FAR-REACHING INFLUENCE
Kirk and the group he co-founded, Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth organisation in the country, played a key role in driving young voter support for Trump in November.
After winning his second presidential term, Trump credited Kirk for mobilising younger voters and voters of colour in support of his campaign.
“You had Turning Point’s grassroots armies,” Trump said at a rally in Phoenix in December. “It’s not my victory, it’s your victory.”
Kirk had 5.3 million followers on X and hosted a popular podcast and radio program, The Charlie Kirk Show. He had also recently co-hosted Fox & Friends on Fox News.
He was part of an ecosystem of pro-Trump conservative influencers – including Jack Posobiec, Laura Loomer, Candace Owens and others – who have helped to amplify the president’s agenda. Kirk frequently attacked mainstream media and engaged in culture war issues around race, gender and immigration, often in a provocative style.
At the White House, staff members, many of them young and admirers of Charlie Kirk, were ashen-faced as news of the shooting spread.
Kirk was married and had two young children.
