from Pimlico Journal
Reflections on the anniversary of his death
One year ago today, Charlie Kirk was murdered. As with all assassinations, Kirk’s death was two things: first and foremost, it was the tragic death of a man before his time, leaving behind a grieving widow and two fatherless children, which can be responded to only with heartfelt sympathy; but it was also a political act by a left keen to remove from the board one of its most talented opponents, which must be responded to politically. His passing could, therefore, have been a moment of unity for the right, and could have justified a necessary crackdown on far-Left terrorism alongside a series of sweeping conservative reforms. Instead, his murder splintered the American right, who were more interested in promoting conspiracy theories around his death and squabbling about far-away countries than uniting to oppose their murderous domestic enemies.
Let us take a moment to remember who Charlie Kirk was. Kirk was 31 when he was shot in the neck in front of a crowd of thousands of students at Utah Valley University on 10 September 2025. In his short life, he built a vast conservative youth activist network, Turning Point USA, which boasts well over half a million lifetime members and a presence on more than 6,200 high school and university campuses. Kirk built a vast ground game operation in key swing states that helped President Trump win the 2024 election. TPUSA’s events are attended by thousands across America.
More importantly, Charlie Kirk was a voice for a generation. He inspired millions of young people, not just in his homeland but around the world. His social media reached over 100 million people every month, and his words touched millions more through his thousands of interviews on various TV networks and radio stations. He espoused a popular conservative message, and he did it with eloquence and a smile. Charlie’s debates were his most popular content; he believed in engaging with his political foes as the way to bridge political divides and cultivate the republican civic virtue on which American democracy rests. For that, they shot him in the neck, a man with a wife and two small children, so that he could no longer speak, organise, fundraise or debate.