Friends, Co-Workers Remember Charlie Kirk
Kaelan Dorr, White House deputy communications director, recalled how Charlie Kirk once prayed for him in the hallway of the Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. Kirk, he said, was great at “connecting human beings” and ensuring them they aren’t alone.
In honor of Kirk, Dorr said, we need to “embolden young conservatives, young Christians.” He continued:
[Kirk] would want you to go find five people who don’t believe in Jesus that day and give them a good lecturing and walk them through everything in a way that is respectful and is grounded in fact…There was this incredible hope at the core of Charlie’s character, that you could solve so many problems just by communicating with people. Like if he wanted to introduce somebody to God, he would just go and talk to them.
Taylor Budowich, White House deputy chief of staff, said that Kirk “has become a titan whose inspiration will move through eternity, inspiring millions of people for decades to come.”
Regarding Kirk’s use and knowledge of Scripture, Budowich said, “Charlie understood both the compassion of the Bible [and] the honesty and truth-telling of the Bible.” The slain activist realized “you don’t have to be nasty, you can be compassionate, but you should tell the truth,” added Budowich.
Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” told J.D. Vance that Club America, Turning Point USA’s high school initiative, now has 37,000 applications for new chapters.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who started a Turning Point USA chapter while attending college in New Hampshire, said Kirk taught her to stand firm on the side of truth. Leavitt, an outspoken Christian, said she prays before every press briefing and tries to model Kirk’s approach of “[combatting] the lies with facts, and to do it with a smile.”
Tucker Carlson: Charlie Kirk’s Faith Was ‘Totally Sincere’
Political commentator Tucker Carlson told Vice President J.D. Vance that he learned a lot from Kirk, despite Kirk’s youth. “The main thing that I learned from him was how to disagree with people on topics that you take very seriously and that they take very seriously without hating them, without feeling bitterness,” said Carlson.
Kirk’s “commitment to Jesus was totally sincere,” Carlson said, noting that isn’t always the case for public figures. “[Faith] informed every single part of [Kirk’s] life,” Carlson said, “from his marriage, to the way he treated his children, to the way he treated his staff, to the way he approached disagreement, to the way he thought of other people, which was always primarily as people first.”
Vance agreed, saying Kirk “treated everybody with respect, because he genuinely loved people, and he genuinely wanted their salvation. He wanted them to have a relationship with God. He wanted them to know the truth.”
Carlson warned, “Now is exactly the wrong time to appropriate the memory of [Kirk]…and use it for your own parochial ends.” Instead, he urged people to honor Kirk by maintaining a spirit of love for others, “including people we disagree with.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described Kirk as “the primary architect of my unification with President Trump.” The secretary said he and Kirk found common ground in their opposition to censorship and religious-freedom violations during the pandemic.
Kirk understood that “open debate” was key to bridging gaps between people, RFK Jr. said. He also noted that Kirk “would revolt” against the polarization and censorship that has been occurring since his death. “He hated censorship,” said the secretary, and believed “the answer is conversation and dialogue.”
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles explained that much of the Trump administration has Kirk’s “imprint” on it. Although nobody can replace Kirk, she said, his successors will need to excel at “engaging [people] where they are.”
Vance agreed, saying conservatives can’t let Kirk’s “mantle be discarded,” which would equate to “the assassin winning.”
