# Charlie Kirk is Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 11, 2025, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935 "2025-09-11T07:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/1 "2025-09-11T07:35:08Z")
Charles Kirk was an American right-wing political activist, author, and media personality. He was shot and killed on Sep 10, 2025. He was 31 years old and had 2 kids. I only knew him some from debates online. I thought of this video of Charlie vs 25 progressives YouTube clip. The part I’m remembering is 20-30 seconds in where he gets beat and says essentially “that’s a really good point” and shook his hand. He’s a very fast debater and that setup made it even faster and his quick acknowledgment always just stuck with me. I can’t post this link correctly but here it is all the same…. [https://youtu.be/WV29R1M25n8?si=hGGZRZObX2Vf7pN-](https://youtu.be/WV29R1M25n8?si=hGGZRZObX2Vf7pN-) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/2 "2025-09-11T09:34:20Z")
That miserable excuse for a happily dead ex-human is also discussed here: > [@The SIH (Suffer in Hell) Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sih-suffer-in-hell-thread/1000217/126): > > Well apparently Straight Dope considers him well known, but I personally don’t pay any attention to these right-wing nuts so think he belongs here: And here: > [@Trump ally and conservative pundit Charlie Kirk shot at Utah event \[now reported deceased, same date 10SEP2025\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ally-and-conservative-pundit-charlie-kirk-shot-at-utah-event-now-reported-deceased-same-date-10sep2025/1022916): > > Charlie Kirk, Trump ally and head of Turning Point USA, was shot in the neck today at an event in Utah he was hosting. and here: > [@Omnibus Stupid MFers in the news thread (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/5547): > > Charlie Kirk (who somehow only appears once in this thread despite being a “stupid MFer in the news”) has apparently been shot in the neck at an event he was holding just a few minutes ago. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/3 "2025-09-11T09:35:44Z")
I will note that the Pit thread was originally not made in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/4 "2025-09-11T10:37:36Z")
Yes, Charlie Kirk is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/5 "2025-09-11T11:42:13Z")
Bumping this thread because I don’t understand why this discussion is only happening in the Pit. I couldn’t stand Charlie Kirk. I also note that he was less than sympathetic about attacks on Democrats, war crimes etc. I feel no need to go into obituary mode, where we sugarcoat his life and opinions. But I am still dismayed by this turn of events. Even if these are just lone nutters, it’s sad that we have the twin threats of a government willing to trample human rights and individuals wanting to take matters into their own hands around every corner. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/6 "2025-09-11T12:12:09Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > it’s sad that we have the twin threats of a government willing to trample human rights and individuals wanting to take matters into their own hands around every corner. The first tends to lead to the second, once the rules of law and justice crumble. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/7 "2025-09-11T12:16:21Z")
Very sad. So, anyway… He died doing what he loved – protecting gun rights. His last sentences were anti-trans followed by implying that gang violence shootings somehow don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/8 "2025-09-11T12:16:48Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Even if these are just lone nutters, it’s sad that we have the twin threats of a government willing to trample human rights and individuals wanting to take matters into their own hands around every corner. What’s been going on is a symptom of a bigger problem. This is just the latest sign we are becoming (or already are) an unhealthy nation, and many indicators are pointing downward, like we are on a slippery slope. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/9 "2025-09-11T12:47:35Z")
Article by Ezra Klein in the NYT: [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/charlie-kirk-assassination-fear-politics.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/charlie-kirk-assassination-fear-politics.html) > [@](#): > > The foundation of a free society is the ability to participate in politics without fear of violence. To lose that is to risk losing everything. Charlie Kirk — and his family — just lost everything. As a country, we came a step closer to losing everything, too. > [@](#): > > Political violence is a virus. It is contagious. We have been through periods in this country when it was endemic. The 1960s saw the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and [Medgar Evers](https://archive.ph/o/chHfW/https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/medgar-evers). In the 1970s, George Wallace was shot by a would-be assassin but survived, and Gerald Ford faced two assassination attempts in one month. In 1981 Ronald Reagan survived after John Hinckley Jr.’s bullet ricocheted off his rib and punctured his lung. These assassins and would-be assassins had different motives, different politics and different levels of mental stability. When political violence becomes imaginable, either as a tool of politics or a ladder for fame, it begins to infect hosts heedlessly. > > American politics has sides. There is no use pretending it doesn’t. But both sides are meant to be on the same side of a larger project — we are all, or most of us anyway, trying to maintain the viability of the American experiment. We can live with losing an election because we believe in the promise of the next election; we can live with losing an argument because we believe that there will be another argument. Political violence imperils that. > > Kirk and I were on different sides of most political arguments. We were on the same side on the continued possibility of American politics. It is supposed to be an argument, not a war; it is supposed to be won with words, not ended through bullets. I wanted Kirk to be safe for his sake, but I also wanted him to be safe for mine, and for the sake of our larger shared project. The same is true for Shapiro, for Hoffman, for Hortman, for Thompson, for Trump, for Pelosi, for Whitmer. We are all safe, or none of us are. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/10 "2025-09-11T12:53:29Z")
I instantly lost all respect I had for Ezra Klein. He cites Paul Pelosi’s attack without mentioning that Kirk loved it and praised the assailant. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/11 "2025-09-11T12:54:48Z")
Klein’s article would have been appropriate in about 2012. It’s at least a decade too late now. He’s fighting the last war and doesn’t even realize it. We _are_ past the idea of a shared enterprise called “the USA”. We now have two roughly diametrically opposed enterprises sharing one plot of land. And that won’t work for long. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/12 "2025-09-11T13:11:23Z")
Ezra Klein has a personal interest in public political commentators not getting assassinated. Which is logical, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/13 "2025-09-11T13:15:31Z")
It’s trivial to say violence is wrong without saying anything positive about Kirk. He did that all on his own. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/14 "2025-09-11T13:16:23Z")
What’s this assassination, then? An early shot in your forthcoming civil war? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/15 "2025-09-11T13:16:40Z")
I didn’t think I’ve been so at odds with this board. I thought Ezra kleins article was exactly what needed to be said in this moment. Are there people here that _want_ there to be a spiral of violence? Kirk should have condemned violence and so should we. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/16 "2025-09-11T13:19:19Z")
The title of the article is “Charlie Kirk was Practicing Politics the Right Way.” Charlie Kirk who organized harassment campaigns, says women don’t deserve rights, and called the man that cracked Paul Pelosi’s skull with a hammer a patriot. You’re out of your mind. > [@Mijin](#): > > Are there people here that _want_ there to be a spiral of violence? Kirk should have condemned violence and so should we. This is a completely invented position. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/17 "2025-09-11T13:22:25Z")
Not even remotely. What Klein should have written would condense down to this > Kirk was an irresponsible propagandist espousing violence and hate and ignorance. He has now reaped what he has sown. The lesson for all of us _should_ be that espousing violence and hate and ignorance is something no civilized person should ever do. And something everyone in the public should reject, not applaud. The harm to our society from his shooting is real. The harm from his actions to date is vastly greater. And that’s the real shame of this whole sordid affair. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/18 "2025-09-11T13:22:34Z")
Its fair to highlight how destructive, violent, and awful Kirk’s political actions and cause were. But as long as we still stay on the side of assassination is bad. (I think the SDMB is doing this). ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/19 "2025-09-11T13:25:33Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Charlie Kirk who organized harassment campaigns, says women don’t deserve rights, and called the man that cracked Paul Pelosi’s skull with a hammer a patriot. I know very little about the guy. Can you show me where he did and said these things, please? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935/20 "2025-09-11T13:27:28Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I thought Ezra kleins article was exactly what needed to be said in this moment. > > Are there people here that _want_ there to be a spiral of violence? It’s not that we “want” it. The fundamental problem is this line: > [@](#): > > We can live with losing an election because we believe in the promise of the next election; we can live with losing an argument because we believe that there will be another argument. This is increasingly untrue in the US, and it’s largely the fault of the Republicans. They’re the ones who started screaming that every election they lost was rigged, and then made great efforts to rig elections themselves. When one side is actively trying to destroy the integrity of elections, you can’t be surprised that the other side stops “believing in the promise of the next election.” And you can see it happening here, in some of the right-wing reactions to Kirk being killed. Without any actual evidence as to who the shooter is, and what motivated them, some prominent Republicans have blamed this all on the Democratic Party, and declared that they must be destroyed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-kirk-is-dead/1022935.md?page=2)