Charlie Kirk, who helped build support for Trump among young people, dies after campus shooting

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and ALI SWENSON Associated Press Charlie Kirk who rose from a teenage conservative campus activist to a top podcaster lifestyle warrior and ally of President Donald Trump was shot and killed Wednesday during one of his trademark constituents appearances at a college in Utah He was 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 released 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 FILE Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk arrives to speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Thomas Mack Center Oct in Las Vegas AP Photo Alex Brandon File Kirk personified the pugnacious populist conservatism that has taken over the Republican Party in the age of Trump He launched his organization Turning Point USA in targeting younger people and venturing onto liberal-leaning college campuses where several GOP activists were nervous to tread A backer of Trump during the president s initial run Kirk took Turning Point from one of a constellation of well-funded conservative groups to the center of the right-of-center universe Turning Point s political wing helped run get-out-the-vote for Trump s campaign trying to energize disaffected conservatives who rarely vote Trump won Arizona Turning Point s home state by five percentage points after narrowly losing it in The group is known for its flamboyant events that often feature strobe lighting and pyrotechnics It insists more than novice members Trump on Wednesday praised Kirk who started as an unofficial adviser during Trump s campaign and more in the past few days became a confidant He was a very very good friend of mine and he was a tremendous person Trump described the New York Post FILE Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk speaks before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives at the Turning Point Believers Summit July in West Palm Beach Fla AP Photo Alex Brandon File Kirk revealed off an apocalyptic style in his popular podcast radio show and on the campaign trail During an appearance with Trump in Georgia last fall he mentioned that Democrats stand for everything God hates Kirk called the Trump vs Kamala Harris choice a spiritual battle This is a Christian state I d like to see it stay that way Kirk advised the or so Georgians who at one point joined Kirk in a deafening chant of Christ is King Christ is King Kirk had also remained a regular presence on college campuses Last year for the social media scheme Surrounded he faced off against liberal college students to defend his viewpoints including that abortion is murder and should be illegal Kirk was married to podcaster Erika Frantzve They have two young children Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in by a then -year-old Kirk and William Montgomery a tea party activist to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited administration It was not an immediate success But Kirk s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers Despite early misgivings Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr the former president s eldest son during the general poll campaign Soon Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV where he leaned into the values wars and heaped praise on the then-president Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences Related Articles Trump administration appeals ruling blocking him from firing Federal Reserve Gov Cook Man who hurled sandwich at federal agent pleads not guilty to assault charge Participants prep millions of meals for fellow New Yorkers on th anniversary of At least injured in shooting at suburban Denver high school Conservative activist Charlie Kirk in critical condition after being shot at Utah college event As money poured in Kirk bought a million Spanish-style estate on a gated Arizona country club Turning Point steered millions of dollars to contractors owned by Kirk and his associates and particular Republicans were skeptical when it revealed it would spearhead an attempt to turn out infrequent voters during Trump s campaign But as younger voters shifted right in and Trump ran up a five-point margin of mastery in Arizona Kirk and his allies claimed vindication of his view of a sharp-elbowed culture-war-oriented conservatism 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 teaching and the arts and entertainment Kirk argued for a new conservatism that advocated for freedom of speech challenging Big Tech and the media and centering working-class Americans beyond the nation s capital We have to ask ourselves a question as a conservative movement Are we going to revert back to the party of the status quo ruling class he revealed in his speech opening the Conservative Political Action Conference in Or are we going to learn from what I call the MAGA doctrine The MAGA doctrine which is a doctrine of American renewal revival one that America is the greatest country in the history of the world