Posted on 09/16/2025 10:31:42 AM PDT by Rummyfan
There are a whole lot of people who need to make that admission in public more than I do. But I don’t mind being first. It’s the truth, and I’d like to explain why.
I never paid that much attention to Charlie Kirk when he was alive. I knew who he was, what a prodigy he seemed to be, and that more and more people on the right were listening to him. But I’m not his target audience: young. So I just said, “Okay, good luck,” and went on with my day.
But years ago, Kirk figured out something that most media figures on the right hadn’t grasped yet: Young people aren’t reading National Review. They aren’t reading Substacks by obscure, marginally employable shut-ins with nothing better to do. (Ahem.) They aren’t reading much of anything.1
No, they’re listening to podcasts. They’re scrolling TikTok.2 They’re going to big crowded conferences full of other young people they might get a chance to spend some private time with. So that’s how he reached out to them.
And, as I’m learning, he was a terrific messenger: young, articulate, knowledgable, rational, calm, focused. Every debate video I’ve watched so far has been very impressive. He was masterful at what he did.
I never believed he was racist, sexist, fascist, or whatever-ist, because liberals say that about everybody who ever disagrees with them. Like this guy, whose first reaction to Kirk’s murder was to whine about his own feelings:
(Excerpt) Read more at jimtreacher.substack.com ...
Nah, man. Publicly murdering someone just for saying, “I disagree, and here’s why” is...
Well, it’s a turning point.
Who is Jim Treacher? And what is TikTok.2?
No idea but 2 is his second point. No spacing.
Even those who knew Charlie by name and hated him based purely on nasty epithets they heard about him may start watching some of his videos and his interactions with those who disagreed with him. It might change a few minds.
The ‘2’ is a superscript for a footnote (which you can find at the bottom of the piece)
The 2 is a footnote, scroll down...
“a terrific messenger: young, articulate, knowledgable, rational, calm, focused”
I also didn’t follow Kirk and was/am puzzled at all of the attention he’s now getting.
Mainly, were I to learn more about him, I’d focus on his positions and beliefs. Your description of him, which I believe is accurate, doesn’t tell me what I most want to know.
I have a friend who did that in the wake of his murder and said Charlie came off as a know it all type. I could see that a bit but I agreed with Charlie pretty much down the line. That said the smug arrogance of the left is orders of magnitude greater.
What is TikTok?
A watch? Grandfather clock? 🤔
Generational gaps. Isn’t it wonderful!
I could see that. But most passionately knowledgeable people come across like that.
No one can out-know-it-all a leftist, though. Maybe Charlie was playing their own game.
I have watched a lot of his videos, over the years. There are "know it alls" (who usually know very little), and there are very well-informed people who seem to know everything. Mr. Kirke appeared to me to be the latter. When he spoke on topics of which I have personal or professional expertise, he got things right. Unlike democRATs and Big Media.
I agree with you and I’m just reporting the reaction of my friend who I would place in the mushy middle of the political spectrum. Voted for Trump in 2024 btw.
He was extremally effective with young people.
I, myself, an old fart, liked him, but wasn’t that excited about him.
I met a lot of people from Turning point and I was always surprised about their intensity!
They were all basically kids!
Obviously, he knew how to address the young people!
Great job, faithful servant!
👍
Plenty of videos to watch. 1000’s of them. YouTube, Turning Point USA web site, Rumble, ...
Then go watch his videos...they are all over Youtube.
I wasn’t an avid follower of Charlie Kirk’s work, but i’ve seen many of his videos over the years. I never saw anything from him that wasn’t solidly in the mainstream of conservatism. But he had an audience of young people. And of course, the left can’t permit them to hear someone whose views are outside the college indoctrination effort.
Very well said.
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