VDH: Charlie Kirk Did the Impossible. He Turned the Youth Against the Liberal Establishment

The Daily Signal YT Channel ^ | Oct 3 2025 | victor davis hanson

[texas booster]

Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, there have been over 75,000 requests for new Turning Point USA chapters and many conservative commentators have written about his legacy and achievements, but what hasn’t been remarked about enough is, “What was the essence of his appeal to young voters?" asks Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”

The answer?

Charlie Kirk understood that young people, by their very nature, are rebellious. He wanted to take their natural skepticism and point it toward the establishment, which, today, is composed of the corporate media, higher ed, and baby boomers who never got over the 1960s and '70s.

[texas booster]

“So what was the secret to his success? I think what he did was quite brilliant. He understood that young people are, by nature, rebellious. They always, as—you're full of energy. They're full of hormones. They're full of ideas. They haven't lived a long time. And they question authority. That's innate to all of us at that age.“But what he was trying to tell them was: Use that natural inquisitiveness, skepticism, maybe even rebelliousness, at the establishment. But you're mistaken. The establishment is not conservative. “The establishment, as defined by the network news, PBS, NPR; as defined by higher education, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford; as defined by the corporate boardroom at Budweiser or Target, or Disney; as defined by the popular culture, if you look—I could just direct you to the halftime show at the typical Super Bowl extravaganza. We could go on, but you get the message.”

[high info voter]

Unlike the DemocRATS..... he spoke the TRUTH!

[texas booster]

Ping! Out to the Victor Davis Hanson list

(00:00) Remembering Charlie Kirk: A Legacy of Youthful Rebellion
(01:36) The Secret to Kirk's Success with Young Voters
(02:55) Challenging the Establishment: Kirk's Revolutionary Message
(05:57) Conclusion and Call to Action

An excellent reflection by Prof Hanson on the effect of Charlie Kirk on youth.

FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR

Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall

American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness

His website: Victor Davis Hanson The Sword of Perseus

One of his sponsors' website: The Daily Signal

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[RandFan]

Kirk was one of a kind.. Still cant believe what happened

May his legacy last

[PGalt]

Amazing individual. Thanks for your work Charlie Kirk.

[SMARTY]

Young people are very impressionable and the Left has always succeeded with the young, the uneducated/under-educated, indolent, surly, demanding, and the disaffected, etc.

Liberals, with the eager complicity of the NEA and the 'media', made discord and dissent fashionable.

Crime, deviance and lack of respect for authority are very attractive to that element of the population...and always will be.

So yes, Charlie Kirk did the next to impossible! God bless his memory!

[silent majority rising]

One of the most profound statements that Charlie Kirk ever made: “If the most important thing for you is feeling good, you are going to be miserable. But if the most important thing for you is doing good, you will end up purposeful.”

[pollywog]

Huge sighs....last night it hit me again! Charlie Kirk was assassinated!!

Seems surreal!

Yes, may his legacy keep burning!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirk was one of a kind.. Still cant believe what happened

May his legacy las

[ViLaLuz]

God did it through an obedient Charlie Kirk. Praise God. And may He continue to bless TPUSA.

[Salman]

Don't give Charlie Kirk all the credit.

The libs themselves had a hand in it too. { snicker }

[MinorityRepublican]

the establishment, which, today, is composed of the corporate media, higher ed, and baby boomers who never got over the 1960s and '70s.

And Communist Professors.

[ScaniaBoy]

And Communist Professors…..

…who never got over the 1960s and ’70s.

[alloysteel]

Charlie Kirk did not speak the truth, as such. He showed the youth the way to question the platitudes that had drummed into them from birth, and the inconsistencies behind those platitudes. Once they had seen how critical thinking REALLY worked, they could then establish their own path to truth and reality.

Aristotelian or classical argument does not make a flat statement of truth, but lets the second party in the dialogue follow the logic and have the truth revealed in an exquisite “Aha!” moment.

[ProgressingAmerica]

The secret is simple activism. It’s actually not all that secret.

People forget that Charlie Kirk originated out of the Tea Party which was an entire large body of activist conservatives.

I still wish everybody would not have sat down, but here we are. Everyone is sitting. The Founders wrote the 1st Amendment on purpose for exactly the reasons it now exists so that active persons could change people’s minds.

But it requires activity.

[high info voter]

Prove one place where Kirk did NOT speak the truth.

[wjcsux]

The big thing that Charlie Kirk did was give these kids hope for the future. The RATS were indoctrinating them into believing that the only future they had was getting table scraps from what they were willing to give them. Charlie proved to them that they had a future of their own making.