Charlie Kirk: The conservative influencer who played key role in Trump's 2024 victory

US right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was part of a constellation of influencers who helped amplify Republican President Donald Trump's agenda, galvanising conservative youth and rising to international prominence with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on such issues as race, gender and immigration.

Kirk, an Illinois native who co-founded the conservative student group Turning Point USA at the age of 18 and went on to become a rising star in the Republican Party under Trump, had just returned to the United States from an overseas speaking tour when he was shot to death on Wednesday (Sep 10). 

He died doing what made him a potent political force - rallying the right on a college campus.

The shooting came as the 31-year-old, the president of Turning Point, was addressing a large outdoor crowd on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah.

On Sunday, he headlined an event in Tokyo organised by the far-right Sanseito party, which made big gains in Japan's upper house election in July. He also recently spoke in South Korea.

Kirk is survived by his wife Erika, a former Miss Arizona USA beauty pageant winner, and their two children.

INFLUENCE BUILT ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, the son of a counsellor at a mental-health clinic and an architect did not graduate from university but began dedicating himself to activism as a teenager. 

He co-founded Turning Point in 2012 with conservative activist William Montgomery to proselytise on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.

But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers. In a little over a decade, it became the largest group of young conservatives in the United States.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk also served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr, the former president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign. 

He later launched Turning Point Action in 2019 as a non-profit advocacy group backing conservative candidates for office. It was one of the main organisations that Trump entrusted with his door-to-door voter drives in 2024.

After winning his second presidential term, Trump credited Kirk for mobilising younger voters and voters of colour in support of his campaign.

"You had Turning Point's grassroots armies," Trump said at a rally in Phoenix in December. "It's not my victory, it's your victory."

VOICE FOR NEW GENERATION OF CONSERVATIVES

Kirk had 5.3 million followers on his X account and drew an audience of more than 500,000 monthly listeners to podcasts of his radio program, The Charlie Kirk Show. He also authored or contributed to several books, including Time for a Turning Point and The College Scam.

Kirk’s Turning Point events were raucous, a mix of a political rally, tent revival, rock concert and a professional wrestling match. Speakers would take the stage backed by ear-splitting anthems and bright pyrotechnics before often high-spirited crowds of thousands.

During his speaking gigs, he invited students to debate with him in quick-fire exchanges that often went viral online - especially those with progressives opposed to his views.

When Kirk addressed a university crowd in Nevada last October, some in the audience told AFP he was a breath of fresh air on campuses that the political right complains are dominated by liberal ideology.

"He brings different ideas to the table," said Eric Hansen, 22. "Ideas that some of us believe in, but are sometimes afraid" to voice.

His style has been hugely influential. Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida spoke on the Capitol steps after the shooting on Wednesday, reflecting on Kirk's influence on her political journey.

“I was supposed to go to medical school. Charlie Kirk called me the day before I was supposed to leave, and recruited me to go be the national Hispanic outreach director for the organisation,” said Luna. 

“I was with him at many of them, debating those kids, and that conversation needs to happen. You can’t squelch that.”

"CHARISMATIC CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST"

Not everyone was full of praise for Kirk.

"Charlie Kirk is a charismatic Christian nationalist, who essentially acts as a spokesperson for Trumpism and extremist ideas," said Kyle Spencer, author of a book that examines the birth of Turning Point USA.

It nurtured an army of enthusiastic activists, some of whom were bused to Washington on Jan 6, 2021 for a rally that turned into a mob invasion of the Capitol with the goal of stopping certification of Trump's election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

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.

During an appearance with Trump in Georgia last fall, he said Democrats “stand for everything God hates”. Kirk called the Trump versus Kamala Harris choice “a spiritual battle.”

“This is a Christian state. I’d like to see it stay that way,” Kirk told the 10,000 or so Georgians.

And the foreword to a book written by a pastor and Turning Point staffer to be published next week, Kirk wrote: "In today’s America, the Christian faithful are faced with a terrifying and broad array of dangers and threats. We are menaced not by new false gods, but by the return of demons from long ago.”

CONTROVERSIAL, PROVOCATIVE

Kirk was provocative, taking aim at Muslim politicians, including Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh and Islam as a whole. 

He expressed xenophobic views of the Islamic world and Islamic culture, pointing to Europe to make his case. He said in April, "Islam has conquest values. They seek to take over land and territory, and Europe is now a conquered continent."

During an August podcast episode, Kirk accused Democratic lawmaker Jasmine Crockett, who is black, of being part of an “attempt to eliminate the white population in this country”.

“The great replacement of white people is far more sinister than any redistricting project,” Kirk said.

And in 2021, as he stepped up criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement on college campuses, Kirk called George Floyd, the black man whose 2020 murder at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked protests that roiled Trump's last full year in office, a “scumbag”.

“Just don’t totally mess up this state," Kirk said at the event in Mankato, Minnesota. "It was built by wonderful Scandinavians, and it seems as if it’s being destroyed now, rather intentionally.”

REACTIONS, TRIBUTES

Trump himself confirmed on social media that Kirk had died from his injuries. 

"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us," Trump wrote.

The 79-year-old president said in a video posted to his Truth Social platform that Kirk "fought for liberty, democracy, justice and the American people. He's a martyr for truth and freedom".

He also ordered all government US flags flown at half-staff until Sunday in Kirk's honour.

Both Republican and Democratic politicians expressed dismay over the shooting.

"Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord," Vice President JD Vance, who was close to Kirk, wrote on X.

"I am shocked by the murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University," Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement. 

"Political violence of any kind and against any individual is unacceptable and completely incompatible with American values. We pray for his family during this tragedy."

Jack Posobiec, a politically aligned influencer, said in a conversation with Steve Bannon, who also hails from the political right, that the movement Kirk started "would never end".

"We have to have steely resolve. Charlie Kirk is a casualty of war," Bannon, who served in Trump's White House during his first term, added on right-wing TV channel Real America's Voice. 

Other figures emphasised that Kirk's passing at age 31 would inspire action.

"A match has been lit in America and I think that the American right, especially young people, are not going to take this," Matt Boyle, of conservative news outlet Breitbart News, said in the exchange with Bannon.

Benny Johnson, a podcaster popular with Trump supporters, wrote on X: "Charlie Kirk is an American martyr."

"His martyrdom must be a turning point for our country," Kevin Roberts, president of the powerful Heritage Foundation think tank, said in a separate statement, in an apparent reference to the Turning Point group Kirk founded.

The Heritage Foundation has swayed Trump's policy decisions and has held influence in conservative politics for years.