Tomi Lahren Reflects on the Assassination of Charlie Kirk and the Future of Conservative Activism
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Tomi Lahren Reflects on the Assassination of Charlie Kirk and the Future of Conservative Activism
Tomi Lahren shares her deeply personal thoughts on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a friend and fellow conservative activist who was gunned down on a college campus. She reflects on their decade-long friendship, Charlie's impact on the conservative movement, and the dangerous escalation of political violence. Lahren also discusses the hostile environment faced by conservative speakers on campuses, the role of radical ideology in inspiring violence, and why conservatives must continue speaking out despite the risks. Joined by Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, they honor Charlie's legacy and call for a return to civil dialogue.
Over a decade ago, Tomi Lahren and Charlie Kirk found themselves on parallel paths, both committed to bringing conservative values to young Americans. From the early days when TPUSA events were small gatherings to the massive conservative rallies they became, Lahren witnessed Charlie's vision take shape. She remembers him not just as a powerful voice in his own right, but as someone dedicated to lifting others up. When she was fired from The Blaze for stating she was pro-choice, Charlie stood by her, defending her against backlash from within their own movement despite disagreeing with her position.
Charlie's personality was infectious, Lahren recalls. During the turbulent 2016 election, when setbacks seemed insurmountable, Charlie always had a plan and never appeared defeated. His optimism spread to everyone around him. But what she treasures most are memories from before the fame, when it was just about the mission—no influencer culture, no rock star status, just dedication to country and to elevating the next generation of conservative voices.
The Horrific Reality of Political Violence
The assassination of Charlie Kirk hit Lahren like a ton of bricks. She watched someone she knew well be taken from the world and from his young family in an instant. Charlie was sitting peacefully in a tent on a college campus, offering himself up for dialogue and debate, when he was gunned down. The 31-year-old husband and father became a victim of the very hatred he spent his career trying to counter through conversation.
For Lahren, this tragedy is deeply personal on multiple levels. She does what Charlie did—stands on stages at college campuses, looks out at hostile crowds and protesters, and wonders whether she or the people who came to hear her will be safe. She recounts her experience at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where SWAT teams and state police had to be called in, and she was escorted out through a kitchen. The violence and hatred directed at conservative speakers on campuses has reached a crisis point, and Charlie's assassination represents the tragic culmination of years of escalating hostility.
The Qualifying Condolences and Moral Bankruptcy
Initially, Lahren was heartened to see people from across the political spectrum express heartbreak and outrage over Charlie's assassination. But within days, true colors emerged. Social media filled with qualified condolences: "I'm sorry he died, but he said things I didn't like" or "Condolences, but he was offensive." To Lahren, this represents a fundamental moral bankruptcy—the idea that disagreeing with someone somehow means they deserve to die.
She poses a crucial question: How did we reach a point where people, especially young people, genuinely believe that disagreeing with someone means they should lose their life? She chooses to believe that these voices, though loud and amplified by algorithms, are not the majority. Most people, she believes—even many on the left—are heartbroken by what happened to Charlie. But the fact that anyone feels compelled to qualify their condemnation of political violence reveals something deeply disturbing about our current moment.
A Conversation with Alex Marlow
Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow joins Lahren to share his personal reflections. Marlow reveals that Charlie got his start writing for Breitbart News as a teenager, submitting a story about bias in textbooks. That first story went viral, getting Charlie on Fox News and elsewhere, giving him the bug that would lead to founding Turning Point USA. Marlow watched as Charlie slowly built momentum, eventually cracking the code on how to reach students on campuses.
Charlie's approach was revolutionary, Marlow explains. He didn't lecture students from a position of superiority. Instead, he met them where they were, invited leftists to speak first, and engaged them on their preferred platforms. This made him a problem solver on a crusade from God, someone who wasn't satisfied with just activism and podcasting but wanted more for his country. Marlow emphasizes that Charlie was even kinder in private than he appeared in public, always respectful of people while still knowing how to get attention.
Both Lahren and Marlow express rage at those equivocating in their condemnation of political violence. Marlow pulls no punches: anyone qualifying their condemnation needs to put down the microphone and let the adults talk. This political violence has been building for a decade, and campuses cannot continue to harbor left-wing terror.
The Role of Radical Ideology
Lahren and Marlow discuss what they see as a core element of the current climate: radical attachment to LGBTQIA narratives, particularly around transgender issues. They're careful to note that not everyone in these communities is violent or hateful, but they observe that for many young people, this ideology has replaced religion. The Rainbow Mafia, as Lahren calls it, has created zealots who cannot tolerate any criticism, especially of trans ideology.
Marlow describes what he calls a "trans death cult" organizing online. He clarifies that not all trans people are part of it, but there exists a group that has replaced God with the internet and believes that changing their gender is the path to peace. They note that reports suggest Charlie's assassin was allegedly in a romantic relationship with someone who identified as transgender, and Charlie was discussing transgenders and gun violence when he was killed.
They also point out a glaring contradiction: the same people who claim to support LGBTQ rights and call themselves "Queers for Palestine" also embrace radical Islam and fundamentalist Islam, ideologies that are violently opposed to LGBTQ people. Yet these same individuals saw Charlie as the enemy because they perceived him as anti-trans, despite the fact that Charlie was respectful of gay people and never advocated violence against anyone.
The Progression from Cancel Culture to Violence
Lahren traces what she sees as a clear progression in tactics used to silence conservatives. From 2020 until recently, cancel culture was the weapon of choice—make someone lose their job, their platform, their influence. But as cancel culture was defeated and even some on the left realized it was ridiculous, the zealots had to escalate. If cancel culture didn't work, Lahren observes, physical violence became the next step.
The alternative to free speech is much worse, Marlow notes. If you're opposing free speech, what are you for? People want to express themselves and their disagreements. They can do so either by sitting peacefully in a t-shirt and dialoguing with people with whom they differ, or by using the barrel of a gun. Those are the choices facing America, and anyone who doesn't see that clearly at this point isn't worth the time—though they must remain aware of these individuals because they're lurking and trying to figure out who their next target will be.
The Jealousy Factor and Lost Young Men
Lahren suggests that many individuals who carry out horrific violence have something fundamentally wrong mentally, but she also sees a pattern of self-hatred among young people who become perpetrators. They hate themselves, see no value in their own lives, but believe that if they do something they've been told advances society—like eliminating people portrayed as evil—their lives will finally be worth something.
Marlow agrees and adds another dimension: Charlie was a giant. He was big on campuses, big on TikTok and Instagram, had a major activist outlet, was helping pick people in the White House, and had a beautiful family. For a young male who feels lost, this can inspire jealousy. When combined with being out of touch with God, lacking a strong family, and having no meaningful career, some people find perverse ways of dealing with that jealousy. This is why returning to church, spending time with nature and strong community, and building strong families is so important.
Why Conservatives Must Keep Speaking
Despite her fear—and Lahren admits she is afraid, that she re-evaluates her surroundings every day wondering if she'll be next—she knows conservatives cannot stop. They cannot be intimidated. They cannot be silenced. They must keep picking up the microphone, walking into places where they're hated, and speaking anyway, because that's the only way to save the country.
Lahren issues a call to action: whatever platform you have, whether it's your school, your city council meeting, your local school board, or just around your dinner table, keep going. If you haven't started yet, if fear has kept you quiet or you've been afraid of being judged or losing friends, now is the moment to find your voice. Pick up the microphone, even if it starts with a whisper. Do it for Charlie. Do it for America. Do it for yourself.
She notes positive changes already emerging from this tragedy. Conservative public figures who had previously remained quiet—athletes, musicians, entertainers—are speaking up. When someone takes a bullet for their beliefs, it flips a switch in others who realize they can at least speak up. The Dodgers pitcher who put Charlie Kirk on the side of his cap, country artists talking about the Kirk family at concerts, sports teams putting Charlie's memorial on jumbotrons—these would never have happened before 2024.
A Legacy That Will Grow Exponentially
Marlow shares that he had the "dubious honor" of being at Andrew Breitbart's right hand when he passed away and being close with Charlie when he was assassinated. Andrew's legacy grew exponentially because he died too young, and Marlow sees the same pattern with Charlie. In the days following the assassination, Marlow realized he had no idea Charlie was as powerful as the worldwide outpouring of love revealed. From South America to Europe to Asia, people understood the power of his message.
The numbers tell the story: over 32,000 new applications for Turning Point chapters in just days. Before the assassination, there were 4,000 chapters. The movement will now go international, on every continent. People are going to go back to church. They're going to start thinking about living more godly lives. Young people will propose to their girlfriends and boyfriends to start creating the families Charlie advocated for. There will be a coupling of spirituality and politics where people reconsider that America's founding was divinely inspired.
Charlie understood that if America is an exceptional country, you have to look at the evidence of what informed the founding fathers—the sheer miracle that these brilliant individuals were all walking the earth at the same time in roughly the same geographical area and pulled off the incredible revolution that became America. This is the wildly positive direction forward, a legacy that includes not just remembering Charlie, but living out the principles he championed.
Taking the High Road
Lahren closes with an appeal to her fellow conservatives. She knows it's easy and natural to be angry and enraged—she feels it too. But she asks that conservatives try their best to take the high road, to remember their faith and godliness as they respond to what is often filth and evil coming from the other side, especially on social media. Taking the high road is what Charlie would have wanted.
The memorial service on Sunday will fill an NFL stadium to capacity, a testament to Charlie's impact. But the real memorial will be the continued work, the voices that refuse to be silenced, and the young people who take up the mantle of defending freedom and engaging in civil dialogue even when it's dangerous. Charlie Kirk's assassination was meant to silence a movement. Instead, it ignited one.
Video Transcript
Over the last few days, I've been gathering my thoughts and choosing my words. I have a lot to say about the
assassination of Charlie Kirk, and I'm ready to share those thoughts. The show starts now.
[Music]
Like many of you, the assassination of Charlie Kirk hit me like a ton of bricks. I went from total shock and
disbelief to a deep heavy sorrow that's kind of hard to describe. In the immediate days after it happened, I
didn't feel like I had all the right words or maybe any words I had just didn't feel big enough for the weight of
the moment. What did bring me some comfort, at least initially, was seeing so many people from across the political
spectrum express their heartbreak and their outrage. And it reminded me that at our core, we're all still human. We
watched a 31-year-old man, a husband and a father be gunned down in front of our eyes. He was sitting peacefully in a
tent on a college campus offering himself up for dialogue and debate. And if that image, that video didn't shake
you to your core, you might need to look in the mirror and ask some hard questions about your own humanity. This
act of evil and hate hit far too close to home for me for many reasons. First
and foremost, I watched someone I knew and knew well be taken from this world and from his young family in an instant.
Watching that video be shared, re-shared, tweeted, posted made me
physically sick. But beyond the horror of witnessing it, this was deeply personal because I've known Charlie for
over a decade. We basically started in this space together. We found ourselves on the same mission, blazing a new path,
often side by side. And I'll never forget that Charlie was always my biggest cheerleader and I was his. And
back when we met, TPUSA events were small. His vision was just beginning to take shape and I was lucky to be a part
of it. Today, those events are like conservative rock concerts. But in the beginning, it was just Charlie and a few
committed patriots with an unmatched passion for this country. Truly, I won't
bore you with all the stories and memories I have from those early days, though I could go on and on. But I will
say this, many of the people who now have careers and platforms in conservative media wouldn't be where
they are without Charlie Kirk. He was a force in his own right, no doubt. But he
was equally committed to lifting up others. Early on, he told me he didn't
want to be the face of this thing. He just wanted to elevate those around him who could carry the mission forward.
That included me, and I'll never forget it. He was there for me when I got fired from the blaze for saying I was
pro-choice. He didn't agree with me, but he was there. He defended me against the
backlash from within our own movement, and I'll never ever forget that either.
Losing Charlie has left me feeling numb, not just because I lost a friend, but because I do what he did. I've stood on
stages at college campuses and wondered if I'd make it home. I've looked out at hostile crowds and the protesters
outside the doors and question whether the people who came to hear me would be safe. As much as I wish I could say this
hasn't made me think twice about doing public events, it has because I have a family. I have a husband. And I'd be
lying if I said I don't now re-evaluate my surroundings every single day wondering if I'll be next. But as shaken
as I am, I know this. We cannot stop. We cannot be intimidated. We cannot be
silenced. We must keep picking up the microphone, walking into the places where we're hated, and speaking anyway
because that's the only way we save this country. So, I'll keep going and I hope you will, too. Whatever platform you
have, whether it's your school, your city council meeting, your local school board, or just around your dinner table,
I hope you keep going. And if you haven't started yet, if fear has kept you quiet or afraid of being judged or
losing friends, I hope now is the moment you find your voice. Pick up the microphone, even if it starts with a
whisper. Do it for Charlie. Do it for America. Do it for yourself.
Another reason I haven't spoken fully on this until now is that I didn't want to speak from a place of rage. And trust
me, that's been hard because like many of you, the responses I've seen on social media made me furious, sick,
heartbroken, enraged. But I didn't want to add to the anger and the vitriel because there's more than enough of that
already. That said, I do want to say this to every anonymous troll, every media figure, every elected official who
spoke out about Charlie's and added a butt. Maybe it's time to log off and
reassess your humanity. Charlie didn't agree with you either. He didn't like your rhetoric, but he didn't want to
kill you. He wanted to debate you, and that was his crime. This idea that
because someone says something you don't like, that somehow they deserve to die. Well, that's morally bankrupt and it's
evil. And when you die, I hope no one is disgusting enough to say, "Well, condolences, but she said stuff I didn't
like." Or, "Sorry, but he was offensive." So, how the hell do we get
to a point where people, especially young people, genuinely believe that disagreeing with someone means they
should lose their life? It's sickening. But I still believe that those voices,
though loud and amplified by the algorithm, are not the majority. I choose to believe that most people are
heartbroken by what happened to Charlie. I choose to believe that even many on the left feel the same. and I'll have
more to say in the coming days, but for now, these are my thoughts. Rest in power, Charlie. We will carry the torch
forward. Joining me now with his personal reflections is Breitbart editor and chief, our friend, Alex Marlo. Alex,
thank you so much for taking the time. Um, I know like me, this has deeply impacted you. It's deeply impacted all
of us who do this for a living. So, I just want to give you a chance um with your your reflections now that we're a
few days removed and what you're feeling. Yeah, very powerful opening, Tommy. It's nice to talk to you, though. Always wish
it was better circumstances. Charlie got his start writing for me at Breitbart News. He came to us with a story when he
was a teenager about bias and textbooks. And you would know a bit about this, Tommy. He caught lightning in a bottle.
His first story, it was off the charts. We recommended to him, specifically my colleague Joel Pollock, that he ride it
up himself. He take that laboring ore and push his own story on our platform and he got on Fox News. He got elsewhere
and he got the bug and I I don't know if he'd started Turning Point yet. If it was, it was just a kernel and he used it
to grow it and it was pretty slow at first. I think it took a while for him to get momentum and then it seemed like
a lot of the momentum early on was maybe inspiring older people to feel like some younger people got it. But it wasn't
really until recent years that he fully, I believe, cracked the code on campuses.
And I think that's what provided the biggest threat to the left is that he had figured out how to do it. You show
up, you invite the lefties to come speak first. You don't lord it over them and tower over them in a suit and lecture
them. You speak to them on their level where they are. You go to their social media platforms, their preferred forums,
and go talk to them there. And that's what he was doing because he was a problem solver. and he had boundless
energy. He didn't just take over activism and podcasting, but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted more for this
country. And he was on a crusade from God. He was on a mission from God. And I was fortunate enough to get to know
Charlie as a person as well. And he was exactly the same as he came off in public minus I would say some of the
even he was but he was kinder. he was even more uh respectful of people and he
knew how to get attention and that's great and that's part of the currency in our culture now. Everyone wants it.
Charlie was really expert at doing it. But to echo your point it to you to anyone who is qualifying any kind words
they're saying or any sort of condemnation of political and religious violence, terrorism against people who
speak free freely on a campus. Any of you who are equivocating at all, you need to look yourself in the mirror and
you need to stop, put the microphone down and go sit down, have a seat, and let the adults talk because it is
enraging. I witnessed it in church over the weekend. It is stunning stuff where people feel the need to say, "I didn't
agree with everything he said." Go to heck. Honestly, no one agrees with everything anyone says. You don't agree
with everything your spouse says. You don't need to say that. We're not having assassinations in this country. And any of you don't see this clearly that this
political violence was inevitable. has been building up for a decade towards this. Tommy, you're right to be afraid
to be on campus. I've been afraid to be on campus for 20 years when I got when I was there at UC Berkeley planning events
and there's violence at the events. Charlie was braver than most and but this has to stop. It has to end.
Campuses cannot harbor left-wing terror. Yeah, there's so much there. Um I had a
lot of personal stories too that I I would love to share. Um I don't have the time to share them all. I was fortunate
enough to be included in the Fox News special over the weekend and I was able to share a couple of those there. And of
course, I had my photos from the earlier days. But just on that note, I will say to your point about Charlie and how he
was privately, you know, when we started this whole thing and especially ramping up for the 2016 election, Charlie and I
and Don Jr., we were kind of all three in sync and we did a lot together to try to elevate President Trump, especially
with young people and the students for Trump. And that was a big mission of his of course, but I remember Charlie as
somebody who always had a plan like and he was never defeated and it was always when they would count out President Trump or you know the Access Hollywood
tape came out and it felt like everything was over. Like he always had so much optimism and it was infectious.
And I I remember he was one of the people who you look to and it's like if Charlie's not shaken then I shouldn't be
shaken either. And he was a force in that way and of course it only grew. But
um everybody knows Charlie probably most in the last 5 years when he's had the
podcast and when he's been you know on television and speaking and in these mass events with Ampfest and all these
giant Turning Point USA events and those are wonderful and he built something incredible. But I will always remember
Charlie when you know people didn't really care that much and yeah they cared but it wasn't the rock star thing
like it wasn't like the fame and it wasn't like the influencers and all this it was just like a mission and he was so
dedicated to that mission and I'll never forget it. Um, I do want to talk to your point though about these this social
media. You know, initially when it happened, I mentioned it in my monologue. I was actually really
heartened to see how many people spoke out from across the political spectrum and like, oh my god, like this is a dark
day. But as is usually happens, within the next day, it like wore off and then
people's true colors started to come through and it was like, well, but look all the things that he said, you know, to your point, but but but I didn't
disagree with that. remember he said this and um I'm wondering why you think
that they feel the need to qualify their condolences that way. Why what at the
root at the core do you think motivates that? Unfortunately, I think it's pretty
simple. I think a lot of people in this country, as you alluded to in your opening statement, Tommy, is that they
believe that it is you should be punished by death for holding certain viewpoints and verbalizing them out loud
in this country. that they believe it is an appropriate way of dealing with people who hold religious and political
beliefs that you find uncomfortable, that it is okay to execute them publicly in front of their families. I don't see
any other way to to to frame it. And if that sounds harsh, then it is. It's
real. They've been wanting us dead for a long time. They hunted President Trump and we thanks to divine intervention, he
lived. But they hunted Steve Scaliz. They've hunted Ran Paul. They've made it so it's so hostile to have a uh crisis
pregnancy center in a lot of these leftwing areas, areas that are near universities. There's a demonic force
that is working on young people in this country, mostly online, mostly people who have lost touch with God. And
Charlie comes out and he's bringing a message of God and country peacefully to campus, verbalizing it in the most
common, respectful way you can. And that was really when it was just just too much. They had to take him out. They had
to it was just a matter of time. That's the issue that I want to state for people. It was just a matter of time
before they were going to take out one of our field generals because they're this committed to this war. Listen to them talk. They say by any means
necessary. They say it all the time. Chris Murphy said we were at war. That president the Oxford Union saying by any means necessary. I was on the Berkeley
campus 20 years ago. There's a group called by any means necessary that was pushing left-wing DEI values. Any means.
What does any means mean? This is what it means. Of course it's what it means.
Yeah. There's a lot, you know, to dig into there. Um, I would also say this,
I've done a lot of these campus speeches and, you know, they vary in in magnitude of the protests. I was just telling, you
know, the crew in here about when I went to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and that was the closest
I've ever had to like being truly afraid for my life. SWAT team, state police had
to be called in. I had to be, you know, escorted out of the back of a kitchen. It was dangerous. It was awful. I was
also worried about the people who came to hear me speak because they were worried about getting me out of there. And I'm like, well, they they want to
kill every single person that came in here to hear me though. But like, what about them? Um, and that's another
reality. But I I can't think of an instance, and maybe I'm wrong, but I can't think of an instance where on a
college campus a leftist came to speak and there was even really a sizable protest. I just can't think of a like a
I know I know one when I was in college like Hillary Clinton came we had you know several left-wingers come and speak and of course left-wingers always speak
at commencement addresses and prominent folks from you know elected Democrats to just I guess you would say left-wing
influencers whatever and I can't think of an instance where it's been like this is a dangerous event because event
conservatives are making it dangerous when they say and this is another thing that they use to qualify everything and
their filth is that well it's both sides both sides sides and they point to all the the January 6th both sides.
They have January 6th. Okay. To an extent, but I can't think of another instance where conservatives have sought
out to do what they do to us every time we show up.
Yeah. And the evidence played out over the weekend where you saw spontaneous grassroots visuals. Uh you saw people
peacefully demonstrating on behalf of Charlie, people announcing themselves as
conservatives and Christians, people returning to church. Uh that was how our side behaves. We saw how the left
behaves when they're when they feel a grieve. They riot. They loot. They smash windows. They smash and grab. I mean,
that's how that's their political expression. And the media will explain how that's legitimate political expression. And they'll explain that our
visuals are actually just some part of hatred or some sort of maggot. cancel culture or whatever they're doing. But
the thing is, no one believes it. It's really striking to see that there was the Emmys last night and you know, Steven Colbear got one of the big awards
and no one cares at all. And we did that. Charlie did that. You do that, Tommy. I do that at Breitbart. We We did
that. We neutralized their entire cultural clout by exposing them as
frauds who are out of touch with the public. And they live they're the ones who live in a bubble now. We're mainstream America and they're the
bubbled Americans. The problem is they're increasingly violent and they're a threat to us and it only takes it's
not one person. It was evildoers that Charlie, but it's probably a small sale of people got radicalized online and
they're the ones who maybe they work together. Maybe they just inspired the one guy. We'll learn all that as time
goes on. But there are radical people who are increasingly harboring violent thoughts towards us. But we are the
majority now. And not even the silent majority. We are the wildly outspoken majority.
I think we have to also have a conversation about what I think is at a
core of a lot of this is this this radical attachment to like the LGBTQIA
narrative. All right. Now, that's not to say that everybody in the LGBTQIA
faction community is violent or hateful or it's not the case and I know that and
you know that. with what we saw with this Catholic school shooting here in
Nashville at again the Christian school with a trans and then now you see what
this alleged shooter we're getting reports that he was in you know allegedly in a romantic relationship
with someone who identified as transgender and we know that when Charlie was assassinated he was talking
about transgenders and gun violence. Okay. So, I think that not to say that
we're going to say that this community is responsible for all of this. They're
not. But this LGBTQIA fringe stuff, the Rainbow Mafia is what
I call it. Yeah. I don't think we can ignore that for a lot of young people, this has replaced
religion for them. Like this, you cannot criticize, especially trans, like this is a point
for them. And I understand where they might feel like if someone's marginalized, they got to stick up for them. But it's become like they've
become zealots for it certainly. And there is a trans death cult that's going on. It's not all trans
people are in it. Um though I do think that it it we need to talk about whether or not trans is is a legitimate thing or
whether or not it's just a mental health disturbance. Uh but it is there is a group that's organizing online and
people have replaced God and they've with the internet and on the internet they're learning that the key to their
problems is to try to change their gender or to do furry behavior or pup play or whatever they're doing and I
think a lot of it's live action roleplay for some people but for some people it's not. For some people it's real and they
think that this is the way to carry out their this is their path to internal peace and it's not. It's absolutely not.
But yet they genuinely feel that way as evidenced by what happened to Charlie. I'm guessing this guy was either he was
in love with some trans person or he's trying to avenge some wrong that he thought Charlie had committed. And that
is so perverse. It's so out of touch with reality. We need to be much more proactive about trying to stop it. And
there's free speech in this country, but law enforcement needs to be surveilling these platforms and understanding if
there really is some sort of violent tendencies that are coming from certain areas of the internet. And we need to be
reaching people in our lives, particularly it seems like young males. I mean, let's be fair here, young males in particular, they need to be reached
and they need to be discussed that this is not how you solve problems. And a lot of that starts young. It starts with the
church. Starts with more solid community, solid families. A lot of work to be done.
I can't help but think, too, that for a lot of these individuals, anybody who carries out something so horrific and
violent and inhumane, they've got to have something wrong up here. Um, even
if you dislike somebody, there's got to be something that's not clocking correctly that makes you go out and do
something like this. But when I look at a lot of these young people that carry out whatever, whether it's a school
shooting or it's an assassination or whatever it is, you look at Thomas Krooks with President Trump, like it
feels like when you look at a lot of these individuals, maybe there's also a kernel of like a self-hatred there where
it's like I hate myself. I don't see value in my life, but if I do something
that I've been told is for the advancement of society because these other people are evil. If I do this, my
life will be worth something. And I think that goes back to all like the school shooters and all of that. But I think that there's something in here for
these young people where it's like their educators, their administrators, social media, their media figures have told
them, well, Trump supporters and, you know, traditional Christian people, like they're hateful, they're intolerant,
they're a threat. you must neutralize them and then your life will be worth something. Well, this is part of why it's so urgent
to get involved now because I think that's precisely right. I think that this person who
Charlie is an aunt and Charlie's a giant and I think that for young males I think
that's very striking how much Charlie was able to accomplish that he's he's big on campuses. He's big on Tik Tok.
He's big on Instagram. He's got a big activist outlet. He's helping pick the people in the White House. He's going to
help Trump buy Greenland. He's Oh, and he's got a beautiful family, too. That's too much. I can't handle it. And so,
I'll never have a fraction of that. So, what do I do about it? And people who are out of touch with God and don't have
a strong family and don't have a meaningful career, they might find really perverse ways of dealing with
that jealousy. And so that's why uh we need to go to church and that's why we need to spend time communing with nature
and being with our a strong community and being with a strong family because
it it's hard for people who are completely lost to rationalize things like that. And I think that that does
inspire hatred in people who have evil in their heart. There's been a lot of folks mentioning
this, but I think it's a really interesting point to think about. You know, a lot of
the the reasons that people dislike Charlie or hated Charlie, especially in this situation, is like the what they
perceived as like anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ, right? But these same people that are
pro-LGBTQ, they call themselves what the queers for Palestine. They also within the same
breath are free Palestine and Hamas is great and they love radical Islam and they love fundamentalist Islam and and
all of that, but yet they hate Charlie because they perceived him as like anti-trans, anti-gay.
I we we know that there's a big disconnect here. But I'm wondering because I've been thinking about it a lot like how can they be the same people
that are queers for Palestine but also Charlie Kirk was anti-trans, he must be
taken out. like how did they rationalize that in their brain, do you think? Okay, so first of all, let me speak
directly to the gays in the audience today. You've got to run from the T's, the L's and the G's. You've got to run
from the T's. It's time. We've all been thinking about it for 15 years that why did the T's get lumped in with the L's
and the G's. You guys have got to run and say we're not with the T's anymore is that's a completely different thing.
We're not going there. So, I think it's really important to do that because Charlie was very respectful of gay
people. I just heard Dave Rubin talking about this, saying how Charlie would would politely tell Dave that he did not
agree with his lifestyle and think gay should be married, but they were still friends because Charlie had polite
disagreements. And so I think this is a big deal. So when Charlie saying there's only two genders, that offends people in
the trans community, but he's not anti-gay at all. He's not even necessarily anti-trans at a human level.
I don't think he denies you humanity. He wasn't out there saying we need to take up violence. We were just saying that we
need to we can't be coaching and grooming younger people to think that's
the solution to their problems when there's no evidence that people who transition are getting any happier. And
a lot of them are dransitioning now. And Charlie was very good about platforming people who had viewpoints like Khloe
Kohl's who was a dransitioner. Charlie introduced me to Khloe and I got to meet Kloe through Charlie because Charlie was
keenly aware of this stuff and he had a more nuanced viewpoint on it. And maybe you didn't agree, but in America, we're
supposed to celebrate that. We're supposed to celebrate diversity of ideas and we're supposed to use that to try to
grow our knowledge by hearing from people who are passionate about a certain thing. And we don't always have
to agree. And that's why it's so repulsive when all these people are equivocating and trying to make this
point that, "Oh, I didn't agree with everything Charlie said whenever they're," but we pray for him. No, don't say that. We don't agree with everything
anyone says. And so, why do we feel compelled to do that? Because we're afraid. We're afraid of the violent left
and that they might cancel us or even attack us. And we have to stop that. Yeah. Well, and I feel like just kind of
from 2020 till now, you know, in 2020, if you wanted a conservative to shut up,
it was through cancel culture. It was, well, we'll just make them lose their job, right? That was the thing. They'll
lose their job. They'll lose their fame. We'll cancel them that way. And then that started to fade away because cancel
culture was defeated. Even those on the left realized that cancel culture was ridiculous. And because a lot of folks
on the left were swept up in it, right? So then it started to matter to them and then all of a sudden they were like no cancel culture we don't believe in that
anymore and so those people that found it effective to cancel people with from their jobs from their platforms from
their influence then they I feel like those people of course the zealots they had to take it to the next level and
it's like well cancel culture didn't work so this is the only other thing we can do is physical violence and I I I've
seen the leap in the last 2 three years it seems to me very clear and very obvious is that this
is like, well, that wasn't enough, so now here we are. The alternative to free speech is much
worse. And that's what we've witnessed. And so if you're opposing free speech, then what are you for? And is it is it
you're for nothing? That's not realistic because people want to express themselves and they want to express disagreement. So either we're expressing
it peacefully by sitting in a t-shirt and calmly dialoguing with people with
whom we differ or you're using the barrel of a gun. And so that's the choice that we have as a country. And
people who don't see that clearly at this point, I I I don't have time for them, Tommy. Neither do you. We got a
country to save here and we're trying to. But we need to be aware of them because they're out there and they're
lurking at the moment trying to figure out who's their next target. Last thing I want to talk about is on a
more positive note, of course, we've seen not only the TPUSA signups exploding on high school and college
campuses, we're going to see obviously a huge remembrance ceremony for Charlie on
Sunday in an NFL stadium that's going to be filled to capacity. So, there are a
lot of bright spots in this tragedy showing, you know, how much compassion and humanity that there is and how the
conservative movement really has grown. But I would also say this, kind of the same way as when President Trump was
almost assassinated or when he was elected, you saw a bit of a shift in sports teams, popular culture, you know,
those conservatives who had been quiet for a long time because they didn't want to delve into politics. They felt as
though they had to say something. And we're seeing that now. We're seeing a number of people, you know, you see a
Dodgers pitcher with Charlie Kirk on the side of his cap. You see, of course, country artists coming out and talking
about the Kirk family at their concerts, but you also see these sports teams who
are putting Charlie and memoriam to Charlie up on on a jumbotron. That would have never happened,
I would say, pre2024. I I think that that's a positive change
that at least I'm noticing from all of this. Yeah. And it's a great note to end on because it's this is the bigger point of
the two. the the left is at war with us on a spiritual and ideological level. We
need to make sure that we're not adding to the violence, but that we are protected against them and we're taking precautions necessary so that we can
continue to grow our movement. But the main takeaway from this weekend is the positivity. Uh I've got to know Charlie
for since he was a teenager and I was in touch with him on a daily basis. I was a weekly guest on his podcast and he was
one of my number one allies in media and activism and I was one of his top
allies. I had no idea he was this powerful. I knew he was powerful. I had no idea that we would see this
outpouring of love and emotion and respect and understanding of what he actually stood for from people from
country artists to athletes to elected leaders around the world. We're talking South America. We're talking Europe.
We're talking Asia. People understanding the power of his message. This is fantastic and we have to write it. Your
point about the the graph you just showed with 32,000 new applications for Turning Point uh uh chapters. It'll be
international now. It'll be on every continent. There were 4,000 chapters before was assassinated. That's amazing
news. People are going to go back to church. People are going to start thinking about living a more godly life. People are going to propose to their
girlfriends and boyfriends to try to start creating that family that Charlie was advocating for. We're going to see
people observing the Sabbath as Charlie did even though he was a Christian. One of these things that we're going to see
is a a a coupling of spirituality and
politics where people are going to start reconsidering the fact that America's founding was divinely inspired. If we
are exceptional countries, I believe we are. Then you have to look at the evidence of what was informing our
founding fathers and just the sheer miracle that these brilliant individuals were all walking the earth at the same
time in roughly the same geographical area and they got together and they pulled off this incredible revolution
that became America. Charlie understood all that and I think that that's where we go from here and that is wildly
positive. I I'll final thing I'll say is I have the dubious honor of having been
at Andrew Breitbart's right hand and when he passed away and being close with Charlie when he was assassinated and
there's without a doubt that Andrew's legacy grew exponentially because he died too young. We miss him. I wish he
was here. I would pay any amount of money to see how he would have reacted to the Trump phenomenon and have had his
leadership over the last decade. but his legacy is vast and it includes Charlie and that's what it's going to be like
for Charlie Kirk and I'm proud to have known him and I can't wait to see what good we're all going to do in his place.
I think that's a great point. I would also say you know to my earlier point in my monologue there I think there are a
lot of people especially people with public platforms not in politics but in sports and music and entertainment. I
think that they feel that, you know, enough is enough and they've been quiet for so long and then they see someone
literally take a bullet for what they believe in and then it almost flips a switch in them like, "Wow, if this
person can go do this and die really for his beliefs, then how come I can't even
speak up?" Um, I think that changed a lot of minds and I think that's a positive part of this and I hope that
they'll remember that because you know for so long conservatives have felt like they had to be quiet and you know you
know the which ones are conservatives if they're you know a public figure because they don't say anything because the
liberals are always more than happy to broadcast it which good for them right I'm happy that they feel proud of themselves and their beliefs but it
should be on the other side as well and I think that's another thing that Charlie inspired in his life and now of
course with his tragic passing. Uh, Alex, you're the perfect person to have to remember Charlie for this episode.
Thank you so much and I'll talk to you soon, my friend. Thank you, Tommy. Thank you. All right, folks. That does
it for this episode of Tommy Lren is Fearless. I want to leave you with this. To my fellow conservatives, I know it's
easy and it's natural to be angry and to be enraged. I feel it, too. But I ask that we try our best to take the high
road in all of this. that we remember our faith and our godliness as we talk about and respond to what is a lot of
filth and a lot of evil coming from the other side, especially on social media. We should strive to take the high road.
I think Charlie would have wanted that. Please be sure to tune in live tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern. I'm going to have uh
my typical liberal Tuesday. A lot to talk about with the other side. Please catch full episodes on Fox Nation and
Outkick and of course the YouTube channel, Tommy Lairis Fearless from Nashville. God bless and take care. Hey,
thanks for watching. For more of my hottest takes, mustsea conversations, and of course, my final thoughts, click
right here. And don't forget to subscribe. Just click right here so you never miss a beat. I will be here every
weekday, and I hope you'll join me. [Applause] [Music]
