Fifteen years ago, there were only a handful of us teenagers who recognized that our country was headed toward crisis. With rising national debt, faulty healthcare policy, unemployment, inflation, and the erosion of affordable energy, we knew that by the time we were ready to start families, our generation would be struggling. At that time, my work as a podcaster and radio host centered on cultivating a multimedia platform to warn about these challenges.
It was during those years that another young activist reached out to me—Charlie Kirk. From the beginning, it was clear Charlie was an organizer with vision. On April 23, 2012, I still have the message he sent me, word for word: “Hey man, I have started a youth movement that is growing very fast. It is all tea party, I want to talk to you about your show. I am in high school and I think together we could be unstoppable.” Even then, Charlie’s energy and conviction were unmistakable.
He pitched me an idea called SOS Liberty, which would soon become Turning Point USA. When Charlie first came on my radio show, I remember having to correct the name on air— as he had forgotten to tell me it had already been changed to Turning Point USA.
In those early days, Charlie and I often went back and forth on strategy. He believed economics shaped culture, while I believed culture shaped economics. But even when we disagreed, we both knew communism was taking root in America, and it had to be confronted. Charlie’s strategy evolved as he grew, increasingly resembling publicly the cultural conversations we once shared privately. His gift was to unite young people, give them a sense of belonging, and then guide them toward deeper understanding and purpose.
Charlie was also a friend who stepped in when things got personal. In 2013, when threats were being made against my life, Charlie not only found one of them but contacted me directly about it. He told me plainly, “Call the police, you can get him locked up for this.” Being a young man in middle school, who was still just building his own platform, Charlie’s support and caution for my life during a very difficult time was greatly appreciated and remembered.
Charlie always loved debate. Before his famous campus debates, he created an online forum called Political Smackdown, where a handful of us would spar on questions of faith, economics, and culture. Sometimes the exchanges became so heated that Charlie would have to step in and personally apologize for how “culturally Marxist” some of the “fiscal capitalists” behaved. But Charlie knew the importance of open dialogue—and he trusted that facts, reason, and truth would prevail. Today, we are witnessing the cultivation of that in real time.
Yesterday, my old friend was brutally murdered in broad daylight, in front of thousands of college students, clutching his microphone until the very end. Charlie dedicated his life to ensuring that young people—and generations yet to come—would have the opportunity to succeed, start families, love God, and enjoy life. As he grew older and began a family of his own, it became evident in both his words and actions that his deepest desire was for others to experience the same blessing God had given him: a family.
Please keep Erika, his adored wife, and their children in your constant prayers. May our Lord comfort his family, and may He strengthen us all to carry forward in the direction that Charlie helped to turn.