Charlie Kirk - RIP
A lot has already been said about the unspeakable horror of yesterday’s assassination of Charlie Kirk. Some of it is unhinged, some of it is expected emotional release, and some of it I won’t even acknowledge. But the social media aftermath cannot capture the essence of what has actually happened: A 31-year old father of two babies and loving husband of his wife, Erika, has been savagely and publicly murdered.
The primary focus should be on the loss of a human being who had a family, because that is the most salient piece here. But it is entirely appropriate to point out that Charlie was a remarkably talented young man. If you believe you have met a lot of people who had the self-confidence, the organizational capability, the eloquence, the courage, the rhetorical giftedness, and the underlying capacity for productivity as Charlie, you are wrong. You haven’t. He was a tour de force of energy, of optimism, and of public engagement. He was good at it in a way only someone with God-given talent could be good at it. From a very young age, Charlie was different. He was not like everyone else. On national TV, it large public venues, in small, intimate conversations on college campuses, in intellectual circles, in rowdy circles, on a podcast, on a show, around friendly people, around hostile people, he was articulate, prepared, and sincere. And he was far more thoughtful than people realize.
I appeared on Charlie’s podcast several times. He used my economics course as the curriculum, syllabus, and lectures for his vast outreach into Christian education. I spoke at several Turning Point conferences. And I also, on several occasions, got to talk to Charlie about various areas of both agreement, and disagreement. And on that latter point, it just has to be said, that disagreeing with Charlie was far, far different than many people would understand.
There are provocateurs in what passes for today’s conservative right that if you were to talk with them, you would immediately realize they may not even believe what they are saying, whatsoever. You would immediately realize they would say anything for clicks and dollars. You would immediately realize that they are frauds - not just intellectually, but spiritually. I do not claim that Charlie and I agreed on everything - we obviously did not. But anyone who doubts the sincerity of Charlie’s faith and his consistency in proclaiming Christ and the gospel, does not know the real Charlie. Some may say, “but his MAGA provocations … his more outlandish claims … his questions of judgment … etc. ???” Charlie was a young man who sincerely believed that there was a serious need for an energy in the movement he believed in that was stimulated by a certain style. I am a middle-aged man who never had the gift for that energy when I was young, and now that I am not young has a different preference in style and temperament. But Charlie’s style and strategic preference, right or wrong, were unbelievably intentional and thoughtful.
In the last private conversation I had with him, I was speaking at a church event in Southern California with him and asked for some private time together to express a concern. I did not (and do not) believe Charlie should have been platforming Alex Jones, and was concerned that the thoughtful and substantive parts of what Charlie advocated were being compromised by the poor wisdom of associating with someone like Alex. I said nothing that Charlie had not already thought about himself. I said nothing that he responded to confrontationally, personally, or emotionally. I said nothing that he did not intelligently interact with. I also said nothing that persuaded him to my side of the case. He held his ground, and I held mine. But what I observed in this conversation (that ultimately led to me deciding Turning Point would not end up being a source for my donor dollars any further) was the serious contemplation that went into Charlie’s decisions. He was versed in the history of the conservative movement. He was cognizant of what drove energy and animated activity. He was absolutely aware of the substantive flaws in people like Alex Jones. But he just believed, and I think wrongly, that what he was doing would net out more good than bad by tapping into an audience and a pulse that would be important for the greater good. I can’t emphasize enough - I think he was wrong, but I do not think he was lacking prima facie foundation for his approach, nor do I think he was stretching to rationalize the indefensible. I think he was light years past the performative provocateurs that pass for new right, new media influencers today in terms of contemplation and argumentation.
I wish I could have persuaded him that night, but we agreed to disagree. He was, with me, what he always was in other public moments of confrontation - whether it be Bill Maher or Gavin Newsom or countless other appearances where he faithfully and intelligibly proclaimed his faith. He had a better grasp of Christian apologetics than a lot of ordained people I have met. And for all the things he tweeted over the years that made me shake my head, he was clearly moving in a much better way in terms of profoundly needed truth and wisdom in much of his social media presentation.
I pray they find the perpetrator, quickly, and that the individual(s) responsible face quick and thorough justice. I pray that this political violence which I suspect is in very early innings will stop, and that an ability for peaceful discourse will be rediscovered. I pray that people who type on their keyboards how unsatisfactory the tenets of the liberal society are will, instead, follow Charlie’s lead - and live in the throws of a classically liberal society that celebrates debate, persuasion, assembly, speech, argument, discussion, media, and growing a movement. I pray that the right will find people with the rhetorical giftedness of Charlie Kirk - because I have met about two of them my entire life.
And I pray for Charlie’s family, who has been deprived of a dad who loved Jesus. May all of us be better dads who love Jesus more. May we pursue wisdom, civil discourse, greater maturity, and greater productivity in our endeavors.
Charlie died at 31, so now the world will never know what a 41-year old or 51-year old Charlie Kirk would have been or would have done.
But I have my own suspicions as to what that would have looked like. And I think that Charlie and I would have been very close. RIP Charlie.