Death of Charlie Kirk | A murderous conservative infant

Charlie Kirk was an influential figure in the American conservative environment. At the age of 31, he was murdered in the neck during one of his conferences, organized on the Utah Valley University campus.

“I just saw Charlie sag his behind and saw-it was very striking-a lot of blood,” said Brandon Russon at the New York Times. And then everyone around me threw themselves on the ground to try to take shelter. »»

The images showing the blood that springs from the young man’s neck circulated on social networks. There would have been no other injured.

“We all heard the shot, like a big bang,” said Luke Pitman in ABC News. We first thought it was confetti. »»

The shooter would have been posted on the roof of a building. Man hunting continued in the evening on Wednesday. We still did not know his identity and his reasons.

“Martyr”

“It is a martyr of truth and freedom,” said the President of the United States, Donald Trump, speaking of the victim, accusing the “radical left” and his “rhetoric” of being “directly responsible” for this assassination.

The president announced the soil of the flags until Sunday evening to honor the activist who supported him.

Tour

Kirk was in Utah on Wednesday for the first stop of his American Comeback tour. Nearly 7000 people had signed a petition to ask the University not to welcome it, judging its arrival contrary to the “variety of diversity and inclusion” of the establishment. The activist was openly opposed to transgender people and had echoed conspiratorial theories of the “great replacement” targeting whites.

The father of two young children had become popular for his oratorical games. During his conferences, seated in front of thousands of people under an awning carrying the words ME Wrong (Prove to me that I am wrong), he invited people to debate with him. Clips were broadcast on social networks, where he had some 6.9 million subscribers on Instagram and 3.8 million on YouTube.

“The most influential of people not working in the White House”

Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, he made himself known by founding the Turning Point USA organization, whose objective was to promote conservative economic values ​​to students: tax, free market and restricted government.

Local sections have emerged on thousands of American campuses.

“He probably became the person who does not work in the most influential White House, because he had great power to influence Trump and his program, but also to reach different groups, from students to evangelical Christians, including listeners of his daily radio times,” said Matthew Boedy, professor at the University of North Georgia, joined on the phone.

The specialist in religious rhetoric began to take an interest in Kirk’s career in 2016, when a “list of teachers to monitor” of Turning Point USA was put online. His name was there. The activists had not appreciated one of his articles in which he denounced the new law allowing the hidden port of a firearm on the Georgia campuses.

In 2023, Kirk had also said that “it is worth paying the price, unfortunately, of a few dead by firearm each year, so that we can benefit from the second amendment to protect our other divine rights”.

From economy to religion

Kirk tended to exaggerate his abilities, promising more support to Trump than he managed to obtain in reality, for example, said political scientist Paul DjUpe. “But he was able to draw attention to elements that have become important, such as the idea that higher education was too liberal, too Woke,” added Denison University professor in Ohio, joined on the phone. He had also become a friend of the president’s eldest son.

While at the start of his career, Kirk was interested in economic issues and freedoms, he took a turn to nationalist Christianity after the Pandemic.

“He was rather a moderate republican at the start,” says DjUpe. Little by little, he drew the attention of donors and built an audience. The income declared by Turning Point USA increased from 2 million US in 2015 to 85 million US in 2024, according to the tax forms analyzed by the Propublica media.

“He tackled a whole variety of issues, where energy and money were concentrated at that time,” added Mr. DjUpe. Nationalist Christian militancy is increasingly put forward by the conservatives, and the political cleavage seems to have pushed Kirk further right.

Strategy

He had adopted a strategy dear to the supporters of Christian nationalism by investing different spheres – such as education, government, family – to promote religious values. By promoting the place of Christianity to school and encouraging women to focus first on their role as mother, for example.

“There were active turning point antennas in all these sectors,” says Boedy, author of a book to be published this month on the subject. “He had a lot of money to spend and he has done so successfully in the past two years, making turnover an essential organization of the conservative cause,” he added.

The murder of Charlie Kirk puts the question of political violence in the United States in the foreground, in a particularly tense climate. Elected officials of the two parties condemned the assassination. “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile and reprehensible,” wrote for example on X the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. The Democrat had attracted criticism by welcoming the activist to his broom last March.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “dismayed by murder” in a publication on X Wednesday evening. “Nothing justifies political violence, and any act of this type threatens democracy,” he denounced.

With the BBC