Editor’s note: This week, we’re reprinting some of our best stories from the past year. In this piece, originally published in September, Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro remembers Charlie Kirk.
***
“Hi, Mr. Shapiro, I’m Charlie Kirk.”
Charlie was 18 years old when I met him at an event at The Breakers, the rather ritzy Palm Beach hotel that served as the gathering spot for the annual <a href="https://www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Horowitz Freedom Center</a> donor weekend. Charlie had just started an organization, and he was pitching me on it, an organization called Turning Point USA. I’d never heard of it, of course: He had just graduated high school, and the group had its seed donors but was still in its infancy.
Charlie was eager, and he was aggressive, and he was whip-smart. His energy was almost exhausting.
When he walked away, I turned to my friend Jeremy Boreing and said, “That kid is going to be the head of the Republican National Committee one day.”
I was wrong. Charlie became far more important than that.
Charlie’s <a href="https://tpusa.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Turning Point USA</a> became the single most important conservative political organization in the country. And it grew because Charlie grew. He turned himself into an excellent public speaker and a talented debater. He could fundraise better than anyone in the game. He was friendly and gregarious to everyone. His drive was unmatched, because he cared about his fundamental values.
The clips of Charlie on campus — the firebrand Charlie — make for great watching, but they don’t do him full justice. Behind the scenes, Charlie was deeply thoughtful, constantly seeking ways to build and grow coalitions. That’s a messy business, and it comes with aches and pains. No one did it better. That’s how a guy who never went to college ended up as a confidant of the President of the United States, the vice president, and pretty much everyone else on the right side of the aisle.
Charlie never stopped moving. He never stopped talking and negotiating and debating and working. That infectious energy never left him. Until a killer’s bullet ripped his life from him. And there are no more words. There can be no more words.
It’s impossible to process what it means when a 31-year-old man is murdered. A husband. A father of two young children. Assassinated, it would appear, for the crime of passionately speaking the truth, debating politics and discussing ideas, and working to make the country a better place as he saw it.
But here’s one thing we do know: This all has to stop. It’s an ugly picture that we’ve seen before. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of tremendous change in American history, and of tremendous violence. Political assassinations became commonplace; bombings and terror attacks were excused by a variety of supposedly great intellectuals. And eventually, America rejected all of it. Now, we’re watching the same ugly picture reappear.
A wave of violence is building, from the assassination of Charlie Kirk to the attempted shooting of President Trump, from the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to the slaying of two Israeli embassy staffers. All of these acts of extreme violence have found support in the dark precincts of political radicals.
The temperature in our country has steadily been rising. And it’s been rising because many people have determined that their political opponents aren’t just opponents, but enemies, threats to their very existence. That determination by fringe actors is often reinforced in the online spaces that prize virality and mirror emotional excess. And then, it breaks free from the world of the online, into real life, with bloody and horrific consequences.
Yes, that phenomenon crosses the political aisle. But to pretend that the phenomenon is distributed equally would be a mistake. The rising tide of violence on the left has become more and more virulent over the course of the last several years. The argument that speech is violence, to be met with violence; the argument that opposition to contention amounts to a form of “genocide” or “erasure”; the argument that political opponents are moments away from ending our republic outright. These views all trend toward revolutionary violence.
And the wave of violence, a wave already breaking on the shoreline, appears as though it is only the beginning. It has already destroyed Charlie Kirk’s family and ended his life at the age of 31.
But it feels as though a tsunami is coming. The water has already receded from the shoreline. And what comes next could be far more devastating even than what we have seen thus far.
That tsunami, if left unchecked, will wash away this entire republic.
I’ve spoken at dozens of college campuses; I’ve required heavy security at many of them. My security has instructed me to wear bulletproof vests, insisted on metal detectors, told me to leave venues they considered nonsecure. And yet I’ve never truly felt unsafe, because to do so would be to accept—even consider—the idea that an American would truly harm someone simply for speaking freely in the United States of America. I don’t believe that anymore. I’m not sure who does.
So, what can be done? It’s frequently said by those of politically liberal persuasion that thoughts and prayers aren’t enough. That action is necessary. But here is the truth: We need more thoughts and prayers. Thoughts for our political opponents: recognition that while we disagree, they are our fellow Americans; understanding that the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States can hold only if we treat each other as friends, not enemies; realization of the fact that speech is not violence, and that we must, as Americans, speak with each other. The way Charlie did.
And we need prayers: prayers for our country, which is torn apart, under attack from within and without; prayers for our own souls, that we hold ourselves accountable for the way we treat others.
Our America is a robust place of discussion and debate, of liberty and rights. But all of that must be undergirded by basic virtue. Basic decency. Respect for others. And yes, reverence for the uniqueness of an America that values speech and deplores violence.
Charlie had that reverence. And for that, he was murdered.
May his memory be a blessing—for us, and for our bleeding nation.

Untitled design (88)

Best Of 2025: Ben Shapiro On The Assassination Of Charlie Kirk And The Fight For America’s Soul

Ben Shapiro

Charlie Kirk

Political Violence

Many Americans in recent years have returned to religion in a revival that accelerated because of the work of the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, according to Dr. Ben Carson.
Carson, who served under the first Trump administration as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke about Kirk’s legacy in an interview with The Daily Wire on the floor of Turning Point’s AmericaFest conference that ended on Sunday.
An American faith revival has “really been going on for the last couple of years,” said Carson. “I think it accelerated quite a bit with what Charlie was doing.”
The Trump administration alum said that many in Generation Z are finding faith because they recognized that the direction of the country without religious values was “not one that was going to lead to good things.” Many turned to religion after asking how the United States can “be a great nation.”
“The young men in particular are really coming back to church, and the young women will catch up, too,” said Carson, noting that women growing up today are facing complicated choices between balancing a career and having children. The doctor is optimistic that expanding opportunities for virtual work will improve women’s ability to balance both.
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Carson’s think tank, the American Cornerstone Institute, has launched an initiative to aid in the work that Kirk did and to reacquaint young people with the United States’ founding and religious values: the Little Patriots program. Through the program, Carson hopes to set young Americans on a good path early in their education before “Marxists” in the education system corrupt their thinking with leftist and victimhood ideology.
“The two biggest teacher unions are full of Marxists, and so it&#8217;s a battle, but I think we have the better message, to be quite frank, and we just have to make sure that we don&#8217;t get discouraged and that we&#8217;re willing to fight as hard as they do,” he said.
As a veteran of the first Trump administration, Carson said that President Donald Trump’s second term is “incredible.”
“I think the Lord did us a favor by allowing Trump to lose – or at least to be perceived as losing – so that he wasn&#8217;t there for four years so he could really think about what happened, what were the obstacles, what were the things that really worked, so that by the time his next term came around, he was ready,” said Carson.

Ben Carson

Ben Carson Says Charlie Kirk ‘Accelerated’ An American Revival

AMFEST

Politics

Religion

The Daily Wire

Christian conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey speaks truth eloquently and graciously, yet firmly and with conviction. She takes Biblical teachings from thousands of years ago and applies them to the present day. Perhaps that&#8217;s why Stuckey hosts a podcast called &#8220;Relatable.&#8221;
The Daily Wire sat down with Stuckey ahead of her AmericaFest speech, and in less than ten minutes, she covered the major topics in the conservative movement in a way that anyone can understand, no matter how well-versed on a topic.
&#8220;I think clarity is kindness,&#8221; Stuckey said.
Stuckey is in her 30s, has an audience of 25 to 45-year-olds who tune in to her episodes, yet she still connects with Gen Z on college campuses.
“I want to do the best that I can to bring clarity to confusion and bring courage where there is cowardice,&#8221; Stuckey said.  &#8220;I care a whole lot about what the Bible says about what&#8217;s going on in the world, and I want to try to bring that to people as much as I can.&#8221;
Stuckey&#8217;s doing that with the more than 700,000 subscribers who listen to &#8220;Relatable.&#8221; It&#8217;s a decent sample size to get a pulse on how her mostly-female audience feels about the country. She told The Daily Wire that she recently asked her listeners what concerns them most and it was overwhelmingly the growing influence of Islam — a topic Stuckey said is being downplayed in the conservative movement.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I asked my 840k Instagram followers (mostly Christian women) what their biggest concern is for the country right now, and by FAR the most common answer is the growing influence of Islam. I’d like to see this concern reflected in the GOP asap
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) <a href="https://twitter.com/conservmillen/status/1982518640387019249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
“I think it&#8217;s strange and dishonest. They are the entire reason we have a TSA. None of us like to take our shoes off or take our laptops out … you can thank Islam for that. I don&#8217;t see why we would want to minimize the negative impact on our culture and our country.&#8221;
Stuckey said her audience doesn&#8217;t know what to do when it comes to the infiltration of Islam in their communities.
&#8220;Of course we are all called to love the neighbors around us, but to see your neighborhoods change and the local church that&#8217;s been abandoned changed into a mosque, or a business center turned into an Islamic center, and we are told we are not supposed to care about that? We do care, and it scares us. Islam is incompatible with Western civilization. It&#8217;s about time we start seeing that and saying that.”
Charlie Kirk also thought Islam was a threat to the United States. Stuckey and Kirk had similar views on many topics &#8212; from Islam to family values, to the role politics plays in a Christian culture. She said she misses being able to fight alongside him in the culture war.
&#8220;Charlie was an anomaly,&#8221; Stuckey said. &#8220;He was a political strategist, he was a coalition builder. That&#8217;s not me. It might take 40 of us or four million of us to replace what one man was doing. If I can carry a small torch of what was the legacy of Charlie Kirk, I&#8217;m happy to do that.&#8221;
Stuckey said she carries Kirk&#8217;s legacy by pointing people to the Bible, and reminding them that ultimate victory is through Jesus.
&#8220;We know who wins in the end: it&#8217;s Jesus, he&#8217;s coming back,&#8221; Stuckey said. &#8220;And he&#8217;s not here yet, so we have work to do.&#8221;

The Daily Wire Talks With Allie Beth Stuckey

Allie Beth Stuckey Stays Relatable While Standing Firm In Her Beliefs

Podcast

Turning Point USA President Erika Kirk brought the house down on Sunday when she introduced rapper Nicki Minaj on the stage at AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona.
Erika Kirk sat down with Minaj on the stage, saying that she wanted to honor Charlie&#8217;s tradition of always having a surprise for the AmFest crowd. She started off with Minaj reading out loud some of her &#8220;mean tweets&#8221; directed at Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to thunderous applause.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Nicki Minaj makes a surprise appearance at AmFest 2025!!
She’s speaking her mind, defending President Trump and JD Vance, she’s proud to be American, and advocating for persecuted Christians in Nigeria.
Let’s go!!
🇺🇸🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/EVEdqFK3OY">pic.twitter.com/EVEdqFK3OY</a>
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewKolvet/status/2002813169669173492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Some 24 hours earlier, the organization had teased a huge guest who would have people talking into next year, and many believed at first that President Donald Trump would be making an appearance. But when Donald Trump Jr. took a call from his father during his speech just prior to Erika&#8217;s big reveal, that appeared not to be the case.
Minaj, for her part, has been throwing her support behind a number of conservative causes — from protecting Christians from persecution worldwide to ending gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors — and has made it her particular mission to go after Governor Newsom.
&#8220;Dear Newscum, we don&#8217;t have a problem cleaning up the scum if we have to. Please tread lightly,&#8221; Minaj said her current message to &#8220;Gavvy-Pooh&#8221; would be.
When asked what her opinion of the current administration was, she said, &#8220;I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president. I don&#8217;t know if he even knows this, but he&#8217;s given so many people hope that there&#8217;s a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it with your head held high and your integrity intact.&#8221;
Minaj went on to explain that for her, the &#8220;turning point&#8221; was that she&#8217;d realized she was tired of being pushed around: &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to back down any more. I&#8217;m not going to back down ever again.&#8221;
Kirk asked why it was such an extraordinary thing to see people speaking their minds in today&#8217;s world, and Minaj&#8217;s message was clear: &#8220;People are no longer using their minds, their brains. So right now just imagine, we&#8217;re not allowed to have a different opinion anymore. We&#8217;re not allowed to think out loud anymore. This is not what the world used to feel like.&#8221;
When Kirk pressed Minaj on the backlash she was seeing from within her own industry, Minaj responded with just three words: &#8220;I didn&#8217;t notice.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MrsErikaKirk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsErikaKirk</a> &#8220;I know that you are getting a lot of backlash from your own industry. What is your reaction to that?&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NICKIMINAJ</a>: &#8220;I didn&#8217;t notice.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/7Ikn7KXkvj">pic.twitter.com/7Ikn7KXkvj</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2002813815780721013?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;You can&#8217;t wake up and think about people who are just determined to stay mad,&#8221; she said. &#8220;In a world that doesn&#8217;t want us to think, we will continue to think!&#8221;
&#8220;What inspired you to speak up about the Christians who are being slaughtered in Nigeria?&#8221; Kirk asked.
&#8220;We take for granted that — there are people in this world who cannot worship God as they please, where they please, and we take it for granted because we have it,&#8221; Minaj said, reminding the audience that there were people all over the world who had to hide while they prayed and had fellowship together.
Kirk asked Minaj to talk a bit about her faith, and she laid out a lot of her personal history — including a recent return to her spiritual roots.
&#8220;When I was a toddler in Trinidad, my grandmother, if things got spicy in the house &#8230; she would make all the little kids go in her room and say a prayer,&#8221; Minaj said, adding that she started attending church in New York when she was a bit older. &#8220;I learned how to pray very early. I always had this faith — you know the kind of faith that makes people say oh, that person is crazy, but I had that kind of faith instinctively.&#8221;
Minaj went on to say that she tried to apply things to her life, and the point was not that Christians were perfect but that they tried. &#8220;Sometimes you can be in an industry as well that pulls you away even more.&#8221;
She then said that going back to God recently had felt like going back to a long-lost best friend. &#8220;He said, &#8216;Where were you? I&#8217;ve been waiting on you.&#8217; &#8230; As soon as you call on Him, He&#8217;s going to answer. On the first ring.&#8221;
When asked how she would address issues facing little boys and little girls — particularly as a parent — she said that she had to bring race into the mix: &#8220;Why have we gotten to a point where certain colors or certain kinds of people have to be afraid of loving themselves or loving how they look &#8230; I don&#8217;t want what was done to little black girls to be done to little white girls, to any girls!&#8221;
And for the boys: &#8220;Be boys, it&#8217;s okay. There&#8217;s nothing wrong with being a boy &#8230; Boys will be boys, and there&#8217;s nothing wrong with that.&#8221;
Her conclusion: &#8220;When the Truth comes out, the lies hide.&#8221;
After she first spoke out in support of persecuted Christians in places like Nigeria, the popular rapper accepted an invitation from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, where she addressed the body and spoke about the importance of defending religious freedom wherever it may be threatened.
She has since been spotted online leaning in to some of the memes featuring Vice President JD Vance — and making it clear that she&#8217;s amused by how much fun he&#8217;s having with the liberals who are attempting to mock him.
In more recent weeks, she has taken to using her social media presence to target Newsom — who is likely to be a top tier candidate for the Democratic Party going into the 2028 presidential primary. In addition to attacking his positions on transgender issues — namely that he wants to see &#8220;more transgender kids&#8221; and will continue to allow men to have access to female-only spaces.

Nicki Minaj

Erika Kirk Brings House Down, Interviews Rapper Nicki Minaj Onstage At AmFest

Christians

&#8220;Relatable&#8221; podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey told The Daily Wire during a pre-show interview at TPUSA&#8217;s AmericaFest that Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro&#8217;s speech offered &#8220;clarity,&#8221; adding that there &#8220;isn&#8217;t a bit of cowardice&#8221; in the conservative.
&#8220;I think clarity is kindness, and clarity is a gift that you give people,&#8221; Stuckey said. &#8220;I love that with Ben, we don&#8217;t have to guess what he&#8217;s thinking, that he is going to say explicitly, exactly what he&#8217;s thinking, and there isn&#8217;t a bit of cowardice in him.&#8221;
Shapiro&#8217;s speech was well-received at AmFest. The podcast host told the large crowd to practice discernment when it comes to media consumption and defended Charlie Kirk&#8217;s widow Erika Kirk and the TPUSA team while rebuking others in the media space for failing to do the same.
Specifically, Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-at-tpusa-the-right-needs-truth-not-grifters-and-frauds?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Ben+Shapiro+At+TPUSA%3A+The+Right+Needs+Truth%2C+Not+Grifters+And+Frauds">outlined</a> “five obligations” that prominent conservative voices owe their audience in a time of an “anarchic informational environment” where the legacy media is no longer the gatekeeper. Those obligations are truth, principle, responsibility, evidence, and solutions, he said.
“We owe you the truth,” Shapiro told the AmFest crowd. “That means we should not mislead you; it means we shouldn’t hide the ball; we shouldn’t be deliberately obscure about what we are telling you.”
Stuckey also promoted the free debate of ideas, noting that it was good for hosts Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson to also be able to speak at AmFest.
&#8220;I appreciate that we, very uniquely, have a place at AmericaFest that truly allows and supports those who want to get up and say their piece, unapologetically,&#8221; Stuckey said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/conservmillen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@conservmillen</a> on Ben Shapiro&#8217;s AmericaFest speech:
&#8220;Clarity is kindness&#8230;I love that with Ben we don&#8217;t have to guess what he&#8217;s thinking&#8230;and there isn&#8217;t a bit of cowardice in him.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/YW8IBT7BTI">pic.twitter.com/YW8IBT7BTI</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2002430179826884744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
The &#8220;Relatable&#8221; host also told The Daily Wire that her fans &#8212; mostly comprised of young women and mothers &#8212; view the Islamification of the West as the greatest threat we currently face.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
&#8220;Islam is incompatible with Western Civilization, and it&#8217;s about time that we start seeing that and saying that,&#8221; she said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/conservmillen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@conservmillen</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/timerice1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@timerice1</a> that Islam is incompatible with Western Civilization:
We do care. It scares us, and Islam is incompatible with Western Civilization, and it&#8217;s about time that we start seeing that and saying that.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/3m89yskMDY">pic.twitter.com/3m89yskMDY</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2002432030613893288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
Notably, following Carlson&#8217;s AmFest speech on Thursday, Stuckey posted on X that the host was wrong about some of his remarks regarding Islam. &#8220;Tucker has spent years rightfully lambasting the elite political class for making decisions that negatively impact regular people,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Yet, because it doesn’t affect him, he’s completely dismissive of the Islamification of the American suburb, gaslighting us into being okay with the domination of a religion responsible for the lion’s share of the world’s terrorism. No.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tucker has spent years rightfully lambasting the elite political class for making decisions that negatively impact regular people. Yet, because it doesn’t affect him, he’s completely dismissive of the Islamification of the American suburb, gaslighting us into being okay with the… <a href="https://t.co/bQy9Q5ksvf">https://t.co/bQy9Q5ksvf</a>
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) <a href="https://twitter.com/conservmillen/status/2002048119127814433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-at-tpusa-the-right-needs-truth-not-grifters-and-frauds?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Ben+Shapiro+At+TPUSA%3A+The+Right+Needs+Truth%2C+Not+Grifters+And+Frauds">Ben Shapiro At TPUSA: The Right Needs Truth, Not Grifters And Frauds</a>

Allie Beth Stuckey, Ben Shapiro

Stuckey On Shapiro Speech: ‘Clarity Is A Gift That You Give People’

Stuckey On Shaprio Speech: ‘Clarity Is A Gift That You Give People’

General

Tucker Carlson

U.S.

Ben Shapiro warned Thursday night on the stage of Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest that the future of the conservative movement depends on a commitment to truth, arguing that grifters and frauds are putting both conservatism and the country at risk.
“The future of the country relies on the future of the conservative movement,” Shapiro said. “It relies on what TPUSA defines as its core mission: freedom, free markets, and limited government.”
 Shapiro argued that the right-wing hosts who have abandoned truth for conspiracies and dishonesty are undermining conservatism by offering “bile and despair.”
“These people are frauds, and they are grifters,” Shapiro said. “And they are something worse: a danger to the only movement capable of stopping the Left from wrecking the country wholesale.”
Shapiro outlined “five obligations” that prominent conservative voices owe their audience in a time of an &#8220;anarchic informational environment&#8221; where the legacy media is no longer the gatekeeper. The obligations, according to Shapiro, are truth, principle, responsibility, evidence, and solutions.
“We owe you the truth,” Shapiro said. “That means we should not mislead you; it means we shouldn’t hide the ball; we shouldn’t be deliberately obscure about what we are telling you.”
Shapiro referenced podcaster Candace Owens, accusing her of exploiting the assassination of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk to push baseless conspiracies and attack TPUSA staff, adding that those with a platform have a “moral obligation” to call her out.
“If Candace Owens decides to spend every day since the murder of Charlie Kirk casting aspersions at TPUSA and the people who work here…to spew absolutely baseless trash implicating everyone from French intelligence to Mossad to members of TPUSA in Charlie’s murder or a coverup in that murder…then we, as people with a microphone, have a moral obligation to call that out, by name.”
Shapiro said that TPUSA and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, should have never “been put in the position to have to defend themselves against such specious and evil attacks, particularly in a time of mourning.”
He added that some of the speakers who will take to the stage after him are “guilty of cowardice” for refusing to condemn the &#8220;vicious attacks.”
“The fact that Candace has been vomiting all sorts of conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years on end while others fly cover for her is just as cowardly,” Shapiro said. 
Shapiro went on to argue that personal relationships or emotional loyalty cannot excuse silence when public figures engage in wrongdoing, stressing that principle must come before friendship or coalition politics. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/daily-wire-live-america-fest-day-01?contentProgram=Daily%20Wire%20News&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">WATCH AMERICA FEST LIVE ON THE DAILY WIRE</a>
He also emphasized that commentators bear responsibility for the people they elevate and the ideas they mainstream, and the way they conduct their interviews. He cited Tucker Carlson’s platforming of Nick Fuentes. 
“If you host a Hitler apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of sh*t like Nick Fuentes – the Nick Fuentes who said that the Vice President of the United States is a ‘fat gay race traitor married to a jeet,’ the person who said that Charlie Kirk was a ‘retarded idiot’ and that he ‘took Turning Point USA and f*cked it…and that’s why it’s filled with Groypers’ – and you proceed to glaze him, you ought to own it,” Shapiro said. 
He added that Charlie Kirk “despised Fuentes” because “he knew that Fuentes is an evil troll and that building him up is an act of moral imbecility.”
Shapiro added that Carlson’s other guests include “pornographer and alleged sex trafficker Andrew Tate” and “fake historian and Nazi apologist Darryl Cooper.”
“Hosts are indeed responsible for the guests they choose and the questions they ask them,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro went on to explain that conservative hosts have an “obligation to truth” and evidence. Conservative voices must offer real solutions that improve people’s lives, he argued.
“It is our job to make the lives of our audience better-informed, and just generally better,&#8221; Shapiro said. &#8220;We have a duty to propose solutions.&#8221;
“We who speak to people on a regular basis have duties to you: the duty to speak the truth,” he said. “The duty to speak from principle, not personal feeling; the duty to take responsibility for our actions; the duty to provide you evidence — to do more than conspiracize or ‘just ask questions’; and the duty to posit real solutions.”
“If we fail in those duties, you ought not listen to us.&#8221;

Ben Shapiro At TPUSA

Ben Shapiro At TPUSA: The Right Needs Truth, Not Grifters And Frauds

TPUSA

Turning Point USA Spokesman Andrew Kolvet said he has barely had time to grieve since Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.
Kolvet appeared as the first guest on The Daily Wire’s live coverage of AmericaFest from Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday. The TPUSA spokesman said that he has been so busy since Kirk’s death that he doesn&#8217;t know if he has had time to fully grieve the loss of his friend.
&#8220;I think, in my own way, I&#8217;ve done as well as I can, but we&#8217;ve been working day-in-day-out, whether it was Charlie was assassinated and then we went straight into the memorial planning — and that was all-nighters to pull off that event in the six or seven days that we did,” Kolvet told The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan and Tim Rice.
“Then we went straight into the tour, and then it&#8217;s just been one thing after another and planning for AmFest,” said Kolvet. “You know, what has it been like? I will say it is the first time in my life where I can genuinely say I can feel the prayers of strangers.”
Kolvet also gave a preview of some of TPUSA’s plans for 2026. He said that the organization, as far as the midterm elections go, will primarily be focused on implementing the plans that Kirk had begun to put in place before his death.
“Because we have not proven in the era of Trump that we can do special elections, we can do off-year elections. My hope is that when we have a national goal, 2026 midterms, that we’ll get more of these [low propensity] voters out to the polls to do the work that needs to be done,” said Kolvet. “And that’s what Charlie would be focused on. I know it because he already put that in motion.”
The first day of the annual Turning Point USA conference is loaded with major names in media, such as The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles. Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, is scheduled to give the first speech of the conference.
Follow along with The Daily Wire&#8217;s live coverage <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/daily-wire-live-america-fest-day-01?contentProgram=Daily%20Wire%20News&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">here</a> and live blog <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-from-amfest-erika-kirk-and-ben-shapiro-set-to-kick-off-tpusas-amfest?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+FROM+AMFEST%3A+Erika+Kirk+And+Ben+Shapiro+Set+To+Kick+Off+TPUSA%E2%80%99s+AmFest">here</a>.

Andrew Kolvet

Andrew Kolvet Says He’s Been Working ‘Day-In-Day-Out’ Since Charlie’s Death To Move TPUSA Forward

Andrew Kolvet Says He's Been Working ‘Day-In-Day-Out’ Since Charlie’s Death To Move TPUSA Forward

America has a basic moral rule that used to be understood without explanation: when someone dies, especially violently, you put down the rhetorical knives.
You don’t dance on graves, and you don’t treat a coffin like a political prop.
This rule is not about pretending we agree with the dead. It is not about suspending our convictions. It’s about preserving the last thin strand of decency that keeps politics from becoming blood sport.
In 2025, America learned again what happens when that strand snaps.
When Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University on September 10, the country did not just witness a murder, we witnessed a national test. Would we respond like a serious people, or like a civilization that has forgotten the difference between a political opponent and an enemy?
We all saw what followed. Social media was filled with people eager to prove they had no soul left to guard. Some didn’t simply mourn differently. They mocked. They rationalized. They insinuated that Kirk somehow “deserved it.” One of the most grotesque examples came from longtime left-wing commentator Keith Olbermann, who wrote that someone should “burn in hell… alongside Charlie Kirk,” a post that quickly spread before being deleted.
That moment felt clarifying — and damning. For years, conservatives have argued that parts of the modern Left have normalized a kind of moral vandalism: that if you label someone “dangerous,” you can justify anything done to them. That if you call someone “literally Hitler,” the next step is always implied. The reaction to Kirk’s murder made that argument impossible to ignore.
But something else happened, too.
In the immediate aftermath, many conservatives made a conscious choice to be better. They mourned a young father and husband. They prayed for his family. They condemned the violence without qualification. They insisted that assassination can never be a political tool.
Even voices on the Left noticed the contrast. Bill Maher, hardly a conservative, criticized the ghoulish reactions from his own side and condemned those who mocked or justified the killing. He warned about what happens when tribalism makes basic humanity optional. That acknowledgment mattered, not because it redeemed anyone, but because it underscored something essential: this was no longer a Left-Right debate. It was a human one.
Then, this week, the country faced the test again.
Director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found murdered in a horrifying family tragedy, with their son arrested in connection with the killings. Reiner spent years as one of Donald Trump’s most relentless critics. Conservatives have no shortage of reasons to oppose his politics, his activism, or his rhetoric. But this was not a policy dispute. It was a tragedy.
And once again, conservatives initially rose to the moment.
Prominent right-of-center voices expressed sympathy and restraint. Ben Shapiro wrote that, regardless of political differences, “The murder of Rob Reiner and his wife is horrific, and their family deserves prayers and privacy.” Speaker Mike Johnson called it “a heartbreaking loss” and urged Americans to “lower the temperature and remember our shared humanity.” Even figures known for sharp rhetoric paused, recognizing that death demands humility, not point-scoring.
In that moment, conservatives were proving something — to the country and to ourselves. We were showing that our condemnation of the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk was not merely tribal outrage. We were passing our own test.
And then Donald Trump logged on.
Trump took to <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115724141568860081">Truth Social</a> to frame Rob Reiner’s murder through the lens of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” writing that Reiner “spent his life consumed by hatred” and implying that his death was somehow a reflection of that obsession.
It was not restraint. It was not leadership. It was mockery dressed up as commentary — and it detonated the moral high ground conservatives had just earned.
This is why the Reiner tragedy is not just another cycle of outrage. It’s a verdict.
Conservatives can argue, correctly, that the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s assassination exposed something deeply broken. But if we insist we are better, we have to prove it when it costs us something — when the deceased is someone we disagree with, someone who attacked our side, someone who spent years calling our leaders names.
This is the leadership test. And Trump failed it.
Some will dismiss this as overblown. It was just a post, they’ll say. Just Trump being Trump. Just rhetoric. But that defense collapses under scrutiny. Rhetoric is not incidental to leadership; it is central to it. Leaders do not merely reflect the temperature, they set it. When the most powerful voice on the Right treats murder as an opportunity for mockery, he licenses the very sickness conservatives claim to oppose.
The Right cannot be a movement that condemns grave-dancing only when the dead wear our jersey. We cannot demand dignity for our slain and deny it to others. That is not strength, it is tribal weakness. It is not principle, it is reflex.
After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, conservatives promised the country we would not become what we despise. In the immediate aftermath of the Reiner murders, many conservatives honored that promise. Our most influential leader did not.
There is still time to recover what has been lost, but it will require making some adult decisions:
That we will treat death with dignity, not like content.
That we will make room for grief even when we disagree.
That we will reserve our sharpest words for arguments, not funerals.
And that we will demand more from our leaders because if they cannot pass the decency test when blood is on the ground, they become unfit to lecture the country about moral decline.
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Premiere of “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” – Arrivals

When Death Comes, Rhetoric Matters

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Death

Donald Trump

Murder

Rob Reiner

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U.S. Politics

Actress Jenny McCarthy says the shock of Charlie Kirk’s assassination jolted her into a deeper search for faith, ultimately leading her to embrace Christianity in a way she never had before.
During a recent episode of Culture Apothecary with Turning Point USA podcast host Alex Clark, McCarthy discussed how Kirk’s tragic murder brought her closer to God and made her evaluate her relationship with Jesus. The former Playboy model said God used the horrible event for good, in her case.
“I was so broken…when he was shot, I prayed and prayed and prayed, and then I was calling every doctor I possibly could, saying, ‘Tell me that this wound is something that could be healed…’ It was such a dark day… With every horrible thing, if you find the good, it can help you move forward. Look at the mass awakening. Look at how many people came closer to God, even including myself,” McCarthy told Clark.
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The reality show judge said she was raised Catholic, but added that Kirk’s assassination served as a pivotal moment in her spiritual journey.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Jenny McCarthy On Being Jesus First, Pro-Parents’ Rights, and Conservative" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uX6qigcqi7A?start=3941&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“I have a very deep relationship with God. You know, some people have to work really hard to hear Him. I’ve got a direct line. I mean, Jesus is my homie. I’ve always been a follower of Christ, but when [Charlie Kirk] passed, I completely surrendered. I am so devoted. I started Bible study immediately… [husband Donnie Wahlberg and I] just have become devout since Charlie’s passing.”
The actress went on to say that Kirk’s memorial felt like a “mass awakening.” She said, “I feel like Charlie knew exactly what he was doing. And I know he knew the sacrifice he was making.”
“He changed the world. He saved the world. I mean, imagine having that as your legacy… You brought all those people closer to Christ,” McCarthy added. “What a gift.”

Jenny McCarthy

Jenny McCarthy Says Charlie Kirk Helped Deepen Her Christian Faith

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Turning Point USA

Erika Kirk is set to meet in person with podcast host Candace Owens on Monday, when Turning Point USA was set to hold a livestream to address conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk&#8217;s assassination that have been pushed by Owens.
&#8220;Candace Owens and I are meeting for a private, in-person discussion,&#8221; Kirk posted on Sunday, adding that plans for the livestream would be put on hold. &#8220;[Owens] and I have agreed that public discussions, livestreams and tweets are on hold until after this meeting. I look forward to a productive conversation. Thank you.&#8221;
The shocking announcement came Sunday night after Kirk publicly asked Owens to stop spreading rumors surrounding her husband&#8217;s death. Owens quickly reposted the announcement, saying she was &#8220;looking forward&#8221; to it.
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Candace Owens and I are meeting for a private, in-person discussion on Monday, December 15. <a href="https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealCandaceO</a> and I have agreed that public discussions, livestreams, and tweets are on hold until after this meeting. I look forward to a productive conversation. Thank you.
— Erika Kirk (@MrsErikaKirk) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsErikaKirk/status/2000370698729201994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
&#8220;I am very much looking forward to this discussion,&#8221; Owens added.
Owens has used her podcast for the last three months to analyze Kirk&#8217;s murder, pushing bizarre theories and suggesting that TPUSA was covering up the truth. Owens has questioned the FBI&#8217;s handling of the investigation, and suggested that foreign agencies from countries, including Israel and France, were involved. She has recently put the focus on TPUSA itself, which is now under the leadership of Erika Kirk.
Erika Kirk, in recent days, has pushed back on the claims.
&#8220;When you go after my family, my Turning Point USA family, my Charlie Kirk Show family, when you go after the people that I love, and you&#8217;re making hundreds and thousands of dollars every single episode going after the people that I love because somehow they&#8217;re in on this, no,&#8221; she told Fox News Wednesday.
Owens took that interview and used it to criticize Erika Kirk more.
“Don’t try to, like, ‘mom’ the organization and say, ‘Well, mother’s upset because people are coming after her kids and all of the multimillion-dollar subsidiaries.'&#8221;
In a town hall with CBS News on Saturday, Kirk said she is worried the conspiracy theories are going to taint the jury pool for the trial of her husband&#8217;s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, who is charged with aggravated murder and faces the death penalty.
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss asked Kirk directly what she wanted from Owens.
“Stop. That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Stop.”
Owens originally told members of TPUSA she was unavailable to meet in person on Monday, December 15 — she was invited by <a href="https://x.com/BlakeSNeff/status/1996710332992311611?s=20">TPUSA</a> to participate in the livestream to address her accusations of the organization. Owens offered to connect with members of TPUSA virtually, but Blake Neff, the producer of The Charlie Kirk Show, said TPUSA would be proceeding without Owens.
Owens&#8217; schedule appears to have cleared. There&#8217;s no word yet on when the details of this private meeting will be made public.

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Erika Kirk To Meet With Candace Owens After Demanding Conspiracy Theories Stop

Conspiracy Theory

During a CBS town hall event, Erika Kirk jumped at the chance to dispel conspiracies surrounding her late husband&#8217;s murder, especially claims about Egyptian planes tracking her.
Erika, widow of assassinated conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, has personally been the subject a number of unproven theories since the murder of her husband, including that she was being tracked by Egyptian planes, that she&#8217;s an agent of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, that the rings on her hands signify some secret plot, and many others, CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said during the event.
“Egyptian planes,” Erika quickly underscored, with a smile on her face. “You wanna talk about the Egyptian planes? Okay, I was pregnant for 90% of those trips. Mind you, I&#8217;ve never been to all those places they said I&#8217;ve traveled … I mean, I&#8217;ve been, but not within those dates —”
Weiss interrupted to ask if Erika needed to even address the conspiracy.
“I do on that one, only because — from a humor standpoint,” Erika said. “I intentionally, when I was pregnant, hid. Not because I was embarrassed … yes, we did keep it very private, but it&#8217;s because it was a moment [where] I was growing a human inside of me, my baby. The world that Charlie and I live in is very toxic at times, and when you are growing a beautiful child in you &#8212; I don&#8217;t wanna be around it.”
“I wanna enjoy eating my In-N-Out burger and my hot fudge sundae,” Kirk said. “That’s what I wanna do. I&#8217;m pregnant, and I have nine months to own it. You really think I&#8217;m gonna be on an Egyptian plane while I&#8217;m wanting to be with my In-N-Out Burger and my chocolate milkshake? No, I’m not.”
“So if you want to go through my flight log, go right ahead, it&#8217;s very boring,” she continued. “You say I was here on this date — I have a photo on my phone to prove that I actually was in the hospital because I was having contractions. So, game on.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Conspiracy theorists have said Kirk&#8217;s alleged murderer was actually a MAGA Republican. That Erika Kirk is a Mossad agent. That even the rings on her fingers signify a secret plot. What does Erika make of these wild claims?
&#8220;Everyone always has to think there&#8217;s more to the… <a href="https://t.co/aee7NGoEHF">pic.twitter.com/aee7NGoEHF</a>
— CBS News (@CBSNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/2000019435470377078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
Erika also made clear that she believes Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old who has been charged in Charlie&#8217;s assassination, is the man who killed her husband.
&#8220;Everyone always has to think there&#8217;s more to the story,&#8221; Erika said, explaining why some people might want to believe conspiracies exonerating Robinson. &#8220;Well, sometimes there&#8217;s not. I&#8217;ve seen the autopsy report. I&#8217;ve seen our case pulled together.&#8221;
&#8220;This is the first time that we have seen evil on display where we have social media at our fingertips,&#8221; Erika added. &#8220;Something so evil that happened, people are wanting answers immediately. They are wanting to figure out how to wrap their mind around this.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tell-that-to-my-3-year-old-a-fiery-erika-kirk-responds-to-justification-of-charlies-murder?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=‘Tell+That+To+My+3-Year-Old’%3A+A+Fiery+Erika+Kirk+Responds+To+Justification+Of+Charlie’s+Murder">‘Tell That To My 3-Year-Old’: A Fiery Erika Kirk Responds To Justification Of Charlie’s Murder</a>

Erik Kirk Discusses Her Late Husband Charlie Kirk’s New Book On “Hannity”

Erika Kirk Jumps At Chance To Respond To ‘Egyptian Plane’ Conspiracy

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An emotional Erika Kirk said during a CBS town hall event that those justifying her husband’s assassination need saving from God.
“You&#8217;re sick. He&#8217;s a human being. You think he deserved that? Tell that to my three-year-old daughter,” Erika told CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Weiss asked Erika, a mother of two young children, what she has to say about people justifying her late husband Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a conservative powerhouse, was assassinated on a college campus in September while engaging in political debate with people he disagreed with — a common practice for the 31-year-old. Media figures and others on the Left have callously reasoned that Kirk had it coming because he believed and said things they disagreed with.
“You wanna watch, in high res, the video of my husband being murdered and laugh? And say he deserves it? There’s something very sick in your soul and I pray that God saves you,&#8221; the young widow told Weiss. &#8220;I pray.”
“The internet in this world has dehumanized us,” Erika added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Addressing the people justifying Charlie Kirk&#8217;s murder on the basis of his beliefs, Erika Kirk said: &#8220;You&#8217;re sick. He&#8217;s a human being. You think he deserved that? Tell that to my 3-year-old daughter.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/MrsErikaKirk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsErikaKirk</a> sat down with <a href="https://twitter.com/bariweiss?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bariweiss</a> for a CBS News Town Hall, just days… <a href="https://t.co/8P31w4JQQR">pic.twitter.com/8P31w4JQQR</a>
— CBS News (@CBSNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1998875782395936983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
Erika also revealed during the event, which aired Saturday night, that it took her three months to get the strength to even walk into her and Kirk&#8217;s bedroom after his assassination.
She recalled lying in her daughter&#8217;s bed after the murder and writing her thoughts out. Those words, she said, were later the basis for her fiery address to the nation just days after Kirk&#8217;s assassination.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
For months after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Erika Kirk says she couldn’t even walk into her bedroom. Instead, she tells CBS News that she slept in her daughter’s bed. And it was lying there, unable to sleep, where she wrote the words she’d later deliver live on YouTube:
“You… <a href="https://t.co/Uz4ypGeILd">pic.twitter.com/Uz4ypGeILd</a>
— CBS News (@CBSNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/2000012640597205472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/erika-kirk-rebukes-the-mind-virus-conspiracy-theories-about-her-and-turning-point-usa">Erika Kirk Rebukes The ‘Mind Virus’ Conspiracy Theories About Her And Turning Point USA</a>

CBS News Town Hall With Erika Kirk

‘Tell That To My 3-Year-Old’: A Fiery Erika Kirk Responds To Justification Of Charlie’s Murder

Bari Weiss

CBS News

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