I first met Charlie Kirk in a hotel lobby in Los Angeles in 2017. I had emailed him a few times suggesting we should work together, and he mostly brushed me off or ignored the inquiries. I was doing communications work and had heard rumors of this young “up-and-comer” with “boundless energy” who was trying to take back college campuses for conservatives.
After a bout of bad press, he finally replied and asked to meet, and as we shook hands that very first time, the first thing I noticed was just how tall he was! At 65″, Charlie naturally towered over nearly everyone, but somehow his presence made him seem even larger.
The next thing I remember were his eyes that seemed to dart all around the room. He managed to talk directly to you while also perceiving everything and everyone else around him simultaneously. He seemed to multitask by nature, a unique skill I would come to marvel at in years to come.
He was also very deliberate. You could tell that Charlie hated wasting time. Without being rude, he wanted to get right into the meat of the discussion, and as we talked, it was impossible not to notice his oversized suit, the dress shoes that seemed more appropriate for a 70-year-old man, or his overall Midwestern disdain for trends.
But something about this 23-year-old kid was just, well, different.
When he spoke, I believed him. In a political world full of talkers who put style above substance, Charlie was the opposite. I could tell he was willing to work his tail off.
By the end of that meeting, we decided to work together, and thus a partnership and a friendship that would grow and expand over the next eight years began right then and there. Thats how Charlie worked. When he made up his mind, he moved.
In 2019, Charlie and I launched The Charlie Kirk Show. It was supposed to be a once-a-week podcastâhow could a man as busy as Charlie do more? But Charlie was always exceptional. Once a week morphed during COVID-19 into three, then five, then sometimes 10 episodes a week. Soon, it became a nationally syndicated radio program as well, and in 2022, it became a wildly successful television program.
I have heard Charlie described in many ways over the last year, but one of my favorites comes from Blake Neff, one of our producers and a regular co-host. He describes Charlie as being the highest-agency person hes ever known, and hes right. Most people have great intentions, but Charlie possessed one of the rarest of all virtuesâfollow-through.
BENNY JOHNSON RECALLS HOW CHARLIE KIRK HELPED HIS FAMILY AFTER ARSON DESTROYED THEIR DC HOME
It was almost as if he could manifest things by sheer will.
He wanted to win back young people as an 18-year-old with zero money, zero connections and zero idea what he was doing, so he founded TPUSA. He wante
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