Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk was a prominent right-wing influencer and supporter of President Donald Trump, who co-founded and led the non-profit Turning Point USA. He died at age 31 after he was shot during a public event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.

An outspoken conservative from a young age, Kirk began appearing regularly on Fox News as a voice for young Republicans. He dropped out of college to focus on TPUSA, which he launched in 2012 with the help of a wealthy benefactor when he was 18 years old. The organization seeks to instill the values of “fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government” at colleges and high schools across the U.S., and has grown to encompass thousands of campus chapters with hundreds of thousands members. GOP megadonors have largely fueled its expansion. 

Between his activism and burgeoning media operation, which included a popular podcast, Kirk was a champion for the MAGA movement, taking hardline positions against immigration, women’s reproductive rights, and Islam. While celebrated and mourned as a martyr on the right, detractors to his left have called Kirk an extremist, pointing to a record of racist, sexist, and other hateful remarks. In the wake of his killing, his supporters agitated — with widespread success — for the firing of individuals who publicly expressed such criticisms or directly quoted Kirk’s more inflammatory statements, such as when he said the Second Amendment was “worth” the price of gun deaths.