The Toxic Legacy of Charlie Kirk and His Followers
By Trinity Barnette
Charlie Kirk made a career out of pushing extreme ideas, from defending gun violence to normalizing harmful rhetoric. It’s wild—and terrifying—to think people actually listened to him. Now, reflecting on his influence, it’s clear that some of his statements were so reckless they could’ve justified the consequences he faced.
I have a lot to say about Kirk, but before anyone jumps into my comments ready to defend him, I want to educate you on who this man actually was. Once you see his record in full, you’ll understand why I refuse to feel bad—and why his so-called “legacy” deserves to be exposed.
The Brand He Built
Kirk loved to frame himself as the bold young voice of conservatism, but his “movement” was never grassroots. It was billionaire-backed theater. He dropped out of Harper College after one semester, and with major donor money, launched Turning Point USA in 2012. What should’ve been a student-led project quickly turned into an empire of harassment campaigns and culture war gimmicks.
At his infamous “Prove Me Wrong” tables on college campuses, he built a persona out of arguing with undergrads half his age. Under his watch, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) created the Professor Watchlist, a site that doxxed educators who dared to challenge conservative orthodoxy, painting them as “radicals.” Professors who landed on the list reported harassment, threats, and targeted campaigns against them. It wasn’t about debate—it was about intimidation.
And while Kirk claimed to be “pro-life,” his record shows otherwise. At a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Faith event, he declared:
“The cost of some gun deaths annually is worth it to maintain the Second Amendment and protect other rights.” (ABC News)
Let’s be clear: he wasn’t just “pro-gun.” He literally said bloodshed was a necessary cost for the ideology he worshipped. So when people clutch their pearls and say “he shouldn’t have died that way”—this is exactly the world he wanted. Kirk advocated for public executions, defended preventable deaths as acceptable, and doubled down on cruelty as policy. Now his own death, captured on video, is the final proof that words have consequences.
That is the brand he built. That is the legacy his followers defend.
Core Ideologies & Rhetoric
Christian Nationalism
Kirk started out poking fun at evangelical conservatives, but quickly realized Christian nationalism was a gold mine for building his audience. He shifted hard, declaring:
“There is no separation of church and state. It’s made up by secular humanists.” (ABC News)
Under his watch, Turning Point Faith recruited pastors and churches into the MAGA movement. He didn’t just blur church and state—he wanted one to run the other.
Anti-LGBTQ Rhetoric
Kirk consistently painted LGBTQ+ rights as an “agenda,” calling marriage equality, drag shows, and trans rights threats to society. ABC News even listed “criticism of gay rights” as one of his defining stances.
Kirk built much of his brand on demonizing queer and trans people, with some of his most extreme statements documented by The Advocate (full list here).
Direct quotes include:
On trans people: “There’s a direct connection to inflation and the trans issue.” (April 2022 podcast)
On hate crimes: “It should be legal to burn a rainbow or BLM flag in public… we should overturn every conviction for those arrested [for it]. (2025 Post)
On trans identity: called trans people a “throbbing middle finger to God” and deadnamed swimmer Lia Thomas, telling her “you’re an abomination to God.” (USA TODAY)
On doctors: “We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor.” (April 2024 podcast, Media Matters clip)
Kirk didn’t just criticize policy. He actively campaigned for cruelty. When you call LGBTQ people a “throbbing middle finger to God” or say doctors who provide gender-affirming care deserve Nuremberg trials, you’re not debating. You’re advocating persecution. He wrapped his hate in Bible verses, and his followers ate it up.
Misogyny and Women’s Rights
On his podcast and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) stages, Kirk routinely told women their place:
To Taylor Swift: “Reject feminism. Submit to your husband… You’re not in charge.” (Hindustan Times)
On careers vs. family: women chasing careers are fueling “fertility collapse.” (Economic Times)
On birth control: it makes women “angry and bitter” and “screws up female brains.” (Hindustan Times)
Guns and Violence
At a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Faith event, Kirk said:
“The cost of some gun deaths annually is worth it to maintain the Second Amendment and protect other rights.” (ABC News)
At a separate strategy meeting, he doubled down:
“You’re not going to get gun deaths to zero… an honest, reductionist view of gun violence is necessary.” (YouTube)
Public Executions
On his podcast, Kirk said executions should be:
“Death penalties should be public, should be quick, it should be televised. I think at a certain age, its an initiation.”(Newsweek)
At a live event, he went further, suggesting public executions “for certain heinous crimes,” naming the accused billionaire assassin Luigi Mangione as an example (clip via Youtube Shorts).
Race and History
Kirk often downplayed systemic racism, attacked DEI programs, and even criticized Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Guardian documented his inflammatory takes (source).
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.” (January 23, 2024)
“If you’re a WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian, do you get treated better than a United States marine?” (December 8, 2022)
“Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.” (May 19, 2023)
“If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?” (January 3, 2024)
“If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. Now they’re coming out and they’re saying it for us … You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.” (July 13, 2023)
Mocking George Floyd
For years, Kirk and his followers mocked George Floyd—a man who was publicly murdered with a knee on his neck while begging for his life. They turned his death into a punchline, into memes, into talking points. They called him a thug, an addict, and tried to erase the fact that he was a human being killed on camera.
So forgive me if I don’t have sympathy for Charlie Kirk. The same crowd that laughed at Floyd’s last breaths now expects the world to mourn a man who defended public executions and called gun deaths a “necessary cost.” The hypocrisy is staggering.
January 6th and Misinformation
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) helped bus students to the January 6th rally that turned into an insurrection. When the Jan. 6 Committee came calling, Kirk pleaded the Fifth. He also amplified Trump’s election fraud lies across his platforms.
Words Have Consequences
You can’t spend years spreading hate, mocking victims, and calling for public executions and expect immunity from the very violence you normalized. Kirk built his empire on the idea that some lives are expendable, that cruelty is an acceptable form of politics, and that death itself could be entertainment if wrapped in ideology.
On September 10, 2025, that logic caught up with him. He was shot and killed during a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) debate event, his death captured on video and broadcast to the same world where he once argued that children should witness executions. I’m not saying assassination is “right”—it’s not. But it is understandable. Words have consequences, and Kirk himself said that preventable deaths were a “necessary cost.” By his own standards, he got exactly the world he fought for.
The Ultimate Irony
For years, Kirk fantasized about bringing back public executions. He said they should be fast, televised, and even suggested that children should watch. He treated state violence as moral theater, something society needed more of.
And then, in the most twisted full-circle moment imaginable, he was killed in public—shot dead during a debate, the footage spreading instantly online. The man who openly endorsed public executions ended up starring in one.
That’s not just irony. That’s proof of how words, once unleashed, don’t stay in neat little boxes. He spoke a violent worldview into existence, and eventually, he couldn’t outrun it.
Raw Reflections
At the end of the day, this really isn’t complicated: don’t be a terrible person. Don’t spend your life mocking murder victims, dehumanizing women and LGBTQ people, or saying that some deaths are just “worth it.” Because if you do, don’t be surprised when the same energy you put out into the world comes back for you.
Kirk chose cruelty as his brand. He chose hate as his legacy. And that’s why I can’t feel bad now. Words matter, ideas have consequences, and the world is already too heavy with violence to excuse people who cheer it on.
So if there’s one takeaway from his story, it’s this: be better. Don’t let grievance and hate eat up your humanity. You don’t have to like everyone—but you don’t have to make cruelty your personality either.
At the same time, let’s get something straight: just because someone dies tragically does not magically make them a good person. Stop spreading that narrative. Death doesn’t erase a lifetime of choices. Kirk built his platform on cruelty, and that doesn’t get washed away just because he met a violent end. You can acknowledge his death without pretending he was anything other than what he showed us he was.
