Remembering Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk, an American icon who engaged with college students in civil discourse on campuses across America was assassinated in front of his young children two weeks ago on September 10th, 2025.
I haven’t felt so empty, so heartbroken, so angry, since the morning of 9/11. I picked up Nate from school and told him what had happened. Nate knew who Charlie was and had watched a handful of his videos.
News had just broke that Charlie was in critical condition at the hospital when Nate came out to the living room to show me the close up video he had found of the assassination I watched it and my heart sank. I knew in that instant Charlie was dead. Nate and I both knew that injury was not survivable. Within the next 15 minutes or so, President Trump announced on Truth Social that Charlie had died.
If you’re listening to this podcast and you have not seen he close up video of the assassination, please do yourself a favor - don’t. Just like the images of those airplanes striking the world trade center 24 years ago, the video of Charlie dying will be burned in my memory forever. It’s not an image you can ever clear from your brain and it will do things to you. Truly I tell you, human beings were not meant to see such horrors in 4K detail. These are images our soldiers see in war. So I say again, if you have not seen it, let it go. Do not go seeking it out.
WHERE ARE WE AS AMERICANS
Charlie Kirk is dead. He was summarily executed in front of his children and in front of the world because he dared to engage college students in civil discourse and to share his faith. Two concepts that are at the very foundation of our republic.
If you disagree with his views, that’s fine. God knows I don’t even agree with all of his positions.
Many on X have called Charlie the civil rights icon of the 21st century. Maybe. Maybe not. That’s a debate for another day in some comment section somewhere. What is undeniable is that Charlie Kirk was the voice of countless young people in GenZ. As a GenX father raising a young GenZ son I can tell you that my son absolutely knew who Charlie Kirk was and his classmates and friends did as well. Some agreed with him. Some disagreed with him. But those that listened to him - and I don’t mean in out-of-context sound bites - but actually listened to him came away with something valuable - a growing ability to think critically. Of those who would disagree with him at events many came ill-prepared with indefensible positions. Young people watching would realize if they were going to go toe-to-toe with Charlie, they would need well thought out ideas and position and not just emotional reactions.
Charlie Kirk’s assassination was the biggest political assassination since Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were cut down in 1968.
His assassination was so deep that multitudes of Americans took to social media relaying that they hadn’t felt this way since 9/11 happened.
Where does this leave us as Americans? The voice of a generation was brutally assassinated and I would love to tell you that Americans set aside their differences and came together the way we did on 9/12/2001.
I would love to tell you that everyone has softened their hearts.
I would love to tell you that Americans took a deep breath and let it out nice and slow to calm themselves.
But no. That was not going to happen.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar wasted no time in attacking Charlie Kirk and went to CNN to say this about the Charlie. (SOT 1
The resolution she spoke of was presented on the floor of the US House of Representatives. The resolution honored Charlie Kirk and condemned his assassination. It passed with 58 Democrats voting NO, 38 gave a neutral “present” vote and 22 did not vote. 95 Democrats in total voted in support of the resolution and I’m grateful for those 95 doing the right thing.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke on the House floor in objection to the resolution. (SOT 2)
Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Elliot Forhan, the Democratic candidate for Ohio Attorney General, posted, “F*ck Charlie Kirk,” adding, “Charlie Kirk was a champion of tyranny, not democracy.”
So this is it? This is where we are as Americans? At a place where Congress can’t even set aside differences for a single vote condemning this heinous act. At a place where Democrats across social media are not only refusing to condemn this assassination but are actively cheering it.
Is this where we’re at as Americans?
It could be. If that’s what you choose to listen to. If that is the poison you put in your brain then yes, that’s where we are as Americans.
Or you can put these powerful words from Charlie’s wife, Erika Kirk in your ears. (SOT 3)
The strength of Erika Kirk is an example for us all. You can see the courage it took to let those words cross her lips. In forgiving her husband’s assassin, she laid out a challenge to all of us.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean we ignore violence that has been carried out against us, nor does it mean we must tolerate continued violence.
Forgiveness is about releasing our own pain and resentment so that we can move forward.
While DAs across America continue to release violent criminals onto our streets to continue to terrorize us, while we are continually called Nazis and fascists, and while the media and Democratic Party continues to say we are an existential threat to America - something is happening in America.
Anyone who watched Charlie Kirk’s memorial knows exactly what I’m talking about. Speaker after speaker at his funeral, from Charlie’s friends, to members of the cabinet, to the Vice President and President of the United States - all of them, in front of tens of millions of people and to be enshrined forever on the internet, stood in front of the world and proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They did so without shame, without hiding and with deep conviction.
A Renewal of Faith
Over the last two weeks since Charlie was killed there has been an unbelievable groundswell of Americans returning to Christ and many even opening a bible or attending church for the first time in their lives.
People from every walk of life. Straight, Gay, black, white, all races and backgrounds of Americans, have been stopped in their tracks and begun to take steps toward discovery or rediscovery of the Gospel.
For me personally, this tragedy has caused me to renew a faith that has been absent from my life for two decades. I’ve never shared publicly the story of my falling out with the church 20 years ago. Perhaps one day I will.
For now I can tell you that my heart has been called to return and to proclaim the good news of the Gospel. My son even asked about getting a bible, which we did, so that he can start to read and learn.
Our Turning Point
Charlie Kirk named his company Turning Point USA. Oh, how thrilled he would be to see that this is indeed our turning point. We may be accustomed to looking towards Capitol Hill for the answers. I promise you, if you look to our government you will only find more division, more intolerance and more hate.
This battle for the soul of America doesn’t take place in the halls of Congress. The soul of this great nation will be won and lost in the halls of your child’s school, on the streets of our neighborhoods and around the kitchen tables of our own homes.
Winning the soul of America starts with recommitting ourselves to each other and in the process to building strong families. That means to get married, have children, build legacy, pass down your values, pursue the eternal and seek true joy. Those were words Charlie Kirk lived by. As Americans we should not be ashamed of those values. Western civilization was built on strong families.
Being a father isn’t easy. Being a mother is hard work. Restoring American values is going to take all of us and we’ve got to want it bad. We must pledge to restore America, and to borrow from the Founders, should do so with firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, and mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
This is America’s turning point. Here I am Lord, send me.