Charlie Kirk, who rose from a teenage conservative campus activist to a top podcaster, culture warrior and ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday during one of his trademark public appearances at a college in Utah.
Age
Born in Chicago in 1993, he was 31-years-old, a media personality, podcaster, an author and the founder of Turning Point USA.
Career
He had a huge following with his podcast consistently charting in the top 20. According to NBC News, The Charlie Kirk Show is being downloaded between 500,000 and 750,000 times each day. It consistently charts highly on Spotify and Apple.
Across social media, he had a huge following with more than 7.3 million followers on TikTok, seven million on Instagram, five million on X and 3.5 million on YouTube.
A popular political activist, he spent much of his time travelling to college campuses across the country, encouraging debate and promoting conservative values.
A big supporter of President Trump and somewhat of a MAGA spokesman to young people across America, he publicly promoted conservative, Trump-aligned causes and often debated with people opposed to his views. He was attracted to politics early, volunteering for the US Senate campaign of Illinois Republican Mark Kirk (no relation) during his high school years.
He was accused by critics of promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories on issues including COVID-19, climate change and the 2020 US election.
Responding to the January 6th 2021 riots on Capitol Hill, he said it was not an insurrection but that the rioters did not represent the mainstream of Mr Trump’s support.
A day before the riots, in support of what he believed to be a stolen election, he wrote on X that he was organising for “buses of patriots” to Washington to “fight for the president”.
Christian Beliefs
Kirk’s evangelical Christian beliefs were intertwined with his political perspective, and he argued that there was no true separation of church and state.
He also referenced the Seven Mountain Mandate, which specifies seven areas where Christians are to lead — politics, religion, media, business, family, education and the arts, and entertainment.
How he Died
Kirk died doing what made him a potent political force — rallying the right on a college campus, this time Utah Valley University. His shooting is one of an escalating number of attacks on political figures, from the assassination of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota to last summer’s shooting of Trump, that have roiled the nation.
Trump announced Kirk’s death on his social media site, Truth Social: “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote.
Moments after his death, several videos of the fatal shooting surfaced on social media. In one such slow-motion video, netizens claimed it appears that the single bullet that was shot, bounced off Kirk’s bulletproof vest. The projectile then ricocheted into the side of his neck, which is believed to have been the cause of his instant death.
Following his death, Kirk’s friends and supporters, including Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, mourned the news of his death, with Butker reportedly leaking the final text message he sent.
Relationship
Kirk was married to podcaster Erika Frantzve. They have two young children.
Net Worth
Charlie Kirk was widely estimated to have a net worth of $12 million at the time of his death, according to multiple sources. ProPublica also reported that Kirk’s salary from TPUSA had increased from $27,000 to nearly $300,000 and that he had bought an $855,000 condo in Longboat Key, Florida. In 2020, Turning Point USA had $39.2 million in revenues. Kirk earned a salary of more than $325,000 from TPUSA and related organizations.
