Charlie Kirk’s Death Is Just The Beginning

“This is a train that doesn’t stop running after Kirk’s death. In fact, I think that it only rolls faster.”

Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was a teenager when he had an idea to “start a youth organization to try and save Western civilization.”

Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012 and expanded its presence over the next 13 years, primarily on college campuses and through social media. The organization exploded in popularity alongside Donald Trump’s rise to power — millions of people watched TPUSA-branded debate videos boasting supposed takedowns of leftist arguments on topics like racism, religion and feminism.

So when Kirk was assassinated in front of thousands of people at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, it was no minor loss for the Republican Party. The 31-year-old married father of two gave a youthful, wholesome face to an aging GOP and presented the party’s archaic worldview to millions of young people. He and TPUSA were, quite literally, the future of conservatism.

But Turning Point’s mission — and that of the Republican Party — didn’t die with Kirk.

“This is a train that doesn’t stop running after Kirk’s death,” says HuffPost senior editor Andy Campbell, who also reports on extremism. “In fact, I think that it only rolls faster.” (For the full story, watch the video above.)