"Prove Me Wrong" - The Legacy of Charlie Kirk

In the aftermath of the shooting of Charlie Kirk we've endured not only the onslaught of his martyrdom and as close to sainthood as a non-Catholic base is willing to come, but also the moral complexity of understanding that empathy and grief don't always separate themselves from dark and harmful values with which we don't align our politics, faith, nor our daily lives. We grappled with an emotional response to his murder, mixed feelings, and wondered how to proceed in light of the sudden growth of his mega-non-profit, Turning Point USA. We recoiled from those who celebrated his death. But we recoiled nearly as much from those who forgot what he stood for, obscured by the shock of uncensored murder on national TV.

Nothing Kirk said made his death any less shocking, any less gruesome, and any less worthy of grief for his family, friends, and supporters. Nothing Charlie said should condone political violence of any form. But other people had been grieving longer. And other people have endured political violence, without all the pomp and circumstance of a conservative pundit in the midst of a red tsunami.

Rep. Melissa Hortman and her dog Gilbert - Helping Paws

I think of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, gunned down three months ago in their home by Vance Luther Boelter, a prepper who targeted Democratic lawmakers or anyone he thought pushed the pro-choice agenda. When asked by a reporter why he didn’t lower the White House flags to half-staff for the Hortmans, Trump replied, “I’m not familiar. The who?”

Getty Images

A note: Turning Point U.S.A., while a non-profit, has made nearly half-a-billion dollars in the last 13 years, not including donations after Kirk's death.

But despite the emotional connection people might feel they have with Charlie Kirk, there are aftershocks to nearly everything he said and the platform on which he stood, which harmed significant groups of people. And while grief is important and necessary, and something for which I, myself, can give space, I do so with the indispensable recognition of the bullhorn his message has been handed, along with the millions of dollars and entire presidential administration to back it.

So I'll break it down into talking points--his, actually--to see what he wanted, and what he got, and who have been bulldozed as a result of views like his.

RACIAL IDEOLOGY

• "If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified."

• "If you’re a WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian, do you get treated better than a United States marine?"

• "Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more."

• "If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?"

In his first week in office Donald Trump signed executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, which were designed to advance equal opportunity for people of color. He also threatened federal contractors if they didn't comply.

The Independent Florida Alligator

ABORTION

• "In fact, [abortion] is worse. It's worse [than the Holocaust]."

• Reporter: "So if you had a daughter and she was 10 and she got raped, and she was going to give birth, would you want her to go through that and carry her baby?"

• Kirk: "I do have a daughter. The answer is yes, the baby would be delivered."

Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022. As a result, infant mortality rates increased, especially in states with abortion bans, and especially in Black communities, which increased nearly 11% compared to white babies. Maternal mortality has also increased, and women in states that banned abortion are 2x more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after giving birth.

THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY

• Reporter: "Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?"

• Kirk: "Too many."

• "Transgenderism is a mental illness, plain and simple. It's a rejection of biological reality, rooted in psychological distress. Affirming it is like enabling schizophrenia."

• "We don't let people identify as cats or trees, so why this? It's a public health crisis, and we need to treat it, not celebrate it."

• "We need to protect kids from this delusion."

Since taking office, President Trump has signed executive orders to defund gender-affirming care (GAC) for minors, including restricting insurance coverage. Currently 27 states have enacted laws/policies limiting youth access to GAC, 24 of which impose legal penalties on healthcare practitioners who provide GAC to minor patients. Trump also banned transgender persons from joining or serving in the military, and the State Department no longer allows anything other than sex assigned at birth on passports.

IMMIGRATION

• "America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that."

• "The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different."

I don't need to tell you the hell that is immigration enforcement, pulling children (again) from their parents' arms, detaining legal residents and even U.S. citizens and imprisoning them in places like Alligator Alcatraz, or flying them out of the country with no way to contact family or legal representation. Meanwhile, 1000 detainees are missing.

THE 2ND AMENDMENT

• "Gun control, like vaccines and masks, is focused on making people feel 'safe' by taking freedoms away from others. Don't fall for it."

• "I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational."

There have been 47 school shootings (as of 9/10) in the U.S. this year, 23 of which took place on K-12 campuses, leaving 19 people dead and 77 wounded. There have been 371 mass shootings (1.4/day), leaving 417 dead and 1545 wounded. And in the United States 70 women, on average, are shot and killed by their intimate partner every month.

Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by a gunman on September 10, 2025.

Reuters

Kirk stood for other things, including criticizing the COVID-19 public health response and vaccines, saying that "Democratic women want to die alone without children," claiming that George Floyd died of an overdose, even citing the Bible to bolster his anti-gay views.

"'Thou shall lay with another man, shall be stoned to death.' Just saying...the chapter...affirms God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matter."

He railed against feminism, telling Taylor Swift, "Submit to your husband, Taylor. You're not in charge." He claimed there is no such thing as the separation of church and state, and that "Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America." He liked crypto, hated academic institutions, calling them "islands of totalitarianism," and rejected climate change as "complete gibberish, nonsense, and balderdash." He dabbled in antisemitism. He championed free speech, while opposing pro-Palestinian speech. He was a vocal advocate for the full release of the Epstein files.

The Associated Press

And now Charlie Kirk is dead, but as with any martyr, lives on, bigger, better, louder, more funded. His wife Erika was appointed CEO of Turning Point USA, and 200,000 people attended his funeral, including Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Kyle Rittenhouse, Riley Gaines, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and most conservative cabinet members, elected officials, and media personalities, including Laura Loomer, who had recently called Kirk a "charlatan" and "political opportunist."

So now we move on, ducking and weaving the next downward slide into fasciocracy™. Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air. But we've yet to see those fat files hidden behind empty binders and useless proffer agreements. We still can't find 1000 undocumented immigrants. But then again, why should we? We're still missing thousands of undocumented kids from the first Trump Administration, and somehow that all went away.

I don't really know how to finish this one, folks. I'm generally pretty glass-half-full, but sometimes I have to push a little harder to see it for myself. So I'll leave you with this.

Stay true to yourself.

In the words of Michelle Obama, "When they go low, you go high." Don't believe what they say about you. Don't prove them right. Keep fighting even when you're tired. But get your sleep, eat, meditate, pray, do you, then get up and do it again. We are capable, and strong, and powerful as a community, and we will win this fight. Carry on, keep breathing, and keep reading.

Love ya.

Ellie is an author, editor, and owner of Red Pencil Transcripts, and works with filmmakers, podcasts, and journalists all over the world. She lives with her family just outside of New York City.