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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3514 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 14, 2025

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Was anyone here very familiar with Charlie Kirk before the assassination in terms of his politics, his media activity, and such, and if so, do you know of any good primary resources that would be good as an introduction for someone with very little familiarity of the guy? I do believe strongly that, regardless of whom or what, if someone is murdered for their speech, that speech automatically earns status as being worthy of listening to, and I realized I wasn't living up to my principles. I barely heard about the guy before and just knew him as a conservative media figure with a lot of influence on college campuses with his debate tents, and that he was quite Christian, but beyond that, I had no clue. Even pre-, but especially post-assassination, I figure that only direct, primary sources are trustworthy wrt his beliefs and behaviors, so I figured I'd check out the TP USA site & YouTube channel, but I was also wondering if anyone knew of a particularly representative or condensed resource for media of him.

This is not a primary resource, but I found it informative for the things he did “offline”:

https://scholarstage.substack.com/p/bullets-and-ballots-the-legacy-of

Charlie Kirk was not just a piece of internet bombast; his main field of action, in fact, was not on the internet. Kirk was one of the most effective institution-builders and coalition-crafters in the United States. He was less an influencer than a power broker; everyone in MAGAland acknowledged the leadership role he played in building and holding together Trump’s coalition

TPUSA was a leadership incubator for a generation of conservative activists. His success with TPUSA made him a favorite of the Republican donor class. His show gave him a ready excuse to interview politicians, think tankers, and media personalities across the right. All of this gave Kirk an impeccable Rolodex—he had access to a vast network of conservatives who mattered and an unerring eye for up-and-comers who should matter. He was constantly connecting politicians with donors, statesmen with staffers, and media outfits with the next brilliant young producer or marketer. There are a good four dozen people in the Trump administration who owe their appointments to an introduction Kirk made on their behalf—and this was true not only of the Trump administration, but also across Congress, in state governments, and in news agencies like Fox News.

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