The Assassination of Charlie Kirk: America At A Crossroads

His death is a reminder of the principles he defended — and of how political violence threatens us no matter where it comes from.

A Nation in Mourning

We just finished a dark, heavy weekend. The assassination of Charlie Kirk has left me — and millions of others — shaken with sorrow, depression, and anger.

I’ve spoken with so many people who have never met Charlie and have never attended one of his events, and yet they told me they felt as if they had lost a close friend. That’s the impact he had. Saturday night my family went to the “Boots On Main” festival in my hometown of Yorba Linda in California, where we saw people wearing shirts that read “Remember Charlie.” Within days, his name was already a rallying cry, something people wanted to wear on their chests and carry in their hearts.

Remembering Charlie

I knew Charlie. I heard him speak at least a half dozen times and talked with him at most of those events. I had the privilege of sitting down to lunch or dinner with him several times.

What you saw in his videos — the passion, the clarity, the earnestness — was precisely the man he was when you met him face to face. Charlie was the real deal. There was no act. He was passionate, articulate, and utterly committed to the causes he believed in - we believe in.

Charlie’s fight was righteous. He fought for free speech, limited government, the right to life, religious liberty, and the constitutional principles that keep this country strong. He fought for a culture that honors family, hard work, and personal responsibility. These weren’t talking points to Charlie — they were the bedrock values that built America. And now it falls to us to pick up his torch. If Charlie’s voice has been silenced, ours must ring out louder.

The Loss Of Andrew Breitbart - Similar and Different

It seems like just yesterday that we lost another happy warrior in the culture war for the future of America. Still, it was actually about thirteen and a half years ago that my good friend Andrew Breitbart died unexpectedly of heart failure. While he was not murdered in cold blood like Charlie, Andrew was also someone who worked to build a network, of which he was at the center, to take on the radical left. And suddenly, tragically, he was gone.

A group of talented people in the Breitbart ecosphere stepped up to carry his banner into battle. Our cry was, “Let’s do this for Andrew!” While I feel a similar calling here, it is more intense. I think it is a combination of factors. The first would be the way Charlie was murdered. The second was that Charlie built an infinitely larger nationwide network with a special focus on universities and colleges — TPUSA has over 800 campus chapters and their members have been graduating for many years now. The third is that in the years since Andrew’s passing, things have become markedly more challenging in America. Progressives have grown bold and extreme, presenting an even greater threat to the republic's future as we know it.

The Reach of Violent Radicalism

Of course we need to call out the left for creating a toxic environment that produced this assassin — but history forces us to face something larger: extremism is not confined to one corner of politics.

I would imagine progressives imagine that they’re immune to fanaticism, hold the moral high ground, and are the defenders of democracy. At the same time, conservatives are somehow more prone to dangerous activities. It’s a flattering story they tell themselves in academia, the press, and politics.

But I can say as a conservative, I often find myself convinced that we are the righteous ones, and that if left unchecked, progressives will dismantle the very values that make America such an exceptional nation. It can make me very emotional, and upset. Of course, I am right, and the leftists are wrong, but that’s for another column. What matters is that overwhelmingly, people waging this battle of values and ideals must do it with words and persuasion, and not-violent action. But extremists on both ends of the political spectrum can, and have, taken things way too far, resulting in death, and injury.

Violent fanaticism doesn’t care whether you are a conservative or a liberal. Across history, both here and abroad, political violence has cut across ideologies. It doesn’t start with policy. It begins in the human heart — with anger, resentment, or pride that festers until someone decides violence is the only way forward. When that happens, ideology becomes nothing more than an excuse. The results don’t change: families broken, lives lost, and the country pushed further apart.

Liberals In The Main Stream Media Stoke The Flames

Charlie Kirk’s assassination was a tragedy, but the way the media rushed to cover it only made our divisions worse. Instead of simply standing together to condemn political violence, too many outlets filtered the story through a partisan lens, focusing on conflict instead of unity. That kind of coverage breeds suspicion and resentment, turning neighbors into enemies. In a moment when the country needs calm, the press chooses to throw gas in the fire. Maybe the next act of violence will come from someone triggered by the headline at the top of a major California newspaper this morning.

I when I was drafting this column I thought I would have to look for an example, but then, yesterday I was IN an example. Check out the headline below on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. The Times finds “experts” to talk about the “potential for extremism and retribution” — almost like they want this to happen.

Literally the only “Christian Nationalist” who says the word martyr in the entire piece is … me! You know, the Jewish guy. And in the context of the interview I was talking about how Charlie’s murder will be a catalyst for conservatives to get more engaged, and carry on the fight against progressivism in America.

America’s Choice

The lesson here is not that one side is innocent and the other guilty. The lesson is that violent radicalism, wherever it comes from, threatens our future. And we all need to decry it wherever it appears, and take care not to foster or create it.

If we keep pretending that violence is only a problem for the “other” side, while ignoring or excusing it when it happens among our own, then the spiral only gets worse. That cycle of selective outrage is how a country loses its footing. Murder, mayhem, assault — all morally wrong, regardless of the views espoused by the perpetrator or the victim.

Charlie Kirk was assassinated because someone convinced themselves that their cause justified violence. That is the road America must refuse to walk down. We honor Charlie best by carrying forward the principles he championed and rejecting the spread of political violence in every form, no matter where it appears. I talked about this yesterday on Weekend Newsroom on CNN. I sent it out yesterday, but it’s here.

So, Does It Matter?

It matters. Charlie Kirk gave his life for the ideals that built this country, and the very least we can do is make sure those ideals do not fade with him. It matters that we fight this war like Charlie, like Andrew before him — with words and positive action — while eschewing and condemning radicals who resort to violence to try and get their way or make their point.

As constitutional conservatives, we have an obligation — a duty — to keep advocating hard for an America that protects liberty, defends life, upholds faith, cherishes family, rewards work, and honors the Constitution. Charlie knew the urgency of this battle, and he fought it daily. In his absence, it falls on us to continue that fight with the same passion and clarity he brought to it. As we once said, “Let’s do this for Andrew,” we must now say with even greater urgency, “Let’s do this for Charlie.”