What Charlie Kirk meant to us

Charlie Kirk was killed on September 10, 2025.

Like all conservatives, I think I must have seen hundreds or maybe even thousands of Charlie Kirk videos over the years. On YouTube, on Twitter, on Instagram. Videos of him being interviewed on Fox, videos of him hosting his show in his studio, and endless clips of him talking with students on college campuses.

You can’t go out, sit at a table for hours and hours over and over again, talking with anyone who comes up to you, without revealing that you, too, are human.

I don’t remember the first time I heard about Kirk, but it was early on, when he — and I — were much younger. Before he had kids and before I had kids.

Over the years, I, along with many conservatives of our generation, watched Kirk evolve and his impact grow — usually via the particularly intimate medium of our phones. His killing — no, murder; no, assassination — hits home in a close and terrible way.

Endless stream of mourning

I’m not alone in that feeling. To scroll through X Wednesday afternoon into the evening was to encounter an endless stream of shock, anger, and mourning. I read lots of posts from young people reflecting that it’s hitting them harder than they thought something like this could.

There were posts from parents noting how broken up their high-school and college-age kids were. There were abundant tributes from just about every big name in conservative politics praising Kirk for everything he did. Ben Shapiro wrote that when he met the 18-year-old Kirk, he predicted he would be the head of the RNC one day.

Kirk wasn’t a politician; he never held office. There’s a distance between us and politicians. They aren’t so real; everything is kind of an artifice to keep up an image and satisfy constituents.

Kirk was an activist, speaker, and a strong advocate for the good and the American people. He was human, and we who watched him on our little screens felt that. You can’t go out, sit at a table for hours and hours over and over again, talking with anyone who comes up to you, without revealing that you, too, are human.

‘I can’t stop thinking about it’

Thursday morning, I woke to a text from my sister, a normal, not terribly online conservative with a 10-month-old son. “I can’t stop thinking about it,” she wrote.

As I was writing this column, a DM came in from a friend: “Just no words. It’s hitting me like crazy. He was my exact same age and stage [of life].”

So many young conservatives are hit so dreadfully hard by the killing of Kirk because, in some way, they felt like they knew him. They saw him express just what they believed — or what his words made them realize they believed — hundreds and hundreds of times.

For many, Kirk was them, a representation of their hopes and their collective sense about the world and the future. Kirk did everything we are supposed to aspire to, or everything we as parents would want our children to aspire to. He advocated for what he believed in; he stood up for what was right; he was a husband and a father.

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A deeply American value

How many minds did Kirk change during his time on earth? How many people watched him debate on college campuses and then start to question what lies they previously thought they believed? I’m not sure it’s possible to accurately calculate the tremendous impact he had.

It takes a lot of bravery to go out, sit on a chair, and answer any question any person brings up to the open mic. Would you be able to do it? I don’t think I could. He fielded questions from people — often pretty nasty people — from all over the spectrum, but he never lost sight of the good and was never dragged down to the bad, as all too many have been. He devoted his life to trying to change people’s minds (and the world) with words and debate. It’s a deeply American value, and he was killed while he was doing it.

Leave a legacy

On Wednesday, I saw a post from Charlie dated July 27, 2025. It was a video of his young daughter running up to him as he sat on a couch in a Fox News studio. She jumped on his lap; he hugged her and smiled. The text accompanying the video read: “Get married, have kids, and stop partying into oblivion. Leave a legacy, be courageous. Happy Sunday. God Bless all the parents out there.”

Kirk believed in something, and he devoted his life to it. He didn’t sit around speculating, he didn’t spend his time waiting, he didn’t see a problem and decide not to do anything. He wanted to make a difference in the world; he wanted to make it better, and so he did. He changed American politics in the 2020s and invigorated young conservatives in a way few others have, and he did it all while raising a family. He did exactly what his post on July 27 called for the rest of us to do.

Charlie Kirk got married, he had kids, he was courageous, and he left a legacy.

God bless his soul in eternal rest.