In all the shock, grief and anger on the right over the killing of conservative powerhouse Charlie Kirk, there is a sense that this is — to borrow the moniker of the influential organization he founded — a turning point for the conservative movement.
Political violence, targeting both the left and the right, has been increasingly common. And there have been a lot of close calls, to include the attempted assassination of President Trump. But it’s been decades since a major national political figure of this stature was suddenly, gruesomely and publicly killed like this.
Kirk launched the careers of thousands of conservative activists and engaged countless more young people. His political operation was critical to Trump’s 2024 win. It was easy to picture him as a future Fox News host or even a Republican presidential nominee.
His death is already sparking comparisons on the right to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
“This one, I think, is going to change some things,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told me on the House steps Wednesday, soon after Trump had announced Kirk was dead.
How so, I asked?
“I got to think about that. But things just aren’t the same,” Roy replied.
He expressed concern about declining religious faith.
“It was the secret sauce that bound us together, even through the hardest of times,” Roy said. “I’m trying to figure out how you bind us if we’ve got such a gap between us and our collective faith in God?”
There’s been widespread concern about the intensely divisive political climate putting those in the public eye in danger. Commentators and lawmakers are expressing fear that they could be targeted next. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters he is “trying to turn the temperature down around here.”
But many grieving the loss of Kirk are in no mood to tone down or give an inch to ideological adversaries. They don’t want to both-sides the issue or acknowledge political violence in recent years targeted at Democrats, such as the killing of Minnesota state lawmakers or the attack on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband.
If anything, having Kirk taken away is heightening the angry retribution-seeking that has fueled the MAGA movement and its political successes.
“This is a War,” Turning Point Action Chief Operating Officer Tyler Bowyer posted on social platform X, later adding on “Bannon’s War Room”: “The anger you feel right now must turn into activism.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who previously worked for Turning Point USA, posted: “We are not murdering people. Leftists are. We are re-living the 60s. The tides have turned. Examples need to be made. Their hate will be their downfall.”
Trump himself promised to flex his administration’s power to “find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”
And like muscle memory, conservatives are highlighting comments that Matthew Dowd made about Kirk pushing “hate speech” on MSNBC (which then fired him); calling for firings of professors and others who celebrate or rationalize Kirk’s killing on social media; and decrying headlines in major outlets and stories that noted Kirk’s controversial views.
“Everyone responsible, everyone celebrating, everyone who encouraged this or fomented it in any way — I want them all held to account. They want us dead. They’re killing us. Now is not the time for kumbaya stuff. This is real,” posted The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh.
Elected Democrats have just about universally condemned and decried Kirk’s killing.
“That is a good start, but they haven’t taken responsibility for the actions of their own party. They are the party of violence, the party of murder,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told reporters today.
As of publication, the FBI had released a photo of a person of interest in the Kirk shooting. The Wall Street Journal reported internal law enforcement reports said ammunition in the high-powered rifle was engraved with transgender and antifascist ideology; other outlets caution the document had not been verified and did not match other summaries of evidence, and that such preliminary reports are often a mix of correct and incorrect information.
Mace, who has become known for her blunt anti-transgender politics and has talked about facing threats for it, is promising to “double down and be more vigilant than I’ve ever been.”
Some suggest the battle transcending the political, into the realm of the spiritual.
In a speech on the House floor, Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.) said: “There is no longer any middle ground. Some on the American left are undoubtedly well-meaning people but their ideology is pure evil.”
Kirk’s murder coming the week of the 24th anniversary of 9/11 is a reminder of the national anger that followed the terrorist attack — articulated best by country music legend Toby Keith: “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way.”
Lawmakers, activists, commentators, and Republican operatives I’ve talked to over the last 24 hours all seem to think that Kirk’s killing is going to invigorate waves of young people.
With all this anger, to what ends will they be activated?
Kirk gave an interview to Brigham Tomco of the Deseret News three weeks ago for a profile that ran just days ago, and spoke about the instinct among young activists to “[tear] everything down.”
“My job every single day is actively trying to stop a revolution,” Kirk told Tomco. “This is where you have to try to point them towards ultimate purposes and towards getting back to the church, getting back to faith, getting married, having children.”
“That is the type of conservatism that I represent, and I’m trying to paint a picture of virtue of lifting people up, not just staying angry.”
I’ve often used the shorthand of activist or commentator to describe Kirk, but he was all that and so much more. He was a builder of the conservative movement and a giant within it.
He was well-read and articulate and did not run away from his views, no matter how objectionable those on the left found them. He happily engaged in debates with political adversaries, and he’s being credited for helping to shift young men toward the political right. Turning Point USA events became must-attend events on the conservative calendar.
Countless politicians and commentators and activists counted him as a friend. Benny Johnson said that Kirk let his family stay at his house for months after they fled what he described as dangers in his Washington, D.C., neighborhood.
Ashley St. Clair shared screenshots of text messages with encouragement she got from Kirk: “I know it’s tempting and you think the world is crashing, I understand. Focus on new positive content. Don’t be bitter. Smile more and keep producing.”
This is a special edition of The Movement, a newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I’m Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Subscribe here for regular weekly editions on Tuesday mornings.
If Charlie Kirk had an impact on your life, tell me about it here: ebrooks@thehill.com
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