The assassination of Charlie Kirk and the media’s reaction is symptomatic of a political sphere which encourages radicalization and rage, a state that he spent his political life cultivating.
“You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry, and you won’t have a single gun death.” Kirk said at an event organized by TPUSA Faith in April 2023, “…I think it’s worth it.”
The state of political discussion is, honestly, scary. Political violence has always existed, especially in the United States. Yet, gratuitous violence is now being documented and broadcasted on levels never before seen in any point in history.
Just last year, there was a widely broadcasted attempt on president Trump’s life. Just last month Kirk was shot, and his final moments are available in a dozen different camera angles, in high resolution and played on repeat online for weeks afterwards, and it all took place on a university campus while surrounded by hundreds of people.
This traumatic moment was seen by thousands of people, and the callous reaction that some individuals online celebrating this moment is deeply upsetting. Photoshops and GIFs posted several times over of these final moments, a reflection and in some cases a response to how far-right personalities online, such as Nick Fuentes, degrade, insult and dehumanize their opposition.
It is my belief that there is no circumstance in which a person deserves to take another’s life, especially in such a public and gruesome way. I say this not to absolve Kirk of the numerous heinous and bigoted things he’s advocated for, his legacy should be remembered accurately, but it must be stated that what happened to him should not have happened.
As the co-founder of Turning Point USA and a vocal ally of Donald Trump, Kirk’s bread and butter was finding ways to rile up the white, Christian conservative base. There is a wealth of quotes that demonstrate Kirk’s hateful beliefs. On his show, he would frequently make comments that ranged from racist stereotypes, white nationalist conspiracy theories to nearly explicit calls to violence.
“We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.” Kirk said on his show, the Charlie Kirk show, in April 2024.
He supported lax gun control, and implied that the best way to prevent school shootings was to have more armed guards present. It is a dark irony then that his life was ended by a school shooter, despite his guards being present.
“People say, oh, Charlie, how do you stop school shootings? I don’t know. How did we stop shootings at baseball games? Because we have armed guards outside of baseball games.” Kirk said at the same TPUSA Faith event in April 2023.
Kirk’s comments were intentionally provocative, they were designed to inspire backlash and strong reactions. He would frequently go onto college campuses under the banner of “Prove me wrong”, a challenge to provoke, mostly college students, to try to dismantle his dogmatic views.
This style of debate has grown and waned in popularity over the years, but its power comes from its volume. College students on average are not skilled debaters, they often hold beliefs that they can’t precisely articulate why, which is not a failure of character or morality but a lack of experience.
Because of this they can be quickly run over by a proficient debater, such as how Kirk did, with rapid fire points that sound reasonable on a common sense level. However, a lot of Kirk’s talking points crumble under closer scrutiny, as they are typically contrary to what research into the topic suggests.
“America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years, and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever.” Kirk said on his show in Aug. 2025
When Kirk was killed, the following days and weeks, people were quick to claim that Kirk was an American hero. Even President Trump would post a video to X.com on Sept. 10 saying that Kirk was “a martyr for truth and freedom”.
His legacy was efficiently rewritten by such people, that he was a respectful sincere debater who wished to do nothing more than spread “common sense” and patriotism. Several government officials, such as Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, proposed that statues of Kirk should be erected on campuses and in public parks.
This rhetoric around Kirk is not only inaccurate to his true stances on many topics, but is also deeply disrespectful. If these people truly wished for what happened to Kirk to never happen again, they wouldn’t advocate for statues, they would advocate for sweeping reform.
If they truly wished for political violence to be hindered, they would address the fact the majority of politically motivated murders are caused by far-right organizations and individuals. Instead, before Kirk’s shooter was even apprehended and his motives could be questioned, President Trump claimed that it was the left who was responsible for his death.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.” Trump said.
This disregard of the truth of political violence does nothing but encourage more anger and hate. If we wish for discussion and debate to not be something you must put your life on the line for, we have to acknowledge reality, and we must understand the humanity that lays underneath.
