I didn’t realize how good I had it when I was a conservative undergraduate student in the 1980s. Although liberals dominated my campus, the professors generally tolerated the free exchange of ideas. I helped co-found a College Republican club at my undergraduate school, Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, without worrying that this would harm my academic standing. I also learned to avoid the few far-left professors who abused their classes to indoctrinate students in socialist and anti-American ideologies.
I was a political science major at St. Joe’s. Fortunately, most of the political science professors were either conservatives or classic liberals who admired U.S. politicians like John F. Kennedy, Scoop Jackson, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. They loved their country and encouraged open debate in their classes. I was gratified in the early 1980s when the St. Joe’s Political Science Department fired a new professor who was using his international relations classes to teach Marxism and penalize conservative students.
Sadly, things changed for the worse in the decades following my graduation. Conservative and classic liberal political science professors retired and were replaced by far-left radicals who implemented classes in globalization, anti-capitalism, “anti-fascism,” anti-Israel and antisemitic ideologies, radical societal change, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), gender politics, and intersectionality. This far-left ideology spread across every college discipline, even the sciences.
Colleges and universities became radical left and extremely hostile to conservatives. Conservative students could not risk revealing their political views on campus because they feared this would hurt their grades and lead to harassment from fellow students.
Charlie Kirk believed this was unacceptable. This is why, in 2012, at the age of 18, he co-founded Turning Point USA to counter liberal politics and intolerance in U.S. high schools and colleges. Turning Point became a powerful national grassroots movement dedicated to identifying, organizing, and empowering young people to promote the principles of America First, free markets, and limited government.
A man of deep Christian faith, Kirk also used his movement to promote traditional Judeo-Christian values and empower Christians to put their faith into action.
Glen Beck has called Turning Point USA “the largest, most impressive, and fastest youth movement in the country.” In 2024, it had a presence on 3,500 high school and college campuses with more than 250,000 student members. The organization received over $84 million in contributions for the fiscal year ending June 2024.
Kirk promoted conservative values and free speech on college campuses through nationwide college tours and his “prove me wrong” engagements, where he invited students to debate him on any topic. Kirk often moved dissenting progressive and left-leaning students to the front rows of his speeches so he could engage them directly.
Using his massive grassroots movement and mastery of social media and podcasts, Kirk became an influential conservative political leader and kingmaker. His movement helped recruit and organize young conservative voters and activists who supported America First policies, limited government, and traditional values. He became a prominent leader of the MAGA movement and struck close friendships with Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., JD Vance, and many other MAGA leaders. Kirk spoke at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Republican conventions and helped develop the America First philosophy that guided Trump’s domestic and foreign policies. In 2020, Kirk authored the best-selling book, “The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win the Future,” which outlined the principles of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
President Trump gave Kirk credit for an influx of young voters who helped him win the 2024 presidential election. Kirk’s $100 million “Chase the Vote” campaign and “You’re Being Brainwashed” tour across 25 college campuses significantly increased Trump’s support from younger voters, narrowing his deficit with 18-29-year-olds to 11 points in 2024 compared to 24 points in 2020.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a gross assault on the American tradition of tolerance and free speech. This horrific act of violence is a result of years of escalating rhetoric by the Left against those who champion conservative values. Violence has now replaced debate, and those who dare to stand up for their beliefs are under direct attack.
It also reflects the dangerous effort on college campuses and in our society at large by the Left and the mainstream media to undermine our democracy by imposing far-left policies on our country that most Americans do not support, while censoring and demonizing conservatives who oppose this effort.
The constant talk by Democratic members of Congress and CNN and MSNBC talking heads demonizing President Trump, such as their constant smearing of him as a dictator and a fascist, is fueling divisions and violence in our country. This has been made much worse by the toleration and tepid responses by Democrat politicians and the liberal media to the violence this hateful rhetoric has spawned.
We have already seen more of this in the aftermath of the Kirk assassination as the liberal media and the Left engaged in vicious vitriol and “whataboutism” and made sickening claims that blamed Kirk’s conservative views and President Trump for his assassination.
The battle to promote peaceful debate and the free exchange of ideas on college campuses and throughout our country has a long way to go. Although there have been some wins to depoliticize college campuses this year in response to the Trump administration’s policies, these reforms are mostly minor and fragile. Much more needs to be done to implement permanent change that brings true diversity of thought and tolerance to American colleges and universities, and results in the firing of vast numbers of radical, anti-American professors who are trying to wait out this administration.
Because of an evil assassin who took his life, Charlie Kirk left us far too soon. He was the future of conservative activism and would have been a leading candidate for president. However, I sincerely believe that his martyrdom while doing what he believed in—debating ideas with people who disagreed with him—will inspire many young Americans to follow in his footsteps as new Charlie Kirks to restore American freedom and traditional values.
Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk, a man of deep faith and a great father, husband, and patriot.
Fred Fleitz previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, a CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.