The Death of Charlie Kirk: An American Turning Point

Scott Hardie | September 11, 2025
I was surprised to see the news yesterday that conservative commentator and political activist Charlie Kirk had been assassinated, ironically while speaking about shooting deaths. I didn't like him nor agree with him about much, but I certainly would never have wished for his death and I refuse to celebrate it now, as I see tasteless people doing online.

A sharp rise in American political violence over the last five years feels like acts of desperation. A healthy society in which the people feel in control of their fate is not one in which ordinary people resort to extremes like this; these shootings (and failed attempts) are more evidence of a broken system in which people feel control slipping away and no hope for the future except through extreme acts. Some of that feeling is manufactured by the perpetual outrage machine that is our culture, but it's genuinely felt none the less. I don't know how long it will be until we heal and see this trend reverse itself, but I don't want to contemplate American life going on for long like it has for the last five years.

I think what struck me most yesterday was the outpouring of grief about Kirk. I knew that he was a popular figure, but I thought of him as a provocateur, a firebomb-tossing contrarian who said outrageous things in defense of outrageous positions in order to "own" the left, and who did so with the kind of self-satisfied smirk that only the young can quite pull off. But most of the remembrances that I see online depict him as a God-fearing Christian man, a loving father and husband, who said plenty of humble things about his faith and his country, and who inspired sincere grief and tears from other conservative commentators who happened to be live on camera when the news broke. That I saw only the ugly side of Kirk is evidence that I remain in a liberal bubble despite my attempts to de-bubble myself, but I simultaneously wonder how much of a conservative bubble my friends are in for them to think of Kirk as a lamb and not a lion. Lambs don't get violently assassinated like this; no one would seek to harm a Mister Rogers, a Bob Ross, a Dolly Parton, a Steve Irwin, or a Robin Williams, not for political reasons anyway.

And that makes me wonder about the other canard that I keep seeing, that Kirk was killed merely because someone disagreed with him. That doesn't add up either: People have disagreed with inoffensive conservatives like Chris Sununu, Kay Ivey, Colin Powell, and John McCain without trying to assassinate them. People have disagreed with conservative celebrities like Kelsey Grammer, Sydney Sweeney, Candace Cameron Bure, and Tim Allen, but don't fire rifles at them. Kirk, on the other hand, knowingly and deliberately said heartless things; he was widely considered antisemitic, racist, misogynist, ableist, and more. I'm not trying to vilify him, especially while his death is still a fresh source of grief for many; I'm just trying to say that opposition to him went beyond ordinary disagreement.

What are your thoughts in the wake of Kirk's shooting?

Samir Mehta | September 11, 2025
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