With millions of followers on social networks, Trump’s influencer and ally was shot last Wednesday (10) in a violent attack that was quickly convicted of both sides of the political spectrum
who died after being shot at a University of On Wednesday (10), he was seen as an eloquent spokesman for a young generation of the far-right movement of Republican President Donald Trump. The 31 -year -old man had millions of followers on social networks, who delighted with his comments and provocative answers to the detractors and those who questioned his ideology. Kirk’s conservative doctrine was very aligned with Trump’s: he supported the president’s false accusations of fraud when he lost the 2020 elections and used his great influence to attack immigrants and transgender people.
In his lectures at American universities, he invited students to debate with him in rapid exchanges that often became viral on the internet, especially those with progressives who opposed their opinions. It was during one of these events in Utah on Wednesday that he was shot at a shocking moment of violence that was quickly convicted of both sides of the political spectrum. The President himself He announced to the world that the bullet wound had been fatal.
“The big, and even legendary, Charlie Kirk is dead,” Trump wrote on his social network. “No one understood or better won the heart of the youth of the United States than Charlie,” he added. When Kirk headed for a university multitude in Nevada in October 2024, some of the present told AFP that he was a breath of fresh air in the campuses that, according to claims from the political right, are dominated by liberal ideology. “He brings different ideas,” said Eric Hansen, 22. “Ideas in which some of us believe, but sometimes scare us.”
“Charismatic Christian nationalist”
“Charlie Kirk is a charismatic Christian nationalist who, in essence, acts as a spokesman for trumpster and extremist ideas,” said Kyle Spencer, author of a book analyzing the birth of the turning Point USA, a youthful movement that Kirk helped to found when he was only 18. In just over a decade, he has become the largest group of young conservatives in the United States. He encouraged an army of enthusiastic activists. Some of them traveled by bus to Washington on January 6, 2021 to participate in the demonstration that resulted in the invasion of the Capitol, with the aim of preventing the certification of Trump’s electoral defeat against Democrat Joe Biden.
In addition to the Turning Point USA, which organized the event in which he was on Wednesday, Kirk directed the Turning Point Action, one of the main organizations Trump entrusted to his door campaigns to capture voters in 2024. Native Chicago suburbs, Kirk did not graduate from university but began to dedicate himself to teenage activism. His strengths soon made him a reference figure in the Republican circles and in 2016 he was already working as a personal assistant to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.
Charlie’s “Truth”
His Belicoso speech earned him regular appearances on the conservative Fox News network, and later the post of “The Charlie Kirk Show” host, one of the most popular podcasts in the country. In it, he fed the listeners with a diet without filters of half truths and conspiracies, reinforcing Trump’s allegations about “electoral fraud” and rambling about covid -related theories that found echo among many conservatives. His conspiracy theories sometimes reached the high spheres.
For example, in September 2024, Kirk was one of the first to disclose accusations that Haitian immigrants ate cats and dogs in the state of Ohio. Days later, Trump repeated the statement, to which there was never evidence, during his televised presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris. In an interview with AFP last year, Kirk avoided answering questions about the truth of this information. “I say we spread the truth,” he said.
*With information from AFP
