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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Charlie Kirk Reflects on January 6th Four Years Later and the Movement That Survived
Four years ago, the political establishment believed they had their defining moment to crush the conservative movement. January 6th was weaponized as justification for what became the most aggressive exercise of legal authority in modern times, from FBI raids on grandmothers to imprisonment of political figures like Stephen Bannon and Peter Navarro. Charlie Kirk recounts how the movement faced its darkest hour when tech platforms banned President Trump, donors fled, and finding legal representation became nearly impossible. Yet through relentless grassroots effort, refusal to accept mainstream narratives, and unwavering resolve during what Kirk calls "the Valley Forge of the MAGA Movement," the impossible happened. This is the story of one of the greatest political reversals in history.
Look at your calendar. It's Monday, January 6th. Ten years ago, this date held no particular significance. You'd say January 6th and people would respond with indifference—no different than January 5th or January 7th. But four years ago, January 6th took on new meaning. We all remember what happened on that day, but what we had was an incomplete picture of what was actually going on.
To an untrained eye, it seemed as if Trump supporters had gotten so out of control—some of which may or may not have been organized—and tried to storm the government. The Democrats and the regime thought they had their Reichstag Fire. They thought they had the moment that they could blame the opposition party for all the problems, clamp down, put them in prison, break their will, and own the country for a generation.
Understand this: the bad guys thought that January 6th was a gift to them from the political gods to be able to own, monopolize, and dominate the political discourse for a generation and the political power for a generation. They saw their opening and they went for it.
The Most Aggressive Legal Crackdown in Modern Times
What ensued was the most over-the-top exercise of legal authority and the criminal justice system we've seen in the modern era. From grannies' homes being raided to patriots in Homer, Alaska being hunted down by FBI agents. We've now learned that doors were opened for some of the protesters, protesters even stayed inside of rope lines, that this was largely an entrapment operation.
They said it was the biggest attack since Pearl Harbor—or even worse than Pearl Harbor. And they said that because they could justify declaring war on their fellow citizens. There was even talk by John Brennan of a new Patriot Act. In fact, a couple weeks after January 6th, on January 19th, he appeared on MSNBC where he said we anti-government types and libertarians must be spied on and rooted out. It was a chilling clip. They were talking about expanding federal surveillance authority.
They thought they had their Reichstag Fire—the event that was used by the National Socialist Workers Party of Nazi Germany to justify complete and total governmental control. The Communists did this: give us total control, no more civil liberties, no more freedom, no more freedom of association. We're in control, you are not.
The Regime Declares Victory Too Soon
The establishment went all in on the January 6th narrative, and it was hard to escape. They thought that our movement—and yes, of course, the figurehead and the leader of our movement—was politically dead. They thought it was over. They said Donald Trump is going to be put in exile, and if he dares to try to cross the line to run for political office again, we're going to lock him in prison for 700 years.
They thought they had the movement dead to rights. They were certain on this day four years ago that if they compared it to Pearl Harbor and compared it to the Civil War and called it an insurrection, that they would break our will.
A lot of people went through a lot. I was subpoenaed by the January 6th committee. A lot of people I know were subpoenaed by the January 6th committee, all for nonsensical, ridiculous stuff. Stephen Bannon served federal prison time because of the illegitimate January 6th committee. Peter Navarro served prison time because of the illegitimate January 6th committee, illegally constituted with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
Of course, Donald Trump authorized 10,000 National Guard troops but was rejected. This day was a day they wanted to say would live in infamy—it was the Pearl Harbor of those crazy MAGA folks that wear those red hats and they own guns and they go to church and they live in the countryside. When they get too big of a voice, they try to storm the government.
The Alternative Media Uprising
But there was more to the story, and this is where you in this audience deserve such credit. You did not accept the media narrative as is. You started digging. You went to alternative media. You went to Rumble. You went to X. You went to other social media platforms.
Remember, it was because of January 6th that Donald Trump was kicked off of Spotify, kicked off of Pinterest (as if he was a big Pinterest user), kicked off of Facebook, kicked off of Instagram, and he lost his Twitter account as a sitting president of the United States. Donald Trump lost his Twitter account as a sitting president of the United States.
The Darkest Midnight of Winter
Four years ago, we entered the lowest point the conservative movement has been at in 100 years, ever since the founding of our country. It looked completely dark. It was the darkest midnight of winter. The bad guys controlled the House and they controlled the Senate. And don't forget, the night before January 6th, on January 5th, the Democrats won control of the US Senate. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won their Senate seats in Georgia on January 5th, 2021 in the Georgia runoff, which gave them control of the Senate. It was just another demoralization gut punch.
They controlled the House and they controlled the Senate. They controlled the presidency. It was the dark night of the soul, and it was not a time for sunshine patriots. You know what I'm talking about—all these people that are all uppity now: "Oh, I supported Trump." No you didn't. You were out trying to duck and run for cover when those of us had to go lawyer up and hire up and we were on the run.
There was a worry and a concern that the first couple days we said: are they going to go raid the offices of Turning Point USA? Is the FBI just going to kind of show up and say "FBI, give us all your computers, give us all your devices"? We didn't know. We were so directionally confused because January 6th gave them that confidence where the media just would have rolled up, CNN truck, boom, Turning Point offices be raided.
We didn't know. We had no idea what was happening in real time. Of course we did nothing wrong and we had no involvement—that doesn't mean anything. They had a mandate to finally go shock and awe, to go blitzkrieg against their enemies.
Valley Forge of the MAGA Movement
We were at midnight of the dark night of the soul. January 6th and the days and months and year and a half and two years that followed was the Valley Forge of the MAGA movement. We stuck it out through the most trying period, and it made ourselves stronger. It was that old Nietzsche quote: what does not kill you makes you stronger. We bent and we didn't break.
But some people did break. I remember we lost donors, we lost supporters, we lost students, we lost chapters, we lost pastors. It was too much for them. They didn't have the stomach, they didn't have the spine, they couldn't take it. The noise was too much. They were being called an insurrectionist. The New York Times was calling them bad names. Their friends were going to jail. People were being raided. They were called insurrectionists. It was too much.
I never faulted them. I said that's fine, get out of the way. We'll call you when we get our country back. Well guess what? We're here to call you on January 6th, 2025, four years later, and we have our country back.
The Miraculous Reversal
And it did not happen overnight. It took a miraculous intervention by the mighty God of Donald Trump not being murdered in Butler, Pennsylvania. It took ballot chasing and voter registration and the grit and the hustle of the grassroots work that took years and years. It took a resolve. It took a grit. It took a cussedness where we did not accept the premise and we dove deeper.
We asked the questions like: Who is the pipe bomber? Who is Ray Epps? Who killed Ashley Babbitt? Who killed Brian Sicknick? Is the FBI telling us the truth? Why have you not released the January 6th tapes? What crime did the QAnon Shaman actually break?
We dug and we dug and we dug. We reversed course and it was like moving an aircraft carrier. And we did it. You can all delight and celebrate four years later—it is one of the greatest reversals in political fortunes in the history of the planet. Nothing comes close, where a movement looked so dead to rights, so gone, that it was in complete exile, and bottom up, you rebuilt it and saved the country.
The Weight of Those Dark Days
Going back in time, it's very, very hard to capture the heaviness and the weight of what was being experienced the day after January 6th, the days after January 6th. And that's the new day one, by the way. The new day one is not "Oh, were you there at the golden escalator?" The new day one is: did you have President Trump's back the day after January 6th? Did you still support him? Did you understand this movement was unbreakable?
It would have been so easy for you to surrender. We had the tech companies against us, the major banks against us, the oligarchs against us, every major billionaire against us. You could not even find a lawyer to represent you.
I've actually never talked about this publicly. I was subpoenaed by the January 6th committee. I had to go through ten different lawyers—ten different lawyers—before one agreed to represent me. Ten. They said, "Oh no, we decided not to represent any clients that were involved in January 6th."
I wasn't involved in January 6th. I was in Arizona on January 6th. They said too bad. Understand this: these people are willing to go represent cartels and drug smugglers and child sex traffickers, and I went through ten different law firms. I spent all day when I found out that this whole thing was going to turn into a committee—like a day and a half—going from one Zoom call to the next, trying to get a lawyer to represent me. Sorry, no. Sorry, no. Sorry, no.
Even after I told them all the facts and circumstances, the legal community was so against representing anyone in the Trump orbit because Trump people in the Trump world were viewed as insurrectionists.
The Intelligentsia Declares Trump Dead
Front page of TheHill.com, Liz Peek writes—who, by the way, should never be taken seriously again—"Trump's political career is over." Just like that, the bold, combustible, and sometimes brilliant political career of Donald J. Trump comes to an end. "Trump's presidency will now go down as a failed experiment, a cautionary tale about the cult of personality and the riskiness of electing an outsider. It is a tragedy, it is a tragedy because among other accomplishments, Trump inspired and mobilized tens of thousands of people."
Isn't Liz Peek always on Fox? What a joke she is. These people need to be held accountable. I'm sure she's trying to warm herself back into the inauguration. Can I get tickets to this ball? No, Liz Peek, you don't get tickets to that ball. Sorry. You said that Trump's political career is over.
She says here in her piece very bluntly: "There will be a core group of loyal Trump supporters that make excuses for the events of January 6th. The numbers will shrink as he leaves office and enthusiasm for his ongoing leadership of the Republican Party will decline." Liz Peek writes, "There are plenty of GOP legislators eager to fill his shoes. Those folks will do their best to hasten Trump's decline."
This was the intelligentsia, by the way—she's a Republican. This was the intelligentsia of the Republican Party being taken seriously by The Wall Street Journal.
The Deep State Intimidation Campaign
What happened next was a deep state attempt to intimidate and demoralize our movement. We didn't know whether or not all of a sudden our office was going to be filled with dark-looking SUVs and a bunch of people with purple hair with FBI vests coming in and taking all of our devices. We didn't know. They saw their shot and boy did they go for it. Thousands of people indicted. Thousands of people indicted to set the table to try and eliminate the MAGA movement, to eliminate our movement.
Turns out we're a lot tougher than that, because we are not a movement that's just passively involved. It made us antifragile.
The Doctrine of Antifragility
It's a term I've used many times. In fact, I gave the first speech about antifragility back in February of 2021. The doctrine of antifragility, as authored by Nassim Taleb in his book "Antifragile," is that there are fragile institutions—those that shatter. There are tough institutions—those that do not shatter. And then there are antifragile institutions—those that get stronger the more you attack them, that they actually grow in their resolve, they get tougher the more that you throw at them, the more that you punch them, the more that you criticize them, the more that you smear them, the more that you slander.
Donald Trump was up against the wall the likes of which no political candidate ever faced—indicted in four different jurisdictions, facing 700 years in federal prison. Many of your friends and my friends were in federal prison or facing federal prison time. The whole regime was just surrounding us.
And we beat them. It's one of the most remarkable comeback stories ever. This January 6th, 2025, we're in charge and the regime lost.
