Author: Jadenne Radoc Cabahug

Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of conservative youth organization Turning Point USA was shot and killed during a debate style event at Utah Valley University on September 10. 

Videos were immediately posted to social media of the moment the podcaster was shot in the neck, with the chaos of students screaming and fleeing the scene following immediately after. 

The right-wing American activist and influencer led the effort to engage young Americans as leader of Turning Point USA, an organization that pushed for conservative ideas aiming to reach college campuses, typically more liberally. 

Kirk would debate with “woke college students” while asserting beliefs such as “abortion is murder and should be illegal” and “Kamala Harris is a DEI candidate.” 

One YouTube video titled “1 Conservative vs 25 Liberal College Students (Feat. Charlie Kirk) | Surrounded” garnered 38 million views. His conservatism enraged and inspired college students alike through his efforts. 

22-year-old Tyler James Robinson is accused of 31-year-old Kirk’s killing and has been charged with capital murder, a felony discharge of a firearm and obstructing justice. Robinson has also been charged with witness tampering after telling his partner to delete text messages and stay silent if questioned by authorities. Prosecutors are currently seeking the death penalty for Robinson.  

Kirk’s death has had a profound ripple through the political world, garnering mixed reactions globally, from President Trump ordering flags on government buildings be flown at half-mast, to vigils being held for the conservative podcaster in places like Australia and South Korea. 

Trump has called Kirk a “martyr for America’s freedom” during a memorial service held on September 21st. Some politicians in the Republican party have used Kirk’s death to rally younger conservatives for upcoming local, state and even the national midterm elections taking place a little over a year. 

However, for some Americans like Theresa Bennett, a global environmental policy exchange student at Sciences Po, she hadn’t heard about Kirk before his death. 

“One friend texted me that Charlie Kirk got killed, and I was thinking, ‘Man, who is that?’ After learning more about who he was, I don’t think that’s crazy at all. I didn’t have a big reaction to it, not because I don’t care about him or because of his views, I’m so numb to violence especially as an American,” Bennett said. 

Originally from New York state, Bennett said constantly seeing domestic and international news on social media feeds has caused her to see violence as an everyday norm. As she was preparing to leave for Paris from Washington D.C., martial law was put in effect and she saw the troops arriving in the city. 

“Compassion fatigue is a very real thing when you’re constantly getting exposed to horrible tragedies, it just gets to a point where you’re so desensitized to it and you’re not as impacted,” Bennett said. “Like with this ongoing genocide in Gaza and being exposed to horrific images and stories of what’s been going on everyday… I feel more impacted by that, even though it’s been going on for so long than I do by hearing some random guy has been shot and killed in the U.S.” 

Bennett said she thinks the mixed reactions to Kirk’s death shows how polarized the U.S. and the rest of the world is at the moment. 

“People identify with someone like Charlie Kirk that belonged to the far right and they see his death as a threat to themselves,” Bennett said. “I can’t help but wonder, is it really just about teams? Why wasn’t the flag raised at half mast for the state senator that was assassinated? She, her husband and her dog were killed and Trump didn’t speak on that.” 

Bennett said the main focus of what happened to Kirk should be on gun reform and ending gun violence in the U.S. She also said in conversations in relation to Kirk’s death is how others have engaged with this tragedy in comparison to others. 

“It’s so interesting to see people who are engaging with this as a tragedy, who have been completely silent on the genocide in Gaza, who have never shared a single thing about children getting shot in schools, but then they’re like, ‘pray for Charlie Kirk and his family.’” Bennett said. “Why? Why is this what compels you to speak? But these other issues aren’t reason enough?” 

Another master’s student from New Caledonia said Kirk’s assassination hit really hard for him as someone who considers himself Christian conservative. The student believes in giving more power to the region as well as supporting local businesses and affairs, and more conservative economic policies. 

“I feel like what happened to him could happen to me maybe one day for something that I said or something that I will say and that I believe in,” the student said. This particular student has asked to remain anonymous since his political beliefs may cause him to be ostracized in his day to day life. 

While he does agree with Kirk on certain issues such as Christian and pro-life values, he disagrees on issues like Kirk’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict as the student recognizes the human rights abuses being committed. He also disagrees with Kirk’s economic policies. 

Although the student is not American, he recognizes the similarities between the American and French conservative values. Abortion and national identity are some of the few pointed out as different, however, the immigration conversation is similar between the two. 

The New Caledonian attended a commemoration for Kirk in Paris on Friday, September 19 in the 8th arrondissement, where he saw different formations of French right wing groups come together. 

“You can see the French right wing is using Charlie Kirk’s death in order to boost themselves politically speaking,” he said. During the event, he thought it was interesting how different groups were able to come together despite their political disagreements as they related to the American political activist. 

In conversations about Kirk’s death, the master’s student said some people on the opposite political aisle don’t understand why he felt so impacted by his death. He’s even heard of completely opposite reactions like celebrating the assassination. 

“What’s bothering me is that, in western universities, it’s impossible for people to debate with each other, to understand another person’s position,” he said. “It’s not even about agreeing, it’s about understanding with reason and intelligence. So the fact that we came to this point that we consider the political opponent as an enemy, it really is a problem.” 

Academic, former U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic and professor at Sciences Po, Jeff Hawkins said he sees Kirk as a “martyr for free speech.” 

“It seems clear to me he was killed because of the things he said. That is unacceptable, tragic and profoundly undemocratic,” Hawkins said. “Limiting the way people talk about Kirk and his overtly partisan legacy, though, is also undemocratic.” 

Kirk was known for his controversial takes on podcasts, on college campuses and on YouTube videos where he would debate students. 

On the subject of race, Kirk made comments such as “Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more,” said on the Charlie Kirk Show on May 19, 2023. 

When asked if he would support his 10-year-old daughter in aborting a pregnancy were she to fall victim of sexual assault on the debate show Surrounded, Kirk said he would advocate for her to have the child. 

Regarding gun violence, he said: “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational,” – Kirk commented during a TPUSA Faith event, the religious part of his conservative group, Turning Point USA. 

“Although many of the things Kirk has said can be considered as hate speech, still, ‘hate speech’ is protected by the First Amendment just like any other public discourse,” Hawkins said. 

Kirk’s ideals and political career boosted conservative ideas among young voters in key battleground states across the U.S, with tens of thousands packed an Arizona stadium for Kirk’s memorial and the Republican party has said this will only push more young people to the right.

Vice President JD Vance has promised to “crack down” on the ‘radical left’ on a podcast episode for The Charlie Kirk Show. He is leading a witch hunt against those he accused of promoting political violence in the aftermath of Kirk’s death. 

“Given Kirk’s vigorous struggle for the right to express his own, sometimes provocative views, I assume he would be horrified by attempts to suppress the views of others,” said Hawkins.

It is reported that more than 145 people were fired, suspended or pushed to resign for things they said related to Kirk or his assassination in person or on social media. The state department also revoked the visas of six foreigners after social media comments about Kirk’s death. One Argentine national wrote in a post that Kirk was a person who was “spreading racist, xenophobic, misogynistic rhetoric.”

Overall, Americans remain divided between empathy, disdain or apathy on Kirk’s assassination based on their political party or his role as a symbol of freedom of speech, showing just how deeply partisan the country has become.

In this op-ed, the author critically analyzes Donald Trump’s inauguration, the symbolics and references behind the ceremony, as well as its near future repercussions. The last episode of this series leaves us contemplating about America’s future, with repercussions far beyond its borders.

Author: Nikola Stanicic

“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be—a peacemaker and a unifier. I’m pleased to say that, as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families.”

As Donald Trump, the now 47th President of the United States, was being inaugurated, the warmer and strikingly acoustic setting of the Capitol Hill rotunda—where the ceremony took place—echoed loudly with symbolism reminiscent of a similarly dramatic scene from a not-so-distant past. In 1981, as the modern-day GOP’s Sitting Bull, Ronald Reagan, was being sworn into office, Iran finally released the American hostages—a crisis that sealed Jimmy Carter’s electoral defeat and made him a serious contender alongside Joe Biden for the title of most successful one-term U.S. president.

Biden, who gave his farewell address last Wednesday, warned the country of a “…dangerous concentration of power at the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people.” Now, those same usual suspects—Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and, naturally, none other than Elon Musk—were standing right across from the now-former President, behind Trump’s own children.

If dissonance isn’t the right term, then maybe grotesque is. The intimately garnished indoor venue helped highlight a certain hierarchy, usually muffled by the bullish roar of Trump’s MAGA apostles. Among other things, it became clear who eats at the royal table and who’s left with dog scraps. The single image of America’s wealthiest men—a combined net worth of $900 billion—standing in front of the future Cabinet was a revealing distribution of power in Trump’s new Washington. America’s new “tech oligarchy”, as Biden prophesied in his address, relegated more traditional powers such as governors and mayors to the lower league of high political status, both figuratively and literally. The latter were returned to the backup “overflow room,” with few leftovers to eat.

Trump’s comeback is somewhat of a crime scene born out of his own refusal to concede defeat. Aside from wanting to rename an Alaskan mountain after William McKinley—a fellow tariff-loving president—or end the “electric vehicle mandate” that never existed, Trump’s inaugural address wasn’t so phenomenally different from the one he gave eight years ago. It is, as it was then, all about himself.

The same man who first gained fame in the 1980s by putting his name on lavish New York real estate now continuously returned to the theme of an American golden age starting on day one of his coming to office. Trump, however, is no fool, as he knew how to break the fourth wall of the otherwise relatively established inaugural address format. “Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history,” the Creator himself had called this humbled sinner back to power and unleashed him on those who had attempted to assassinate him or, even worse, make him the first convicted felon ever to be elected president. “I was saved by God…,” he concluded, “…to make America great again.” If you do believe in God, then that claim might, at least on the surface, appear credible. It takes no fanatical believer, however, to see through the divine comedy and unpredictability of the next four years.

Joe Biden’s name was never mentioned, but Trump couldn’t have been any more straightforward in calling January 20th “Liberation Day” from the former president who, as it happens, set the stage for Trump’s return after promising normalcy and decorum to the office. With the tone of an elementary school kid forced onto a stage to recite, the president-elect spoke of “horrible betrayal” and “America’s decline,” as laments purposefully written to illustrate the previous administration’s failings. Little was spared, from immigration policy to an educational system described as one that “teaches us to hate our country,” and, of course, the weaponization of a justice system that unfairly went after Trump and his supporters, seemingly without ever harming his ego. What seemed like a marriage between a State of the Union to-do list and a campaign rally soon became a self-promotional ode to Trump’s self-aggrandizement. Everything he does is the strongest, the greatest, the most beautiful. The finest first day, the most amazing first week, the most wonderful 100 days in office. Maybe whoever wrote his speech found inspiration in repeating lies so hyperbolic that we all know their opposite meaning to be unconditionally true: “That’s what I wanna be, a peacemaker and a unifier.”

In past inaugural occasions, presidents have used the opportunity to summon nonpartisan American pride and emphasize our moral values. Trump served us the newly named Gulf of America, “restoring biological truth to the federal government,” and a potential military invasion of Panama. Along similar lines, what should we even think of someone who toys around with the idea of territorial expansion and promises a human mission to Mars, all the while never mentioning the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia that he had promised to end during his first 24 hours in power? Soon after the new patron saint of the American civic religion closed with his last words, Lorenzo Sewell, a pastor from Detroit, came up to the podium and took his own few moments of God-given media thunder. Purposefully imitating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who happened to be honored on the same day as the inauguration, the pastor cried, “Free at last, free at last.” Trump himself mockingly smirked at the words pronounced in the famous “I Have a Dream” speech a little more than sixty years ago. Men this hypocritical recognize one another instantly, I guess. Both are symptoms of an attitude so self-absorbed that Trump himself probably didn’t recognize the place where, four years ago, a violent insurrection of his own supporters attempted to stop the certification of Biden’s victory. Later in the day, Elon Musk, the poetic muse who inspired Trump’s Martian ambitions, showed up to a rally and greeted the crowd with a Nazi salute. Free at last, indeed.

We can only try to guess what the next four years have to offer. Making predictions out loud would only mean knocking on the devil’s door. With two impeachments, a global pandemic, and a refusal to accept the 2020 election results as an amuse-bouche, any forecast about the main course would be as unpredictable as its chef. Still, one thing yesterday’s inauguration set in stone is that for Trump, everything is always going to be about himself.

Drill, baby, drill!