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It’s no overstatement to say that Charlie Kirk’s powerful reach and influence among conservatives helped put President Donald Trump back in the White House.
Kirk, the MAGA world rock star and ally of Trump and the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., turned the extremely influential Turning Point USA youth organization that he co-founded at age 18 into a voter turnout machine for Trump in last year’s presidential election.
“His mission was to bring young people into the political process, which he did better than anybody ever,” the president said of his close friend and ally, in a video posted to social media hours after Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday.
Vice President JD Vance, who was also very close to Kirk, highlighted his friend’s efforts in the 2024 campaign and in advising the Trump-Vance administration this year.
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Charlie Kirk and JD Vance greet supporters at the end of a campaign rally on May 1, 2022, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (Drew Angerer)
“He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government,” Vance wrote in a statement on social media.
Turning Point Action, the political arm of Kirk’s conservative youth organization, was instrumental in boosting younger voter turnout for Trump in last year’s White House race.
“Charlie was such an amazing guy. He really captured the youth, the imagination of the youth,” the president told Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier in a conversation on Wednesday. “He really convinced millions and millions of young people that MAGA was the way to go.”
CHARLIE KIRK ROSE TO BECOME A CONSERVATIVE POWERHOUSE
Kirk, who grew up in suburban Chicago, got his start in politics while in high school as a volunteer in the 2010 campaign of former Republican Sen. Mark Kirk (no relation) of Illinois.
In the 13 years since he co-founded Turning Point USA, he turned it into one of the most…
