The Topline
- Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on September 10, while speaking at Utah Valley University
- A suspect, Tyler Richardson, has been apprehended, with a motive still unclear
- The death has sparked further polarization in the U.S., with both sides of the political divide filling social media feeds with content honouring, or mocking, the 31-year-old conservative firebrand
He’s ascended to MAGA sainthood
Charlie Kirk wasn’t just a victim. He died on a university campus, mid-debate, literally defending his worldview. For a movement obsessed with cancel culture and free speech suppression, the symbolism is too rich not to be utilized and, as we’re seeing, weaponized.
Kirk was a reliable recruiter of Gen Z to the conservative cause and, partly because of that, he forged a close bond with President Donald Trump, and others within his inner circle. He also had an enormous following, with over 10 million followers on Instagram and nearly nine million on Tik Tok, where he shared brief clips espousing conservative views in a palpable, relatable way.
Now he’s been transformed into a martyr for those beliefs. Donald Trump himself is helping to shape the narrative. He called for flags to be lowered to half mast the day after Kirk’s death. Never mind that this happened to be on 9/11, when the flags would have been lowered anyway – the message was clear. Kirk is a hero and deserves to be mourned nationally.
It’s all a bit weird, if we’re being honest. Kirk wasn’t in government. He was a podcaster. But virtually everything about the U.S. is weird right now. For example – Trump also broke the news that the suspect in the shooting, Tyler Robinson, had been apprehended. Trump posted Robinson’s name on Truth Social before law enforcement had confirmed it. This sends an unmistakable message from the very top that Kirk’s death was political persecution.
By getting out in front, Trump is defining the terms of this story and Kirk’s posthumous profile. The facts of the case matter less than the narrative – which has been Trump’s M.O. since the get-go – and what we’re left with is the image of a young conservative leader silenced by violence, for speaking his truth. It’s convenient, in a grotesque way – MAGA wants to believe that their views are under attack, and Kirk’s death proves the case, regardless of what the killer’s motives were.
FBI director Kash Patel paid Kirk a baffling tribute on live TV. Hastily written ballads about his sacrifice are spreading on Youtube and Spotify, including one from rising Canadian MAGA rapper Tom MacDonald. “They may have killed a soldier, but that man had an army,” MacDonald raps.
And there it is. Kirk’s legacy is now soundtracked into memory. Turning Point USA could spend millions on campus tours and never achieve this level of myth-making. Kirk, a one-time gaffe-prone content factory, has already been transfigured into a saint, the noble defender of American freedom and his death is now being weaponized into a rallying cry.
The leopard ate his face
Irony is gasoline in internet culture. And the irony of Kirk’s death was so on the nose, the lefty internet had to lean in: a man who built a career railing about campus culture and promoting the Second Amendment, gunned down on a campus, mid-debate, by the very violence he claimed was “worth it.”
For many, Kirk got what was coming to him, for fomenting a bigoted and violent culture. And the internet has celebrated in its native tongue – the meme. Reddit, Tik Tok and Instagram have become content mills, parodying Kirk’s beliefs and his death.
Before this, Kirk was never an easy meme target, the way that Trump, Stephen Miller, or surviving conservative podcast bro Ben Shapiro have been. These are all walking caricatures, with personalities that practically invite mockery. Kirk wasn’t that. He was clean-cut and milquetoast, more like a high school teacher than an obvious ghoul. His views — often xenophobic and filtered through a Christian-nationalist lens — were packaged up as healthy debate. You couldn’t laugh at him so much as feel compelled to argue with him.
For many outside MAGA’s sphere of influence, he barely registered until Gavin Newsom invited him onto his podcast earlier this year. Even there, Kirk retained a veneer of seriousness, even integrity, that made him difficult to mock and easier to legitimize.
The irony of his death has changed all that. The leopard ate his face . Reddit went ballistic with the memes – and still is. r/OnionHeadlines held an unofficial contest for who could write the best satirical take. r/Music, of all places, were filled with song suggestions to capture the moment: Alanis Morrisette’s “Ironic,” Green Day’s “Good Riddance,” Chumbawamba’s “The Day the Nazi Died,” and Wu-Tang’s “Protect Ya Neck.”
Make no mistake – this is a tragedy. Kirk’s children have lost their father in the most traumatic way possible. It also escalates the potential for political violence in America. But for the left, who’ve been more or less despondent and terrified in the 10 months since the 2024 election, Kirk’s death has been the ultimate case in schadenfreude, a true “fuck around and find out” moment.
The left has been desperate for some ammunition to really drive home the absurdity – and the violence – of the American conservative movement. And, for now, they’ve found it.
