The despicable assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has prompted widespread horror nationally and around the world. Within hours of the shooting, students on university campuses across America gathered to pray for Kirk’s family, give thanks for his life’s work, and call for an end to the hatred and division that plagues American culture. Vigils and prayer services broke out not just in Madison Square Park, New York, but also in Whitehall in London and Hyde Park, in Sydney, Australia. Some sang “Amazing Grace,” others sang “God Bless America.” The Polish Parliament held a moment of silent prayer.
Kirk’s massive following in life has been transformed by his appalling death into something far bigger, and has perhaps created a watershed moment at which the good and decent ordinary people of Western civilization refuse to retreat any further before the nihilistic forces of the Left.
HOUSE FLOOR ERUPTS IN CHAOS AFTER MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR CHARLIE KIRK
Anger and grief over the slaying are palpable, as you’d expect, among Kirk’s family, supporters, and friends, including President Donald Trump. The civilizational shock created by this event offers Trump an opportunity to add to the momentum of American renewal. He has a duty of leadership to ensure that Kirk’s assassination does not tip the country into a round of retaliatory violence. But, more than doing his duty, Trump can and should make this week’s central and terrible event a catalyst for restoring America with revived adherence to the founding ideals, traditional values, and fundamental freedoms that Kirk championed in his respectful and frank exchanges of ideas.
Trump signaled on Wednesday that he wants the MAGA movement to avoid retributive violence. He was asked by a reporter how he wanted his supporters to respond to Kirk’s death, and he answered, “He was an advocate of nonviolence. That’s the way I’d like to see people respond.”
We urge the president to lean into this approach and to be proactive in pushing the message of happy and confident conservatism that Kirk brought to his political and cultural opponents. America is at a critical juncture as it approaches its 250th birthday. Now is the moment for the revival of the values laid out in the Bill of Rights, particularly freedom of speech. As Kirk said, “When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil, and they lose their humanity.”
The other side has been deeply irresponsible with its persistent, simplistic, and cynical depiction of MAGA Republicans as fascists, Nazis, the Gestapo, etc. Its members should be ashamed of themselves, and one hopes they will, following Kirk’s assassination, feel some remorse and responsibility for their part in stoking the hatred that was unleashed at Utah Valley University.
A concerted effort by administration officials to meet violent hatred with nonviolent and rigorous debate would be profoundly good for the country, but would also come with political benefits. Such a contrast with the depravity of the modern Left would be stark. Nothing could be further from or offer a more attractive alternative to the ghouls who posted thousands of videos on TikTok celebrating Kirk’s murder. The moral high ground stands vacant, and the country will rally to a president who does not just claim it but stands firmly upon it.
It isn’t merely a militant left-wing base that cheers violence but also elected Democrats and their legacy media allies whose language and analysis are steeped in rage, hysteria, and paranoia. They have stranded themselves high on a promontory of extremism as the tide of post-Marxist wokeism recedes nationwide. Taking political advantage of this is not the most important thing — cultural renewal is — but it is also not nothing. Trump and Republicans have been presented with a mission that would strengthen them as they proceed toward the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election beyond that.
TRUMP AND VANCE LEAD MOURNING AFTER CHARLIE KIRK KILLED IN UTAH
In a moving public speech Friday evening, Kirk’s widow Erika professed belief in a God who causes all things to work together for good to those who love him. This is a difficult teaching for Christians, because “all things” means bad things, too, even horrific things, even murder. But with God’s grace and the cooperation of his people, even murder can bring about good.
Trump should lead the effort to deliver America from political violence. It’s the best way forward for our nation, and the best way to honor his murdered friend.