This week, Charlie Kirk — husband, father, and one of the foremost conservative voices of his generation as founder of Turning Point USA — was assassinated on a Utah college campus. In broad daylight, during a debate with students, Charlie Kirk was murdered.
In the United States of America in the 21st century, he was murdered solely for beliefs deemed dangerous by those whose gleeful bloodthirstiness blurs the lines between both speech and violence and violence and speech as part of their anarchical, anti-American crusade to destroy the values Charlie Kirk defended.
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And, much like the cold-blooded assassination of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, last year, as horrifying as the act itself was, the aftermath may show signs of something even worse. Across the country, both on social media and on college campuses and city streets, some were celebrating. Yes, celebrating. There are those among us who are now gloating that two small children will grow up without their father, who are applauding a widow’s grief.
This is more than political hatred. It’s pure evil.
Charlie Kirk’s murder proves what many of us, including Charlie himself, have been warning about for years: free speech is being intentionally vilified on college campuses, where dissent is routinely equated with violence while violence is justified as a form of dissent, in order to squeeze conservatives from the public square, fueled by a rotting culture that demonizes its opponents as “fascists” and “Nazis” simply for holding different beliefs.
But as this reality is etched into our minds with blood, and as the immediate shock of this week begins to fade, decent Americans who abhor political violence, indeed, violence against any innocent, are left with one looming question: What do we do next?
Well, the answer is both simple and difficult, as it requires the bravery Charlie Kirk showed in the face of those who despise him like they despise anyone who stands in their way. We must come together, unafraid, and say no.
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Say no to those who believe they have the right to use violence against someone because of what they think. Say no to those who want to banish debate from the halls of American education. Say no to those who want to shred the foundational principles of the United States of America — a nation that Charlie Kirk loved so much — in favor of some socialist utopia that exists only in their squalid and sordid imaginations.
Now is the time to draw a line. If we cannot come together as a country and declare that this is wrong and this is un-American, then we’ve already surrendered the very freedoms Charlie Kirk spent his life protecting. America is worth more than that, and it’s worth fighting for.
Ian is a syndicated columnist. Follow him on X (@ighaworth) or Substack.
