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Charlie Kirk, Conservative Leader of Turning Point USA, Killed by Assassin’s Bullet at 31
The Hollywood Reporter ^ | 9/10 | Seth Abramovitch

Posted on 09/10/2025 1:53:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway

The political star was shot in the neck on Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University.

Charlie Kirk, the MAGA activist who built a small conservative student group into America First — one of the most influential forces in Republican politic — died Wednesday in Utah County, Utah, on the campus of Utah Valley University. He was 31.

His death was caused by an assassin’s bullet that struck his neck about 20 minutes into his remarks and was confirmed by the Associated Press. Kirk was discussing mass shootings in the United States at the moment he was struck.

Kirk launched Turning Point USA at 18, using his parents’ garage in Illinois as its headquarters. A gifted communicator with a passion for Donald Trump-style conservative politics, he grew the group into a massive nationwide network comprised of over 1000 high school and college chapters.

With Kirk as their leader, the group promoted policies like free market capitalism and limited government. He also dove in head-first on culture war battles that roiled and divided the country — specifically on hot-button issues of race and gender.

America First spread its messages through provocative posters, confrontational viral videos and hi-tech conferences. Detractors accused him of sowing seeds of division and dissent. Supporters praised him for giving conservative students a voice in traditionally liberal campus environments.

By his early 20s, conservative media had taken notice of the charismatic and articulate Kirk, and he became a familiar face on Fox News, where he defended the populist, anti-immigrant policies of Donald Trump through his first presidency.

In 2019, he launched The Charlie Kirk Show, a daily podcast and radio program that became one of the most downloaded political shows on Apple Podcasts. The platform increased his influence and visibility, seating him opposite elected officials and other conservative media superstars. He also authored several books, including The MAGA Doctrine (2020), which positioned him as a leading interpreter of Trump’s policies for a younger generation.

Kirk epitomized a new breed of young conservativism, one that found a home in digital media, outside the traditional confines of the mainstream. He and his colleagues at Turning Point USA leveraged the algorithmic nature of platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok to create viral moments that celebrated the conservative worldview or mocked liberals.

Videos in which he debated liberals or others that did not share his political opinions consistently garnered millions of views on digital platforms.

But as he found success in digital media, he also slowly embraced some of the conservative mainstream. He began hosting a radio show, The Charlie Kirk Show, in 2020 for Salem Radio Network, and earlier this year he stepped in as a guest host on the weekend edition of Fox & Friends.

His digital-first approach to commentary and content, however, were emblematic of a change in political consumption that culminated with President Trump’s victory in November 2024, with his campaign fully embracing content creators and podcasters, and often eschewing mainstream media outlets.

He is survived by his wife, Erika Frantza, a businesswoman, podcaster and former Miss Arizona USA winner, and the couple’s two young children.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: assassination; assassinationplots; charliekirk; prayers; profamily; prolife; salemradionetwork; thecharliekirkshow; themagadoctrine; thoughts; utahcounty; utahvalleyuniversity
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The first of the bigger mainstream publications.
1 posted on 09/10/2025 1:53:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

every school and main street in the US needs to be named after him now and a national month each year in June


2 posted on 09/10/2025 1:55:26 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: nickcarraway

Confirmed by Fix News


3 posted on 09/10/2025 1:55:42 PM PDT by GeorgiaDawg32
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To: nickcarraway

what do you think, the last act of rogue FBI agents on their way out the door making their mark on history??


4 posted on 09/10/2025 1:56:08 PM PDT by eyeamok
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To: nickcarraway

Surprisingly positive.


5 posted on 09/10/2025 1:56:16 PM PDT by mairdie
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To: GeorgiaDawg32

Fox News


6 posted on 09/10/2025 1:56:25 PM PDT by GeorgiaDawg32
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To: nickcarraway

When I saw the name I thought he was the Charlie Kirk from Fox


7 posted on 09/10/2025 1:57:03 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: nickcarraway

I haven’t felt this anger since 9/11, which is ironically tomorrow.


8 posted on 09/10/2025 1:57:05 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: nickcarraway

The mainstream pubs. need to be completely avoided. Shut off all interaction with them. No advertising, no distribution. No quotations or shared reports from them. They are our enemy.


9 posted on 09/10/2025 1:57:18 PM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find. )
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To: nickcarraway

Scum
Video
MSNBC moments after Charlie Kirk was shot: “The Trump administration will use this as a justification for something
https://rumble.com/v6yrfja-msnbc-the-trump-administration-will-use-this-as-a-justification-for-somethi.html


10 posted on 09/10/2025 1:57:25 PM PDT by janetjanet998 (Please don’t use google products, especially YouTube )
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To: eyeamok

I think another Soros assassin


11 posted on 09/10/2025 1:57:34 PM PDT by IC Ken (If the government can just print Money why do I have to pay taxes?)
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To: Tennessee Nana

I think it is the same guy..


12 posted on 09/10/2025 1:57:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Something must change. The left and their ideology must be banned like Nazism is in Europe. We can no longer tolerate their hateful violent ideology.


13 posted on 09/10/2025 1:58:54 PM PDT by Skwor
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To: nickcarraway

I saw a close up of the shooting, he died instantly. Who ever did this needs to be skinned


14 posted on 09/10/2025 1:59:29 PM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (As long as Hillary Clinton remains free, the USA will never have equal justice under the law)
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To: nickcarraway

BTTT


15 posted on 09/10/2025 1:59:33 PM PDT by nopardons ( )
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To: janetjanet998

“The Trump administration will use this as a justification for something”

__________________________________________________

We can only hope.


16 posted on 09/10/2025 2:00:11 PM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: dfwgator

me either i just ate lunch and heard i tossed it up.


17 posted on 09/10/2025 2:00:24 PM PDT by al baby (Whoopie Cushion Goldberg )
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To: nickcarraway

Phuck. Prayers up for his family.


18 posted on 09/10/2025 2:00:39 PM PDT by Mathews (I have faith Malachi is right!!! Any day now...)
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To: Skwor

Good point. We should ban Marxism the same way Nazism is banned in Germany, even it takes a Constitutional Amendment.


19 posted on 09/10/2025 2:01:00 PM PDT by Windcatcher
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To: nickcarraway

No Seth, you, your fellow journalists and the Democrat Party assassinated Charlie Kirk.


20 posted on 09/10/2025 2:01:03 PM PDT by Chgogal (Voting Democrat is suicidal.)
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