Right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot dead on Wednesday during a visit to Utah Valley University.Tess Crowley/The Associated Press
A huge swath of the American people – especially liberals, Democrats and voters over the age of 50 – had no idea until Wednesday night who Charlie Kirk was. But all Americans know what his death in Orem, Utah, means.
Yet another example of political violence. Recriminations. Renewed debate over gun control. A surge of conservative anger. Maybe conspiracy theories.
Mr. Kirk, slain a month short of turning 32, was the co-founder, executive director, and public face of Turning Point USA. He was a prominent figure on the right of American politics, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, an activist who pumped fresh energy into the movement of religious conservatives into politics, a forceful opponent of so-called “woke” elements in politics and academia, and a right-wing radio phenom.
Who was Charlie Kirk? What to know about the Trump ally shot dead in Utah
U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot in the neck on Wednesday at an event at a Utah university in what the Governor described as a political assassination.
Reuters
His death – which Mr. Trump suggested was part of “radical left political violence” and was immediately, and prematurely but potentially accurately, described by Republican Governor Spencer Cox as “a political assassination” – deprives the Trump movement of one of its most visible and effective spokespersons.
Mr. Kirk was the sort of right-wing influencer that Barron Trump, the President’s 19-year-old son, counseled his father was an important force among younger conservatives, and he died on familiar ground: one of the country’s university campuses, where for the past several years Mr. Kirk had been harvesting votes for Mr. Trump and stirring interest in, and adherance to, the MAGA movement.
Mr. Trump grew to become so enamoured of Mr. Kirk, whom he appointed to the board of visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy, that he became one of the sources of news after the commentator and activist was shot in the neck around noontime Wednesday at Utah Valley University.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” the U.S. President wrote. “He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.” Mr. Trump, who said that “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” later spoke from the Oval Office and called Mr. Kirk “a martyr for truth and freedom” and said that “violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with who you disagree.
The President ordered the country’s flags to stand at half-staff until Sunday in memory of Mr. Kirk.
Mr. Kirk, who made regular appearances at Mar-a-Lago, was criticized for stirring conspiracy theories and falsehoods involving the pandemic and the 2020 election and for expressing skepticism about the legacy of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and about the value of 1960s-era civil rights legislation. At the same time, he was credited for mobilizing young people into politics.
“I knew Charlie Kirk as someone who cherished every Americans’ right, regardless of ideology, to go to the public square and share their beliefs,” said John Brabender, a top Trump media consultant. “And Charlie was most passionate about lighting a fire under America’s youth to get engaged, and have their voices also heard. Today Charlie was assassinated for his beliefs, and that’s a tragedy for every American.”
A U.S. flag files at half mast in front of the White House after Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday.Nathan Howard/Reuters
Mr. Kirk’s death was but the latest in recent cases of American political violence that included two attempts last year on the life of Mr. Trump. This June, Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed and Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot. A month earlier, two Israeli embassy employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were shot and killed in front of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.
“We don’t have more crime and violence in this country than other comparable nations, but our crime is so much more likely to be deadly, because of the easy availability of guns,” said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh Law School professor who studies violence. “It has been this way in the United States for years, and until we see that connection and do something about it, we will be living with a much higher rate of deadly violence than other countries.”
High-profile shootings of political figures such Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. King, who both were slain in 1968, along with mass murders at schools and a Pittsburgh synagogue, repeatedly have failed to prompt strong gun-control measures.
Marc Jenkins holds a placard that says "Thank U, Charlie" outside the White House after Kirk was shot dead in Utah on Wednesday.Daniel Becerril/Reuters
Mr. Kirk was discussing gun control when he was shot, answering a questioner’s inquiry about how many mass shootings had been committed by transgender people. “Too many,” Mr. Kirk said, though a study by PolitiFact, operated by the respected Poynter Institute, has reported “no data showing trans people are more prone to violence or to committing mass shootings.”
Political violence is considered rare in Western democracies, though the United States has lost four presidents to assassins’ bullets (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy). There have been several attempts at presidential assassinations, including, in living memory, Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan. Spencer Perceval, assassinated in 1812, is the only British prime minister to be killed. Two French presidents, Sadi Carnot (1894) and Paul Doumer (1932), were assassinated. No Canadian prime minister has been assassinated.
Two years ago, Mr. Kirk addressed the cost of broad American gun ownership. “I think it’s worth it,” he said, “to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” In arguing that rights have costs, Mr. Kirk compared the cost of gun rights with the cost of traffic fatalities that accompanies the convenience and value of automobile travel.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the surname of the late French president Paul Doumer.