We’ve said goodbye to Charlie Kirk. The founder of Turning Points USA had his memorial service in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday. President Trump and other top conservative activists attended the event. The State Farm Stadium was filled, with hundreds of thousands more paying their respects outside the venue. Kirk was assassinated on September 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem. He was someone who wanted to talk to everyone, a happy warrior. He was shot and killed while having such conversations. Where do we go from here, especially with a political opposition so engulfed in insanity, illiberalism, and violence?
I don’t know. Charlie was a much better man than I, because I hate the Left. I have no interest in them. If you can’t be normal for two seconds, what’s there to talk about? These people celebrated his death. Hollywood celebrated his death. Democrats celebrated his death. It’s a tacit admission that Charlie would ruin them politically. He was unafraid to venture into the deepest of progressive bastions, like colleges, hoping to break the grip the institutional Left had on the student body. It took years, but the dam broke. Besides Kirk’s perseverance in this endeavor, it was COVID. The pandemic exposed these kiddos to the grim and cynical world of politics and how Democrats will lie, cheat, and steal to maximize power.
When these kids became disillusioned, Kirk was there under the tent to provide another outlet. Between 2016 and 2024, the youth vote, specifically young men, swung massively toward Trump and the GOP, as evidenced by the 2024 exits. Charlie was amassing armies of young conservatives, and there’s no doubt this man would’ve had a national constituency large enough to run for president someday. We’ll never know.
He had the patience of a saint. He was willing to be subjected to extreme vitriol, lunacy, and intolerance by the Left’s most unhinged elements on college campuses. He smiled, listened, and if there was a dialogue, albeit one that was fraught with disrespect, then so be it. Not every conversation had to be mellow and calm. Some can and must be heated, as we, as a society, have deep, entrenched differences on how government should work. Still, a shouting match that doesn’t end with punches being thrown was better than no dialogue at all. Kirk had strong opinions—I don’t need to tell you that—but he also believed that politics was a social good since it replaced violence in settling disputes. And when communication breaks down totally, and no one talks, that’s when the chances of that mayhem erupting increase dramatically.
Kirk and Van Jones, a CNN contributor and former Obama aide, were not friends. They went at it on social media, but Kirk was still determined to have Van on his show to talk and disagree agreeably. He reached out to Van Jones one day before he was assassinated. The CNN contributor said that he would’ve taken Kirk up on his offer. He wanted to beat Kirk in a debate; he didn’t want to see him shot.
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I’m not sure how I feel about moving forward. We lost a significant force in the movement. Currently, I cannot tolerate the individuals who suggest we need to tone things down. You people started it. It’s not us shooting our political enemies. That’s a liberal America problem. These individuals are more likely to endorse political violence than we are. It’s a fact. They want us dead.
I respect the need for debate and have conversations. In 2016, I spoke to numerous Bernie Sanders supporters in New Hampshire. They were fun, open, respectful, but also totally left-wing. No violence erupted. That was eons ago though.
How can Kirk’s legacy be carried on with a segment that wants us dead? Moreover, how can we talk with a slice of the country that is convinced that a right-winger shot Kirk? The suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, was a leftist, was shacked up with some transgender, and openly admitted he targeted Kirk because of his views. The whole killing part also dispels any cockamamie theory that Robinson was a conservative supporter, MAGA voter, or Kirk fan—the legacy press really tried to sell this. Even worse, NPR tried to say that we don’t know Robinson’s political leanings because we don’t know his stances on abortion or immigration; you cannot make this up.
New poll from YouGov
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 16, 2025
Agree it's okay to be happy about death of political figure they oppose:
Very Liberal: 24%
Liberal: 10%
Moderate: 7%
Conservative: 4%
Very Conservative: 3%
Agree violence can be justified to achieve political goals:
VL: 25%
L: 17%
M: 9%
C: 6%
VC: 3% pic.twitter.com/GztzwPcaqv
I see them as domestic terrorists in waiting, a depraved, illiberal horde that would wipe us out if they had the chance.
Why would I want to talk with these people? I know we must, but we might have to be packing when we do.
