Turning Point

Rest in Peace Charlie Kirk

I first met Charlie when he was a teenager at a CPAC event. He was speaking with my friend Ron Meyer, and he introduced me to the young political activist. Charlie told me he was creating an organization called Turning Point USA that would become a significant force in conservative politics. He said that the organization would steer clear of social issues and focus on economic policies that young people agreed with.

With cynicism coursing through my veins, I asked, “What is this so you can run for office?”

Of course, he had the last laugh, achieving everything he was setting out to do and accomplishing more than any of his critics said he was capable of. In conversations with campaign staffers post-2024, many told me that Turning Point Action was the most effective organization when it came to field game and campaigning on the ground, far superior than Elon Musk’s America PAC.

After that initial meeting, we lost touch. I was pretty down on Charlie in his early years, but he displayed one of the rarest qualities you see in political people - he always improved. With each passing year, Charlie became more well-read, more tactical, and obviously more accomplished. He had a remarkable ability to be kinder than necessary and collaborate effectively with others, all while being a driving force behind populist candidates nationwide over the last few years.

Rather than simply selling out like so many people do when they reach a certain level of notoriety, Charlie constantly worked to help the country he loved.

He demonstrated a level of bravery that I deeply respected, not just for entering the lion’s den of college campuses to debate hostile students, but for the topics he tackled. He was one of the first people to talk about the BLM movement leading to a rise of violent crime, spoke about the need for an immigration moratorium, and moved fearlessly where so many conservative voices rarely tread.

After several years of not speaking, I made a joke about one of his political positions on Twitter, and he DM’d me, wanting to talk. He explained how he felt and what he thought, and I left thinking he didn’t have to be that nice. Twitter is too often a bloodsport. Maybe it was because he respected my opinion on the matter, or perhaps it was because he was a genuinely lovely person, that he reached out.

I ended up going on his show several times, and he was great. I could see why so many people felt that they knew him; he had the talent to make you feel at ease, he was personable without trying—everything you’d want from a radio host.

Who knows what he ultimately would have become? He had a lot more to offer the world, and I grieve for the family he left behind.

But as I sit thinking about him, as I have for the last few hours, I think about how the teenager who told me that he was going to steer clear of social issues, spent the final years of his life telling young people - especially young men, to find Christ, get married, and have children. He never turned his back on the early Turning Point messages of “Socialism Sucks,” but what I recall him saying more frequently as of late was that young men can find a fulfilling life in family, faith, and posterity.

Charlie ultimately found a much deeper calling and lived it.

As far as this moment, this political assassination, it feels like the ultimate turning point. It feels like we are in the midst of a political turmoil that we haven’t seen in decades. Still, unlike the days of rage in the 1960s and the landslide elections of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan that created a consensus in this country, there’s a money-making machine that feeds people’s anxieties, fears, and paranoia.

I feel like something ultimately has to change. This isn’t normal, but judging by the reaction to Charlie’s tragic death and very accomplished life, the hate from people was truly venomous and showed no signs of stopping. I fear that we have a lot more darkness to walk through before we see a glimmer of light.