[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
I can’t remember the exact time and place when I first met Charlie Kirk. He was a teenager trying to find his way. He was raw but had all the energy and a maturity well beyond his years. You just knew he was going places. There will be a lot written about Charlie in the coming days, so I just want to reflect on a few personal observations and mention his relationship with my boss and home for 20 plus years, that being David Horowitz and the Freedom Center.
Both being from Chicago, when we first would see each other in those early years, in the midst of the Chicago Blackhawk hockey team’s mini dynasty of the 2010’s, we would discuss hockey and that great team much more than politics. Charlie could speak in any environment on just about any topic. He certainly had the drive and smarts but was also engaging and charming. He had that “it” factor that would become so evident in his rise as a great leader in our movement.
We would see each other at Heartland Institute events in Chicago, he would come in a bit bedraggled, not as a speaker or the star he would become, but just a young conservative, looking for his place in the movement. It didn’t take him long.
He was barely 20 years old when David Horowitz invited him to speak at Restoration Weekend. David saw something that anyone who met Charlie could see. He was a rising star that had it all, you could sense the incredible potential in him immediately. But it wasn’t that, we all saw that. It was David that gave him a platform and introduced him to the movement, to eventual supporters, that would help give Charlie that initial and critically needed boost to start his coming empire. But an entry is one thing, the rest was all Charlie, once he was given that entry, it was his drive, his intelligence and incredible charisma that allowed him to take off.
His rise was meteoric, truly astonishing. It is hard to believe he was only 31, and saying his death is a tragedy just doesn’t begin describing it. It seems like he had been one of our Generals in this battle to save America for such a long time. He didn’t just ride the MAGA Trump wave, he was one of the critical drivers of it.
And at a time when our campuses and universities are floundering in radical chic, anti-American hate and Leftist indoctrination, he gave conservative students a place to feel at home, to not feel alone on an island. He built a campus movement that swept the nation.
How to recover from this loss. There is no replacing Charlie Kirk, there aren’t any other Charlie’s ready to fill this huge void. It is probably politically incorrect to refer to historical reference that mentions the Confederacy, but is most apt. When General Robert E. Lee heard of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson being wounded in the arm that would shortly after lead to his death, Lee remarked, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.”
Charlie, of course, had become very close to President Trump, he was one of Trump’s most important Generals in this battle to save America. The President and America have lost their right arm. May we pray that we recover and may the great work that Charlie has done in over a decade bring forth new leaders that can help us in our quest for victory. Rest in peace Charlie, we will all miss you.