increase inhuman trafficking arrests from 1,952 in the year 2016 to 6,087 in the first half of 2018. He deleted the tweet without explanation the next day, after a fact-checker had pointed out that the false 2018 number had originated on the conspiracy site8chan.[105][106] In December 2018, Kirk falsely claimed that protesters in the Frenchyellow vests movement chanted "We want Trump". These false claims were later repeated by Trump.[107]
In 2020, Kirk spread false information andconspiracy theories about COVID-19 onsocial media platforms, such asTwitter. He sharply criticized Democrats' criticism of Trump's withdrawal of WHO funding and called COVID-19 the "China virus", which Trump retweeted.[84][115] Kirk alleged that the WHO covered up information about theCOVID-19 pandemic. He was briefly banned from Twitter after falsely claiming thathydroxychloroquine had proved to be "100% effective in treating the virus";[84] he alleged thatGretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan, threatened doctors who tried to use the medication.[84] These falsehoods were retweeted byRudy Giuliani, whose account was then also suspended.[84][116]
In defending theTrump administration's response to thepandemic, Kirk falsely stated that during the2009 swine flu pandemic it "took PresidentBarack Obama 'millions infected and over 1,000 deaths'" to declare apublic health emergency, with the meme shared by Kirk confusing the point at which Trump declared a public health emergency and the point at which Obama issued anational emergency.[117][118] When theObama administration acknowledged theWHO's declaration of a public health emergency on April 26, 2009, there were fewer than 280 cases of H1N1 infection reported in the U.S., and the first confirmed death (of a Mexican toddler on vacation) occurred the next day, April 27. The WHO projected 1,000,000+ U.S. cases on June 25, after declaring a pandemic on June 11. A spokesman for Turning Point USA acknowledged that its "social media team confused the two different types of emergency declarations", and Trump had not yet issued a national emergency.[117][118]
Kirk described thepublic health measure ofsocial distancing prohibitions in churches as a Democratic plot against Christianity and made the unfounded assertion that authorities inWuhan, China, were burning patients.[84] In 2020, he said he refused to abide bymask requirements because "the science around masks is very questionable".[98][119] In July 2021, Kirk promoted misleading claims about the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.[28] On the Fox News show hosted byTucker Carlson, Kirk called mandatory requirements for students to take theCOVID-19 vaccine "medicalapartheid".[120] He called for parents to protest at school board meetings, urging them to push back against mask-wearing.[121]
At first, Kirk was critical of the evangelical right, but he came to reverse his position. In 2018, he toldDave Rubin, "We do have a separation of church and state, and we should support that."[45] In 2019, Kirk met Rob McCoy, a pastor of a megachurch inVentura County, California, who convinced him that America's founding documents were derived from the Bible.[45] In 2021, Kirk told a congregation, "The Bible says very clearly to 'Occupy until I come'", a verse often cited by followers of theSeven Mountain Mandate to assert that before Jesus returnsevangelical Christians must dominate seven areas of society: government, media, education, business, family, religion, and entertainment. Kirk later interviewed with the creator of the Seven Mountain concept.[45][122][123][124] Kirk frequently collaborated with Christian nationalist pastors and preachers, having them as guests on his shows as well as appearing as a speaker at their events,[125][124][126] with theAnti-Defamation League accusing Kirk of promotingChristian nationalism.[127]
In 2022, Kirk called theseparation of church and state in the United States a "fabrication".[45] In 2024, he said, "One of the reasons we're living through a constitutional crisis is that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we have aChristian form of government, and they're incompatible. You cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population."[128] Appearing at a Trump campaign rally in the same year, he said: "This is a Christian state. I'd like to see it stay that way."[96] By 2024, Kirk's shift to Christian nationalism exemplified its growing approval by the Republican Party under Trump.[71][45][124][129][72]
Kirk believed in the superiority of theWestern world, credit for which he gave to therole of Christianity in civilization. In a 2023 speech, he said that "all men are created equal in the eyes of God, all men and women, but not all cultures are created equal. To say that, you get attacked in every direction, but excuse me when I say that Western civilization is the best that humanity has produced. It's an outgrowth of the Bible."[130]
Abortion
Kirk strongly opposedabortion. In a September 2024 debate hosted byJubilee Media, Kirk argued thatabortion is murder and should be illegal. He opposed exceptions forrape, including for children as young as 10.[131] Kirk compared abortion tothe Holocaust, and said that abortion is worse.[132][133]
Gun rights and the Second Amendment
Kirk was a gun owner andgun rights advocate. He was opposed togun control.[134] After theParkland school shooting in February 2018, he spoke for theNational Rifle Association in Parkland, Florida.[19][135] Kirk was invited by a student to a pro-gun event in the school where the shooting happened, but the event was canceled. He had said that guns, armed guards, and gun detectors could be used to prevent shootings in schools and campuses.[136][137] In an April 2023 TPUSA event inSalt Lake City, Utah, Kirk said: "I think it's worth it, I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have theSecond Amendment to protect our other God-given rights."[138][139][140]
LGBTQ issues
Kirk was relatively respectful regardingLGBTQ rights by supporting secularism in 2018, but by 2022 had reversed his positions,[45] routinely makinganti-LGBTQ remarks and opposingtransgender rights and medical care.[141][142] On November 22, 2019, Kirk said, "I believe marriage is one man, one woman", but added that gay people should be allowed in the conservative movement.[143] In 2022, during an episode ofThe Charlie Kirk Show streamed on YouTube, Kirk criticized the Supreme Court's decision inObergefell v. Hodges. He called LGBTQ activists the "alphabet mafia", claiming that the movement is not "just about two dudes being able to get married". Kirk calledObergefell a "national takeover of our laws" and argued that conservatives mistakenly thought the issue ofsame-sex marriage in the United States would end after the ruling, instead concluding that "they are not happy just having marriage" and "want to corrupt your children".[144]
In the op-ed "Sexual Anarchy" forThe American Mind on October 14, 2021, Kirk said "the facts are that there are only two genders; that transgenderism and gender 'fluidity' are lies that hurt people and abuse kids."[145] In early 2023, he said that transgender women in women's locker rooms should be "taken care of the way we used to take care of things in the 1950s and '60s".[146] In another 2023 speech, Kirk said, "One issue I think that is so against our senses, so against the natural law and dare I say a throbbing middle finger to God, is the transgender thing happening in America right now."[141] In the same speech, he quoted a Bible verse saying that a man wearing women's clothes or a woman wearing men's clothes is an "abomination."[141] On April 1, 2024, Kirk called for Trump to propose a nationwide ban ofgender-affirming care for transgender people.[147] That same day, he called for the imprisonment of doctors who perform gender-affirming care and demanded "Nuremberg-style" trials for them.[148] He also promotedmisinformation about violence by transgender people.[142]
Kirk routinely asserted that there is an "LGBTQ agenda."[45] On the June 8, 2024, episode of his podcast, he criticized YouTuberMs. Rachel for a post that celebratedPride Month by quoting the Bible verse "love thy neighbor," arguing that she was being selective. Kirk told Ms. Rachel "you might want to crack open that Bible of yours, in a lesser reference — part of the same part of scripture is inLeviticus 18, is that thou shall lay with another man shall be stoned to death. Just saying. So, Ms. Rachel, you quoteLeviticus 19, love your neighbor as yourself. The chapter before affirms God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matters."[149][150][151] In the same podcast episode, he called being gay an "error" and likened the LGBTQ pride movement to encouraging drug addicts.[152] In August 2025, he discussed the burning ofPride flags, stating: "We should work to overturn every conviction for those arrested, fined, or otherwise harassed for the 'hate crime' of doing donuts over Pride flags painted on public streets. It should be legal to burn a rainbow or [Black Lives Matter] flag in public."[153][154]
Immediately before Kirk was shot, a Utah Valley University undergraduate student asked him if he knew how many transgender Americanshad been mass shooters in the last 10 years. Kirk responded, "Too many."[97] The student then asked if Kirk knew how many mass shooters there had been during the same period.[155] Kirk responded with a diversion to gang violence. His last words were, "Counting or not counting gang violence?"[65]
Traditional gender roles
Kirk promoted traditional gender roles, telling young women to go to college for the purpose of finding husbands and "embrace their roles as mothers and homemakers".[156] In October 2021, he said on his podcast that Democrats wanted Americans to live where "there is no cultural identity, where you live in sexual anarchy, where private property is a thing of the past, and the ruling class controls everything".[157][158] Following social media backlash, he released a statement on the website of theClaremont Institute reiterating and expanding his remarks.[145] According toMedia Matters for America, Kirk said at the TPUSA Young Women's Leadership Summit 2022 Conference that the "biblical model" for women to pursue in romantic relationships is a partner who is "a protector and a leader, and deep down, a vast majority of you agree" and that "if you want to go meet conservative men that have their act together, that aren't like, woke beta men, like, start a Turning Point USA chapter, you'll meet a lot of them."[159] Kirk had repeatedly criticized birth control, and once said that it creates "very angry and bitter young ladies and young women".[160]
Race
White Americans
Kirk had voiced a belief in the decline and victimhood ofWhite Americans, reflectinggrievance politics.[161] In 2015, Kirk alleged that he had lost a slot to attend West Point to a candidate of "a different ethnicity and gender".[19][7][10] In 2018, Kirk told a college audience that the concept ofwhite privilege is a myth and a "racist idea".[19][162] Assuming "more hard-right positions", he told followers of his radio podcast in 2021 that Democratic immigration policies were aimed at "diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America" and called for Texas to "deputize a citizen force and put them on the border" to protect "white demographics in America".[78][163][164]
In 2023, Kirk said that "prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people" in urban America.[165] In 2024, he said, "Thegreat replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different",[165] and added, "The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white."[165] Kirk further posted "The 'Great Replacement' is not a theory, it's a reality", alongside a Fox News headline that falsely claimed: "7.2Millegals entered the U.S. under Biden administration, an amount greater than population of 36states."[166]
In 2016, Kirk said about TPUSA's national directorCrystal Clanton, "Turning Point needs more Crystals; so does America."[7] In 2017, it was revealed that Clanton allegedly sent a text message in the past that read, "I hate black people. Like f— them all... I hate blacks. End of story."[7] Kirk responded by having Clanton expelled from the organization.[7][167][168] In 2018, Kirk cited single motherhood in Chicago's Black community as a cause ofgun violence, blaming the absence of a father from some Black households on "a broken culture problem".[169][170]
Kirk praisedMartin Luther King Jr. prior to December 2023, variously calling him a "hero" and a "civil rights icon". That December, he used a speech at AmericaFest to describe him as "awful... not a good person" and as someone who is admired only because he said "one thing he didn't actually believe".[171]The speech also saw Kirk condemn theCivil Rights Act of 1964, calling its passage a "huge mistake" and alleging that it had created a "permanentDEI-type bureaucracy".[172] Kirk thought the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a destructive force in American politics that had been turned into an anti-white weapon.[173][174] Kirk toldThe New York Times, "I take theCaldwellian view, from his bookThe Age of Entitlement, that we went through a new founding in the '60s and that the Civil Rights Act has actually superseded the U.S. Constitution as its reference point. In fact, I bet if you polled Americans, most of them would have more reverence for the Civil Rights Act than the Constitution. I could be wrong, but I think I'm right."[62]
Kirk was a critic of schools and local governments teaching aboutracism.[175] He wrote in a 2021 Fox News article that "directly confronting the left, and promising to fight their illiberal ideology with state power when necessary, is the key to winning everyday Americans".[176] He served on Trump's1776 Commission to advance "patriotic education", which was set up in response to the1619 Project.[177] In October 2021, Kirk began the "Exposing Critical Racism Tour" of a number of campuses and off-campus venues to "fight racist theories on America's college campuses!"[178][179] He also opposedJuneteenth (a day which commemorates theend of slavery in the U.S.) being declared a federal holiday, describing it as "anti-American" for promoting "a neo-segregationist view" that he alleged sought to supplantIndependence Day.[180]
On July 11, 2023, after the Supreme Court ruled that colleges can no longer employ affirmative-action practices in admissions, RepresentativeSheila Jackson Lee stated on the House floor, "I rise today as a clear recipient of affirmative action, particularly in higher education. I may have been admitted on affirmative action, both in terms of being a woman and a woman of color, but I can declare that I did not graduate on affirmative action." Kirk reacted to this on his podcast on July 13, 2023, by stating "If we would have said three weeks ago [...] thatJoy Reid andMichelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee andKetanji Brown Jackson were affirmative-action picks, we would have been called racist. But now they're comin' out and they're saying it for us!" He continued, "You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously."[181][182]
In January 2024, Kirk said that a "myth" had been created around King which had "grown totally out of control" and that King was currently "the most honored, worshiped, even deified person of the 20thcentury" despite "most people" supposedly disliking him during his life. Responding to accusations byMalcolm Kenyatta that he was working to undermine King and theVoting Rights Act of 1965, Kirk called this claim "a lie" and "fear-mongering", and added that telling the "truth" about King "should not be trampling sacred ground" since he was "just a man... a very flawed one at that" and a "mythological anti-racist creation of the 1960s". Kirk later said he had "found the sacred cow of modern America" in criticizing King.[183] Also in January 2024, Kirk blamed DEI programs for national aviation issues, saying, "If I see a Black pilot, I'm going to be like, 'Boy, I hope he's qualified.'"[184][185][186]
NBC News reported that Kirk's comments about DEI programs and his comment about Black or African American airline pilots resulted in ongoing conflict with theRepublican National Committee over outreach to Black voters.[55] Kirk called Jackson a "recipient of affirmative action" and said she was nominated for the Supreme Court because of her race.[187] Kirk blamed the high death toll of theJuly 2025 Central Texas floods on DEI.[188] On September 9, 2025, while speaking about thekilling of Iryna Zarutska, Kirk accused Democrats of spreading a "false narrative" that "that there is a relentless assault against Black people on behalf of white people",[189] saying "White individuals are actually more likely to be attacked, especially even per capita, by Black individuals in this country."[97]
Indians
Kirk was vocal about his disapproval ofimmigration ofIndians, particularly non-Christian Indians, into the U.S. These positions stemmed from views oneconomic competition andreligious pluralism. On the topic of the former, Kirk stated that "America does not need more visas for people from India", arguing that theAmerican workforce has become dominated by Indian-American immigrants effectively decreasing job opportunities for Americans.[190] On the topic of the latter, Kirk has commented on how race is less important to culture than religion is, stating that America would still be America if it were ethnically 90% Indian, as long as they wereChristian Indians.[191]
Kirk has elaborated onHinduism and his disapproval of its morality due to itspolytheism, stating: "When you have multiple gods, you get different moralities. And the West has largely embraced the idea that there is a standard of conduct, or a best way to live."[192] Furthermore, in reply to an inquiry about how that claim was not inclusive of other religious worldviews, he responded: "I don't seek to be inclusive, I seek what his best. And theTen Commandments are what is best. Would it be offensive to a young Hindu kid? Maybe, maybe not. But it also is a reminder they're living in a country that's amonotheistic country."[192]
In 2025, Kirk wrote that "Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America."[196] Following the victory ofZohran Mamdani in the2025 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, Kirk posted that "24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City." Liberal Fox News commentatorJessica Tarlov asked Kirk to take down the "gross andIslamophobic" post.[197] In a separate post, Kirk argued that "It's not Islamophobia to notice that Muslims want to import values into the West that seek to destabilize our civilization."[198] Earlier in 2018, Kirk spoke at the annual conference of anti-Muslim groupACT for America, an organization with multiple ties to Turning Point USA.[199]
Immigration and deportation
At a 2023 event at Missouri State University, Kirk said thatimmigration to the United States should be completely stopped.[130] In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Kirk promoted the false claim that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio,were eating residents' pets and other wildlife.[200] Kirk called for the use of force against migrants at the U.S.–Mexico border, including the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and whips. Kirk said that migrants were "bringing force upon themselves" by "invading" the country. In justifying this use of force, Kirk promoted false claims of disproportionate criminality among migrants, saying: "Those are the men that will go into your communities and break into your homes and rape your women, take your children. But, hey, they're – they'redreamers."[201]
In 2023, Kirk called forMehdi Hasan to be deported and deplatformed over his views on the COVID-19 pandemic, calling him a "neurotic lunatic" and saying "Send him back to the country he came from. Holy cow! Get him off TV. Revoke his visa."[202] In October 2023, Kirk also called U.S. RepresentativeIlhan Omar a "terrorist sympathizer" and called for her deportation.[130]
Opioid epidemic
Kirk blamed the Chinese government anddrug cartels for theopioid crisis in the United States, telling the audience that "almost nobody in this audience has a friend that you've lost to the Russian government but you do have a friend or a family member that has died because of the cartels and theChinese Communist Party with afentanyl coming into our communities".[203]
American Jews, claims of antisemitism and support for Israel
In October 2023, Kirk said onThe Charlie Kirk Show that "Jewish donors have been the Number 1 funding mechanism of radical, open border,neoliberal, quasi‑Marxist policies ... This is a beast created by secular Jews, and now it's coming for Jews", and also suggested that these Jews control "not just the colleges; it's the nonprofits, it's the movies, it's Hollywood, it's all of it". Soon after, he said that "Jews have been some of the largest funders ofcultural Marxist ideas and supporters of those ideas over the last 30 or 40 years."[204] Kirk called on American Jews to stop "subsidizing your own demise by supporting institutions that breed Anti-Semites and endorse genocidal killers".[127]
AfterElon Musk endorsed a post which said that "Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them," Kirk defended Musk from charges ofantisemitism by claiming the post's charge against Jewish communities was accurate.[205] He went on to claim "the philosophical foundation of anti-whiteness has been largely financed by Jewish donors", but said he was glad that some donors were reconsidering.[206] Some Jewish public figures have defended Kirk against accusations of antisemitism, citing his pro-Israel stance.Dennis Prager, the Jewish co-founder ofPragerU, was quoted, "To call Charlie Kirk an antisemite — and further, to say he's long been accused of being such — is to so cheapen the word as to render it meaningless."[207] Kirk was funded by some Jewish donors, includingBernard Marcus.[208]
In July 2025, Kirk warned his followers against hatred of Jews, calling it "evil" and "demonic".[209] He was quoted as saying that "no non-Jewish person my age has a longer or clearer record of support forIsrael, sympathy with the Jewish people, or opposition to antisemitism than I do".[127] However, Kirk was also accused ofantisemitism by multiple people and organizations;[127][205][210] the Anti-Defamation League accused Kirk of creating a "vast platform for extremists and far-right conspiracy theorists", a critique of which Kirk rejected.[127]
Days prior to Kirk's assassination, Kirk texted associates onWhatsApp that "Jewish donors play into all the stereotypes" and he felt pushed "[to] leave the pro-Israel cause" as donors tried to "bully" him by withholding funding for associating withCandace Owens andTucker Carlson, two prominent critics of Israel. That month, businessmanRobert Shillman cancelled a $2 million donation to TPUSA over Carlson's participation at a TPUSA event. Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for TPUSA, reacted to these messages by saying that Kirk's views on Israel were "...complicated and nuanced, and it was a wrestle that was going on for months" and also stated that he believed Kirk was not "turning" on Israel.[211][212]
Kirk was highly supportive of Israel.[213] During a 2019 visit toJerusalem, he told an audience "I'm verypro-Israel ... and my whole life I have defended Israel".[127] In August 2025, he said "I have a bulletproof resumé showing my defense of Israel ... I believe in the scriptural land rights given to Israel. I believe infulfilment of prophecy", and added that he would "fight for" Israel.[214] Kirk often repeatedpro-Israeli talking points about theGaza war.[214] He blamedHamas for the deaths of civilians in Gaza,[214] and denied that Israel isstarving Palestinians.[127] Kirk said of Palestine, "I don't think the place exists."[215]
Kirk backed Republican crackdowns on the2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses andactivist deportations in the second Trump presidency.[127][196] Kirk opposed crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech if they were targeted at American citizens. He said: "We've allowed far too many people who hate America move here from abroad, but the right to speak freely is the birthright of all Americans."[196] In April 2025, he expressed concerns that the Trump administration's crackdowns on campuses threatenedfree speech and were aweaponization of antisemitism, saying: "Once 'antisemitism' becomes valid grounds to censor or even imprison somebody, there will be frantic efforts to label all kinds of speech as antisemitic — the same way the left labeled all kinds of statements as 'racist' to justify silencing their opposition."[127]
Shortly after theOctober 7 attacks on Israel in 2023, Kirk promoted a conspiracy theory alleging the Israeli government knew that Hamas was going to launch the attack, and thatBenjamin Netanyahu allowed it to go ahead as part of a plan to remain in power.[216] In May 2025, Kirk opposed abipartisan bill to expandanti-BDS laws, which punish theboycott of Israel.[217] He said the bill would "only create more antisemitism, and play into growing narratives that Israel is running the U.S. government".[218] Kirk opposed U.S. involvement in theIran–Israel War,[219] warning that a prolonged war would destabilize the region and could trigger arefugee crisis andcivil war in Iran.[219]
Shortly before his death, Kirk suggested thatJeffrey Epstein had been anIsraeli intelligence agent.[214] Several Israeli government ministers, politicians, and political activists mourned Kirk's death, with many describing him as a "friend of Israel" and a few linking his killing toanti-Zionists.[210] Netanyahu said he had recently invited Kirk to Israel, whileMorton Klein said Kirk had recently accepted an invitation to speak at theZionist Organization of America's national gala.[127] In September 2025, conservative political commentatorTucker Carlson claimed that Kirk loved Israel, but disliked Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and was "appalled by what was happening in Gaza", and most of all he disliked that Netanyahu was using the United States to wage wars on Israel's behalf.[220]
Kirk opposed U.S. involvement in theIran–Israel war while maintaining "full and complete trust" in Trump.[219]
Kirk opposed the U.S. sending arms to Ukraine or helping the country financially.[221] In August 2025, Kirk disagreed with Trump's decision to send moremilitary aid to Ukraine, saying: "We were against it with Biden. Why would we be for it now? Unless it gets us to apeace settlement".[223] He called Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy a "CIA puppet" and "gangster" who "sent his own people to a senseless massacre",[224] claiming that Zelenskyy had no interest in ending the war.[203] Kirk said that Ukraine should cut spending on what he called a war it could not "win".[224] He also claimed thatCrimea could not be returned to Ukraine because "it has always been part of Russia".[224]
In November 2024 Kirk offered an "apology" to the Russian people, stating "very few Americans want war with you" and that "the people obsessed with fighting you forever" were a minority "on their way out of power". His post was shared by Russian state-owned news agencyRT.[225] Kirk believed that the U.S. was "wrong" to view Russia as an enemy, although he said he did not like "the Russian Federation or Russian dictatorVladimir Putin".[221] At the February 2022Conservative Political Action Conference, Kirk said that "thesouthern border matters a lot more than theUkrainian border" and "I want every Republican leader... to call what's happening on the southern border an invasion because two million people waltzed into our country last year."[226]
China and Taiwan
Kirk told his listeners in 2025, "I would say, sadly if we tookTaiwan, it would probably start a nuclear war. Our leaders have largely mishandledChina. We probably should have taken it in 1950 right afterWorld War II."[227]
Climate change
Kirk opposed the2016 Paris Agreement onclimate change.[228] Kirk promotedclimate change denial, callingglobal warming a hoax.[229] In 2017, Kirk admitted that TPUSA had acceptedfunding from thefossil fuel industry. He spoke out against targetingfossil fuels and opposed student campaigns that pressured universities todivest from fossil fuels.[7][228] In 2021, a Turning Point USA video featuring Kirk and Candace Owens claimed there is "no factual data to back up global warming" and that scientists do not know the cause; Science Feedback rated the claims inaccurate. Kirk later issued a correction and the video was removed.[230] In 2022, Kirk warned thatclimate activism would erode American sovereignty and private property, describing it as aTrojan Horse forMarxism and likening it to "pseudo-paganism". He called the statement that climate change is anexistential threat "complete gibberish nonsense", stating that if your biggest worry in life is existential, you have a great life, and added that he did not believe human activity is the driver of climate change.[231]
Personal life
Kirk and his wife, Erika, speaking together at an event in Texas in June 2025
In May 2021, Kirk marriedErika Kirk (née Frantzve), a businesswoman and podcaster who won theMiss Arizona USA pageant competition in 2012.[232][233] The couple have a daughter, born in August 2022,[234][235] and a son born in May 2024.[235]
Kirk was anevangelical Christian,[240] belonging to theCalvary Chapel Association.[50] Prior to the early 2020s, Kirk was described as secular and a critic of religious influence on politics and the state.[45][241] He later became aChristian nationalist. In 2021, Kirk partnered with California pastor Rob McCoy to launch TPUSA Faith to mobilize conservative Christians to vote Republican. Kirk's shift was influenced by events such asTrump's move of the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and COVID-era church closures, which he and his allies portrayed as religious persecution.[45] In January 2025 he said that he had been keeping a "Jewish sabbath" since 2021, turning off his phone from Friday night to Saturday night, considering it to be a Christian commandment.[242]
Kirk advocated Christiancreationism, arguing thatevolution is false and thatCharles Darwin has been debunked. He has discussed with Randy Guliuzza, the president of theInstitute for Creation Research, ICR's support forYoung Earth Creationism on his podcast.[243] Kirk'sYouTube page includes footage of debate on this topic at his signature "Prove Me Wrong" table on campus.[244] Speaking on a podcast episode with creationistStephen Meyer, Kirk said he was intrigued by Meyer's argument that there was scientific confirmation forintelligent design, contrary to Darwin.[245]
Authorities arrested the suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, inWashington, Utah, on September 12.[253] Four days later on September 16, he was subsequently charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.[254]
Amemorial service followed on September 21, atState Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which reached full capacity with a total turnout nearing 100,000 people.[256] Prominent figures in attendance included President Trump, Vice PresidentJD Vance, Kennedy Jr., and Defense SecretaryPete Hegseth. The list of speakers included political commentatorTucker Carlson, White House Chief of StaffSusie Wiles, and Kirk's widow Erika,[257] who publicly forgave Robinson during her remarks.[258] Police estimated that over 90,000 supporters attended the service.[259]
President Trump addressing the nation from theOval Office about the shooting; September 10, 2025
Following the shooting and before Kirk was pronounced dead, Trump called for prayers for him onTruth Social.[252][260] Several prominent political figures from both parties, including all living former presidents (Bill Clinton,George W. Bush,Barack Obama, andJoe Biden), echoed the sentiment,[250][252] as did a number of international heads of governments,[210] among other officials.[261][262][263] Internationally, several vigils were held in honor of Kirk outside of the local U.S. embassies.[264] The vigil in Vienna was attended by theyouth wing of the far-rightFreedom Party of Austria, as well as far-right activistMartin Sellner.[265]
The American right demanded severe penalties for the individuals responsible for the assassination of Kirk.Steve Bannon, who previously served as an adviser to Trump, has advocated for widespread arrests and a stringent response towards universities. In the meantime, Hegseth instructed his staff to identify and discipline service members who either mocked or expressed approval of Kirk's murder.[266]
In the days after Kirk's death, Americans were equally likely to have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of him, with many having no opinion.[267] Despite divided public sentiment, commentators and political allies have described Kirk as an icon of contemporary conservatism[citation needed], citing his influence on youth activism, Christian nationalism, and the MAGA movement.[268][269] Some politicians responded to the shooting by linking it to broader political debates. Republicans have accused liberals of "inciting violence with rhetoric", while Democrats have used the event to further discussions ofgun control legislation.[270] Trump and congressional Republicans received criticism for immediately blaming Democrats and liberal beliefs for the shooting, but without evidence,[271][272] drawing allegations of exploiting the death for political gain.[273][274]
Far-right activists such asLaura Loomer called for violence and retaliation in the aftermath of Kirk's assassination,[275] anddoxxed people they accused of celebrating or justifying Kirk's death.[276] Right-wing activists and members of the Trump administration's initial demands—that people allegedly celebrating Kirk's death be silenced and fired—soon evolved into a campaign to punish people who expressed criticism of Kirk.[277] The administration's involvement led to comparisons withMcCarthyism andcancel culture;[277]The New York Times called it "a conservative version of the cancel culture that only a few years ago was wielded by the American left",[278][273] and said it was evidence of the rise of a "woke right".[273] AUSA Today analysis showed that by September 18 more than 100 people—including lawyers, doctors, first responders, and more than 50 high school teachers and college professors—had been censured, suspended, dismissed, or were under investigation.[279] In response to the conservative and government campaign to silence critics of Kirk, especially following thesuspension of Jimmy Kimmel, various commentators and publications discussed the issues of cancel culture andfree speech in the United States in the aftermath of Kirk's death, including among others Tucker Carlson,[280]The Guardian,[281]NBC News,[282]Reuters,[283] andUSA Today.[284]
Legacy and recognition
President Trump posthumously awards Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom; October 14, 2025.
On September 10, 2025, following Kirk's assassination, President Trump ordered that theflag of the United States be flown at half-staff at the White House, on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the federal government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories and possessions, as a mark of respect for Kirk. The order remained in effect until sunset on September 14.[288]
On September 11, President Trump announced that Kirk would posthumously be awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom.[289] He formally bestowed the award on October 14, what would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday. His widow, Erika, accepted it on his behalf.[290] On September 13, the mayor of the city ofNetanya, Israel, announced that a traffic circle in the city would be renamed in honor of Kirk.[291] At Kirk's memorial service on September 21,Hillsdale College presidentLarry P. Arnn announced that he would be posthumously awarded anhonorary degree.[292]
Books
Kirk was the author of several books.[293] Along with Brent Hamachek, he co-wrote the 2016 bookTime for a Turning Point: Setting a Course Toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future Generations,[293] which was published byPost Hill Press, a subsidiary ofSimon & Schuster.[294] Under the same publisher, Kirk wrote the 2018 bookCampus Battlefield: How Conservatives Can WIN the Battle on Campus and Why It Matters.[293][294]Donald Trump Jr. wrote the foreword for the book.[293][294] In a review forThe Weekly Standard, Adam Rubenstein described the book as a "hot mess", "nothing more than a marketing pitch for TPUSA", and said the "thin" book was "stuffed with reprintings of his tweets and quotes from others".[295]
In 2020, Kirk wroteThe MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win the Future, which was published byHarper Collins.[293][294] In its review forThe New York Times, Gabriel Debenedetti wrote that "Kirk's musing about whether 'The Art of The Deal' might one day be considered a 'religious tract' comes just nine chapters after the book highlights the importance of 'a healthy dose of skepticism about authority figures and experts who think they knew best.' And that's just pages after its dedication to Donald Trump, which is five chapters before Kirk wonders whether Trump might 'be remembered as the president who brought about world peace.'"[296] InOpen Letters Review, Steve Donoghue said of the book that the "Kirk writes something that's either trivially, casually wrong ... or just bipartisanly ridiculous".[297]
In 2022,The College Scam: How America's Universities Are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America's Youth was published.[298] In 2024,Right Wing Revolution: How to Beat the Woke and Save the West, was released. In the book, Kirk argues that the United States is "under threat from a lethal ideology that seeks to humiliate and erase anyone that does not bow at its altar".[299] His last two books were both released by Winning Team Publishing, a conservative publishing house co-founded by Trump Jr.[293][294] A book written by Kirk, titledStop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life, is slated to be released by Winning Team Publishing in December 2025.[242]
^abcdefghijHixenbaugh, Mike; Smith, Allan (June 12, 2024)."Charlie Kirk once pushed a 'secular worldview.' Now he's fighting to make America Christian again".NBC News. RetrievedSeptember 12, 2025.'We do have a separation of church and state,' Kirk told the conservative commentator Dave Rubin in 2018, 'and we should support that.' Kirk, now 30, has since reversed his position. It's a transformation that, according to political and religious scholars, embodies and reinforces a growing embrace of Christian nationalist thinking within the Republican Party in the era of Donald Trump. 'There is no separation of church and state,' Kirk said on his podcast in 2022. 'It's a fabrication. It's a fiction. It's not in the Constitution. It's made up by secular humanists.'
^Beaumont, Peter (September 11, 2025)."Charlie Kirk obituary".The Guardian. Archived fromthe original on September 11, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 12, 2025.Unmentioned was his own contribution to the language of political violence, not least his advocacy for bailing out David DePape, the man given a life sentence for attempting to kill the husband of the former Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi with a hammer.
^Rogers, Katie (September 10, 2025)."Inside the Close Alliance Between Trump and Charlie Kirk".The New York Times. Archived fromthe original on September 18, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 11, 2025.Mr. Kirk's own rhetoric was long cast as racist, xenophobic and extreme by groups that study hate speech, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. For years, he used his various platforms to decry racial equity programs, float an array of conspiracy theories and test out divisive messaging that Mr. Trump has later adopted.
^abStone, Peter (March 2, 2024)."A far-right US youth group is ramping up its movement to back election deniers".The Guardian. RetrievedAugust 5, 2025.Kirk chases conspiracies that animate his followers and generate funds," the long-time GOP consultant Tyler Montague said. "Kirk has used this method to push conspiracies about election fraud, Christian nationalism, anti-immigrant xenophobia, and now he's opened a new front in racism with his Martin Luther King attacks.
^abRudnick, Dennis L. (2024).Resisting Divide-and-Conquer Strategies in Education: Pathways and Possibilities.Myers Education Press.TPUSA was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, who promotes Christian Nationalism and far-right politically conservative politics.
Boedy, Matthew (2025).The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy. Presbyterian Publishing.ISBN978-0664269210.[page needed]
^abLotz, Avery; Caputo, Marc (July 15, 2025)."Charlie Kirk talks Epstein, urges Trump administration to act".Axios. Archived fromthe original on July 15, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 11, 2025.Charlie Kirk, one of the most powerful and influential MAGA podcasters, devoted Tuesday's podcast to extensive interviews about Jeffrey Epstein — a day after he and several other MAGA figures suggested they would take Trump's advice and move on...On Tuesday's show, Kirk urged the Trump administration to fix the Epstein mess by disclosing more information.
^abc"Who was Charlie Kirk? What we know about the shooting and the suspect".Al Jazeera. September 11, 2025. Archived fromthe original on September 11, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 11, 2025.Kirk's group grew into the country's largest conservative youth movement, and over the years, he became a central player in a network of pro-Trump influencers, often described as the face of the "Make America Great Again" movement.
^"Charlie Kirk dead at 31, Trump says".PBS. September 10, 2025. Archived fromthe original on September 10, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 12, 2025.Kirk's evangelical Christian beliefs were intertwined with his political perspective, and he argued that there was no true separation of church and state. He also referenced the Seven Mountain Mandate, which specifies seven areas where Christians are to lead — politics, religion, media, business, family, education and the arts, and entertainment.
^Smith, David (September 10, 2025)."Charlie Kirk: influential rightwing activist and trusted ally of Trump".The Guardian. Archived fromthe original on September 11, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 12, 2025.Kirk was only 31 and had never held elected office but, as a natural showman with a flair for patriotism, populism and Christian nationalism, was rich in the political currency of the era...He also referenced the Seven Mountain Mandate, which specifies seven areas where Christians are to lead: politics, religion, media, business, family, education and the arts, and entertainment.
^abcBranson-Potts, Hailey (September 12, 2025)."Amid quiet mourning, some are calling Charlie Kirk a 'martyr' and want vengeance".Los Angeles Times. Archived fromthe original on September 12, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 12, 2025.Professor Boedy said McCoy turned Kirk toward Christian nationalism, specifically the Seven Mountains Mandate — the idea that Christians should try to hold sway over the seven pillars of cultural influence: arts and entertainment, business, education, family, government, media and religion.
^Clark, Allison (May 2022).Christian Nationalists and Their Initial Response to the Death of George Floyd: Select Churches and Organizations in Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona (MSc).Youngstown State University.
^Post, Kathryn (November 1, 2024)."Charlie Kirk's TPUSA opens a new front in 'spiritual warfare' on Christian campuses".Religion News Service. RetrievedAugust 5, 2025.Since TPUSA launched its Faith Initiative in 2021, which partners with churches to host religious conferences, Kirk's rhetoric about 'reclaiming the country for Christ' has grown more bold, earning Kirk the label of Christian nationalist ... Kyle Spencer, whose 2024 book 'Raising Them Right' chronicles America's conservative youth movement, is unequivocal in describing Kirk as a Christian nationalist ...
^Kelley, Brendan Joel (February 16, 2018)."Turning Point USA's blooming romance with the alt-right".Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived fromthe original on April 5, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 12, 2025.In theNew Yorker expose, reporter Jane Mayer was provided screenshots of a text message from TPUSA's (now former) national field director, Crystal Clanton, that read, 'i hate black people. Like f— them all... I hate blacks. End of story.' Clanton did not dispute the text's authenticity. Clanton left TPUSA after the organization realized the text had been made public, but the article points out that while founder Kirk served as TPUSA's 'public face,' Clanton 'acted as its hands-on boss,' and quotes Kirk saying Clanton was 'the best hire we ever could have made,' and 'Turning Point needs more Crystals; so does America.'
^McCurry, Justin; Henley, Jon; Rashid, Raphael; Davidson, Helen; Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (September 11, 2025)."From 'hellhole' UK to anti-Muslim rhetoric in Japan, Charlie Kirk took his message abroad".The Guardian. Archived fromthe original on September 11, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 12, 2025.'I would say, sadly if we took Taiwan, it would probably start a nuclear war. Our leaders have largely mishandled China. We probably should have taken it in 1950 right after world war two [sic],' he said. There has never been any discussion of the US 'taking' Taiwan.
^Slodysko, Brian (October 10, 2023)."How Trump's MAGA movement helped a 29-year-old activist become a millionaire".AP News. RetrievedSeptember 19, 2025.Charlie Kirk's $4.75 million Spanish-style estate is tucked away in a gated Arizona country club ... Compensation also soared, with Kirk's climbing from $27,000 in 2016 to more than $407,000 by 2021, tax records show ... Kirk bought three high-end properties, all worth over a million dollars, which include his new Spanish-style mansion near Phoenix, as well as a nearby apartment and a beachside condo on Florida's gulf coast
^Bridges, C. A. (September 10, 2025)."Conservative leader Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah event. Who was Charlie Kirk?".Tallahassee Democrat. RetrievedSeptember 19, 2025.Kirk's compensation soared from $27,000 in 2016 to more than $407,000 by 2021, according to The Associated Press ... In 2024, AP reported that Kirk owned three properties, including a Spanish-style mansion near Phoenix, Arizona (although he put it up for sale), a nearby apartment and a two-bedroom, two-bath beachside condo on Longboat Key on the Gulf Coast of Florida he bought for $855,000, according to property records.
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