A dark day: Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative activist (and father of two), was murdered yesterday at a campus speaking event in Utah. We seem to be entering an era of heightened political violence. It is profoundly, disturbingly sad. And it may have consequences we cannot yet know.
Kirk was fiery, passionate, and provocative. He valued the art of persuasion, of discourse, of changing a mind or letting your own be molded, as it so often is, by fierce exchange. He was a great evangelist for the conservative cause, launching Turning Point USA back in 2012, just a year or two before that wave of wokeness really infiltrated, with backing from former Tea Party types. His sense of timing was impeccable.
He took young people seriously and saw college campuses as the ideological incubators that they are—for good ideas, and for toxic ones. As he grew up, he modeled the values he professed: He was a married father of two young children, and a devout Christian. He returned to college campuses—like Utah Valley University, where he was yesterday—even as he amassed more and more fame, featuring a "Prove Me Wrong" table at these events, where he'd invite some students to debate him.
