It has now been a year since Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Between the constant memes, conspiracies, and news coverage of the aftermath, it somehow still feels fresh. Erika Kirk is now a prominent fixture in the news, and the eyes of the nation are fixated on whether Tyler Robinson will be put to death for his heinous crime. It seems as if the entire nation is still reeling from this event.
This assassination had an impact rivaled only by those of sitting presidents or that of civil rights icon Martin Luther King. Those high-profile murders had era-defining ripple effects that impacted American history for decades, if not longer.
With the limited sample size that we have so far, what impact did Charlie Kirk’s untimely demise have on the current state of this country?
Before diving into the present, let’s go back to the days when Kirk was at the peak of his powers. Charlie Kirk founded and led Turning Point USA, a conservative activist organization focused on college campuses. He hosted his own wildly successful podcast show. He traveled the country multiple times over to preach conservative values on dozens of college campuses.
On top of that, he was truly the X factor of the GOP, and part of that had come from his approachability and his ability to connect with people regardless of political affiliation. Outside of politics, he was a faithful Christian and a loving husband and father. He knew just as much about sports, pop culture, religion, and history as he did politics. Sure, the viral videos mostly showed him tearing low-thought left-wing students to shreds, but even then he had a knack for connecting with any audience.
His brand and leadership yielded great results. He inspired the surge of younger voters supporting President Donald Trump in 2024. The Republican Party was a largely unified front at the tail end of the Biden administration and the beginning of the Trump administration. Being a conservative didn’t seem nearly as culturally taboo as it had been during the early 2020s. Kirk became the glue that brought conservatives together to push everyone forward.
Remove the glue, and the structure begins to fall. President Trump’s popularity decreased due to errant policies and stronger media defamation. Previously respected conservative commentators such as Candace Owens turned to conspiracy theories or other forms of public insanity. The GOP as a whole has grown more fractured over the past year. While I can’t say for sure it was because of Kirk’s death, it definitely was a major factor.
Charlie Kirk’s death also gave a megaphone to violent extremist messaging coming from the Left. While many prominent Democrats condemned the murder and offered condolences, some went so far as to blame irrelevant things such as Trump or his Second Amendment stance for why he died. Still others openly celebrated his death, clamoring for continued political violence and other extremist movements.
A rational person would wonder how someone could celebrate the murder of anyone, let alone a Christian with a family.
The answer stems from years of hateful rhetoric coming from the Left. They have fostered a culture of antagonism toward virtually everyone who isn’t progressive, and some people — Tyler Robinson, for example — are finally picking up what they are putting down. No movement is less tolerant than the gender cult, of which Robinson and his boyfriend are a part. The Left is also embracing the increased popularity of the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization whose platform doesn’t promise political assassination, but governmental assassination.
Bad words have slowly but surely turned into bad actions, and it has mutated into a force that has overtaken the Democrat Party.
If a violent, public, nationally broadcast assassination of someone who practically taught Gen Z how to have civil discourse couldn’t get through to leftists and force them to reconsider their path, then what will?
One year ago, Charlie Kirk was a man with a largely positive influence on the world. That all shattered when a man blinded by politically manufactured hate murdered him. Everyone must push back on this phenomenon of violence. The general populace must see this hatred for what it truly is and return to civil discourse with different types of people to help make this country a better place.
That is what Charlie would want.
