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The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk sent a shockwave through the American conservative movement on Wednesday, with his sudden and public death eliciting emotional reactions from some of the country’s most prominent figures on the right.
Kirk, a leading firebrand in conservative media and right-wing activism, was shot in the neck on the campus of Utah Valley University while speaking to a large crowd during an event billed as “The American Comeback Tour.”
President Trump confirmed Kirk’s death in Truth Social post just hours after the shooting, writing, “no one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”
“He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us,” the president said. “Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”
Kirk, 31, sprang into the conservative movement as a political wunderkind after he founded the conservative student group Turning Point USA in 2012, even after he skipped university himself.
During the decade since arriving on the political scene, Kirk became a leading commentator across media platforms and was an influential driver of political priorities and conversations on the right.
Turning Point’s student activism and “AmericaFest” conferences have become major gathering points for young Republicans in recent years, featuring the biggest names in conservative politics and Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
Kirk frequently spoke with Trump and was regarded as one of the most plugged-in political operatives in Washington, D.C., and beyond.
Since 2020, Kirk had hosted a nationally syndicated show on Salem Radio Network, joining the likes of Hugh Hewitt on the channel’s lineup as one of the largest providers of right-wing audio in the country.
In 2021, he married his wife, Erika, with whom he had two small children.
Kirk in recent years became best known for his visits to college campuses, during which he would promote conservative ideas, defend Trump’s policies and engage in debate with liberal students who often disagreed with him. Video clips of his arguments with students would often go viral on social media and serve as fodder for his various media appearances and bolster his larger-than-life online persona.
Kirk was seen as essential to Trump’s presidential victory in both 2016 and 2020, particularly in mobilizing youth and first-time voters through grassroots activism and social media strategy.
Some on the right, within minutes of Wednesday’s shooting, expressed anger at the political climate they say led to Kirk’s killing.
“The Democrats cannot keep getting away with declaring open season on conservatives,” wrote Trump ally and conservative media influencer Laura Loomer on social media.
Longtime conservative radio host Glenn Beck broke down in tears as he informed listeners on BlazeMedia of the attack on Kirk’s life.
“Please pray for my dear friend, Charlie,” Beck sobbed in a video posted to social media.
“We have to ask ourselves how this happened,” asked conservative pundit Megyn Kelly, who went live on YouTube once news of the shooting broke. “How does someone who’s only job is to comment on political news wind up a target for an assassin. I don’t know the motivations, and I don’t know who did this but I know a lot of hate has been stirred up for Charlie.”
Kirk’s impact on the MAGA movement was undeniable and widely admired by the president’s followers and political allies.
“Charlie built a movement on campuses across America by engaging students in debate and dialogue. Challenging orthodoxy and winning hearts and minds in the process,” wrote T.W. Arrighi, a longtime Republican political operative and adviser on social media. “Isn’t that what we want from political figures? To try and silence that work through violence is antithetical to everything we stand for as a country.”
Kirk’s death will resonate most with young people on the right, others suggested.
“Charlie Kirk is a fixture of the Gen Z social media diet. People feel like they know him. This will hit very, very close to home in ways we are not prepared for,” wrote Emily Jashinsky, another conservative media figure.
As Fox News, the largest conservative cable news channel, reported Kirk’s death, host Will Cain, a close friend of Kirk’s, called him “an incredible and good man, not just to me but or anyone who holds a microphone or anyone involved in politics.”
In the hours since his killing, many have said the full impact of Kirk’s death on the country’s political discourse will not be felt for weeks or months, but his assassination is already reverberating across a shocked movement he leaves behind.
“For years, many conservatives felt alone; he gave people like me a voice. He bridged the gap between the party’s older leadership and the conservative grassroots in a way no one else did,” one national political operative told The Hill on Wednesday. “What he built and organized was powerful. He convinced people to get involved and to stand up for their country. He wasn’t just a reflection of a larger movement; he was a leader of one.”
