Charlie Kirk, an ally of US President Donald Trump and a well-known conservative activist, was shot dead at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
Kirk, 31, became famous as one of the leading voices in an increasingly powerful cast of populist conservative podcasters and social media personalities. His events at universities, challenging students to debate him on politics and culture, drew thousands of attendees.
Kirk spoke widely on the Middle East, including on Islam, Israel’s war on Gaza, Jeffrey Epstein and the recent Iran conflict.
The populist conservative movement has split over Israel’s genocide in Gaza, with some of Kirk’s colleagues and friends, like Tucker Carlson, taking a more vocal position against Israeli atrocities.
Kirk proudly espoused that he was an Evangelical Christian Zionist and generally backed Israel’s onslaught.
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“I have a bulletproof resume showing my defence of Israel,” he said. “I believe in the scriptural land rights given to Israel. I believe in fulfilment of prophecy. My life was changed in Israel,” he said, adding that he would “fight for” Israel.
Kirk regularly reiterated Israeli talking points about Gaza, blaming Hamas for Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
As the besieged enclave descended into famine, Kirk spotlighted defenders of Israel on his podcast and accused The New York Times and other so-called “mainstream media” outlets of erroneously criticising Israel.
In one case, Kirk advanced Israeli talking points about a photograph of a young Palestinian child who was born during the war and suffered from malnutrition. Reports claimed that the child suffered from Cerebral Palsy, which defenders of Israel, including Kirk, used to attack claims that Gaza was in famine.
But Kirk stoked controversy well before Israel’s genocide in Gaza, where nearly 65,000 Palestinians have been killed so far.
Islamophobic remarks
Kirk advocated for an “American way of life” based on what he called “Christendom.” He consistently framed his vision for the US using deeply Islamophobic language, such as saying he didn’t want his children living in the US to hear the Muslim call to prayer.
“The spiritual battle is coming to the West and the enemies are woke-ism or Marxism combining with Islamism to go after what we call the American way of life,” Kirk said.
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Kirk used deeply offensive and Islamophobic language when discussing the Prophet Mohammad, whom he called “a warlord” and “pedophile” who engaged in “rape”.
While Kirk staunchly defended Israel, as the genocide in Gaza accelerated and other conservative social media personalities began to criticise Israel, Kirk pushed back against pro-Israel voices who labelled them “antisemites”.
On the Megyn Kelly Show in August, Kirk told his fellow conservative commentator, “You are not allowed” to criticise Israel, and complained that his “moral character is being put into question” for not agreeing to every issue with Israel, even as he said the country was fighting against “Islamic totalitarianism”.
“If I have any deviation of a purity test…it is all the sudden, ‘Charlie is no longer with us’,” Kirk said, referring to Israel.
Iran quagmire
Kirk, however, broke with pro-Israel voices in the US on two key issues and courted some controversy by hosting conservative influencers who have labelled Israel’s atrocities in Gaza a genocide.
When Israel attacked Iran in June, Kirk questioned the logic of the US intervening in the conflict.
He also gave a generally accurate description of how the US manipulated previous Iranian governments before the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, stoking anti-American sentiment.
“We displaced the democratically elected leader Mosaddegh and put in the Shah, which of course led to the ayatollahs of Iran,” he said, referring to former Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who was ousted in a US-orchestrated coup in 1953. The US-backed shah of Iran was then overthrown in 1979.
Kirk openly questioned whether Israel’s stated logic for the conflict with Iran in June – preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons – was a US priority.
“Is a nuclear Iran a threat to America? Probably, could be. It is a threat to Israel, but is it a threat to America? I mean, India has nuclear weapons, Pakistan has nuclear weapons?” Kirk said. “Is it worth another potential war with Iran? The people who are, let’s just say, advocates for preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon by all means necessary, they are the same architects of the Iraq war.”
“Iran would have the potential to be the worst Middle East quagmire of all time,” Kirk added.
Jeffrey Epstein and foreign intelligence
Like other conservative podcasters, Kirk took up the case of releasing the files related to convicted billionaire and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who at one time counted US President Donald Trump as a friend. Trump disavowed Epstein many years ago and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Trump has, however, sought to prevent the release of documents related to Epstein’s case, which he calls a “hoax”.
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Congressional Republicans have widely supported the president, but Trump ally and Maga icon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has teamed up with Democratic Senator Ro Khanna and Republican Tom Massie to demand the files be released.
Epstein died in 2019 while being held at the New York Metropolitan Correctional facility. His death is officially a suicide, but Kirk and other podcasters have questioned that judgment.
Epstein had close ties to UK publisher Robert Maxwell, a known Mossad asset, and Les Wexner, the Victoria’s Secret CEO who helped found an organisation that promoted pro-Israel voices in lobbying and philanthropy.
In the 1980s, Epstein also had ties to Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who coordinated with US and Israeli officials during the 1980s Iran-Contra affair.
Kirk, like others on the conservative right, raised questions about Epstein’s ties to foreign intelligence agencies. Up until his assassination, Kirk said he was lobbying Trump to release all the files related to the case.
“First of all, the evidence [sic] shows that Epstein was a creation of either Mossad, Israeli intelligence, American intelligence, Saudi intelligence, or maybe he was just a hired gun…that countries would go to,” Kirk said.
Current and former Israeli officials have widely dismissed any allegations that Epstein worked with Mossad.
While Kirk positioned himself as an ardent defender of Israel, he more recently showed a willingness to engage with other conservative commentators deeply critical of Israel, such as Jewish American comedian David Smith, who has regularly criticised Israel for conducting a genocide in Gaza and lobbied the US to stop sending arms to the country.
Kirk’s hosting of Smith and lobbying for the release of the Epstein files put him in the crosshairs of Trump ally and far-right influencer, Laura Loomer.
“I don’t ever want to hear @charliekirk11 claim he is pro-Trump ever again,” Loomer wrote on X in August. “Lately, Charlie has decided to behave like a charlatan, claiming to be pro-Trump one day while he stabs Trump in the back the next.”
