(See also an earlier essay I wrote titled, “I do not trust Charlie Kirk’s ‘replacement’ and neither should you”.)

Last week, I was unfortunately made aware of a young grifter in the conservative movement who was, by all intents and purposes, attempting to fashion himself into the new Charlie Kirk.

The first red flag? Brilyn Hollyhand refers to himself as “The Internet’s Youngest Voice of Reason”, per The Independent. Honorary titles of widespread representation are given by others once they’re earned—they are not self-created identities. Walter Cronkite didn’t devise his “most trusted man in America” name, and nor did James Gregory arrogantly determine that he really was “America’s funniest man”—those descriptors were monikers created by genuine admirers.

Also worth repeating: Until days ago, Brilyn had more than 200k followers on X with essentially zero engagement. What else can that mean except fake, and purchased followers.

Conclusive? No. Circumstantial? Yes.

With about as much conviction as a whore and the personality of a wet blanket, Hollyhand claims that he’s not trying to hitch a ride on Kirk’s coattails—but his Substack page would indicate otherwise. Hollyhand’s most recent essay, written just eight days after Kirk died (was his body even cold yet?), announced he was “partners” with Turning Point, and would be going on a campus speaking tour, to “build on Kirk[’s] legacy.” While Hollyhand called himself a “partner” of TPUSA, the organization’s executives explicitly dissented. Lie #1.

(He also has additional posts from September 17th and 11th, both emphasizing Hollyhand’s presence in Kirk’s former orbit.)

Now, on the homepage of his Substack, Hollyhand includes a link that says, “Book Me to Come Speak!” If you click on that, you’re taken to Hollyhand’s biography page at Premiere Speakers Bureau. And, this is where a new development in the Hollyhand scam comes into play, brought to my attention by a reader and frequent contributor. Here’s the story, from a report at The Daily Beast:

[T]he Daily Mail on Thursday caught his [Hollyhand’s] agent asking for thousands of dollars plus expenses to speak at a fake college event.

The outlet posed as a college student trying to book Hollyhand and emailed Premiere Speakers Bureau, which connects speakers and organizations.

A representative for the agency wrote back, ‘Brilyn’s fee is $7,500 plus coach class airfare and expenses for (2) two. Is this within budget?’

From that Daily Mail article, we learn this:

When reached for comment, Hollyhand denied ever receiving a payment for speaking on a college campus and claimed he pays for his own travel costs.

Lie #2?

There isn’t a single part of me that can relate to what Thomas Sowell rightly calls the gospel of envy, and I think good ideas and hard work should absolutely be rewarded with financial gain. And, while I staunchly oppose government dictating terms of wealth for a citizenry, I do believe that morally and personally, there should be considerations. For example, I don’t think Christian pastors should accept large sums of money for sharing the word of God—Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen, I’m talking to you—and I don’t think people should accept large sums of money for being leaders of the patriot/conservative movement. When those 56 men signed the Declaration, they pledged their lives, their fortune, and their sacred honor. They did not seek to take and self-promote. That should be the example.

Few things upset me like establishment (pseudo)elites exploiting our true and heartfelt devotion to America and her values, using those passions as a chance to squeeze out whatever dollars they can get. And even worse, Hollyhand comes from a massive fortune that his family didn’t morally acquire: it was built because his family figured out how to secure taxpayer-dollar-grants to build Section 8 housing in towns all across Alabama, mine included. I specifically moved to a nice town in northern Alabama to (in part) find refuge from low-income mentality people, but thanks to the Hollyhand corporation, they’ve been delivered to my doorstep. We conservatives reject the idea that we are taxed to death, only to have our money used against us, but Brilyn, a self-described young conservative “voice of reason,” is happy to participate in the scheme, because he’s benefitting. (We can’t all live in multi-million-dollar Tuscaloosa mansions with gates and security and no riff-raff neighbors.)

Deception, deceit, misdirection, or just plain lies, Brilyn isn’t an honest and straightforward person, and he deserves to be run off like the charlatan he is.

Image from Grok.