The Killing of Charlie Kirk and the Rise of Political Violence

查理·柯克的遇害与政治暴力的兴起

The Journal.

2025-09-12

18 分钟
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Charlie Kirk, the provocative conservative influencer and confidant of President Trump, was shot and killed yesterday. He was 31. WSJ’s Aaron Zitner reports on how Kirk quickly rose to become a prominent figure in conservative politics and where things stand with the investigation into his death. He also discusses the alarming recent rise of political violence in American life. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and influencer, was shot and killed yesterday.

  • He was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.

  • Charlie Kirk was doing what he was famous for doing for more than 10 years now.

  • That's my colleague Aaron Zittner, who covers national politics.

  • He was on a college campus, directly engaging college students, talking to them.

  • and using his signature move of saying he would debate all comers.

  • Get comfortable, bring the best lives that Utah has to offer.

  • Prove me wrong was his slogan,

  • and that's what you saw on the tent he was sitting under at the time he was killed.

  • Prove me wrong,

  • a challenge to engage people in conversation with the confidence he had that he could persuade them to the conservative point of view.

  • Kirk was on the first stop of what was to be a fall college speaking tour called the American Comeback Tour.

  • He was shot onstage around midday.

  • The shooter fired one shot and is still at large.

  • Kirk is among many victims of political violence in the U.S. in recent years.

  • We're all just pausing once again.

  • Americans have grappled.

  • with a large series of political violence.

  • And that's a real problem.

  • Everyone in public life is living under this cloud of uncertainty and the threat of violence now.