The Dehumanization of Charlie Kirk

Summary

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Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone

Episode: The Dehumanization of Charlie Kirk

Date: July 15, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Sasha Stone engages in a profound and unflinching analysis of the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, focusing on the disturbing reactions from the American political left. Stone, a self-identified “escaped Democrat,” dissects how political tribalism and Internet-fueled radicalization have led to a widespread dehumanization of political opponents, culminating in an environment where acts of violence are celebrated and empathy is exchanged for moral righteousness. Through clips, commentary, and first-hand accounts, the episode challenges listeners to reflect on their own humanity and the dangerous cost of demonizing others.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Loss of Empathy and Dehumanization in Politics

• Opening Reflection (00:00): Sasha Stone recounts her transformation from a committed liberal to a critic of left-wing extremism.
  • “It isn’t the politics that makes us better than anyone else... it is our willingness to preserve our humanity when tested that really counts.” — Sasha Stone (00:13)
• Stone recalls the shift in the political landscape after Trump's election, describing the left’s response as “ugly” and “dark.” This culminates in the response to both the near-assassination of Donald Trump and the actual assassination of Charlie Kirk.

2. Social Media and the Rewarding of Hatred

• Internet Reaction Montage (03:15, 07:01, 21:09): The virality of videos and posts mocking, celebrating, or justifying violence against Kirk exemplifies the normalization and monetization of hatred online.
  • “The more disgusting they were, the more their hate and dehumanization were rewarded.” — Sasha Stone (07:29)
  • “Social media has messed with our perception of what defines love and hate with those tiny deceptive hearts we press every time someone scratches that sadistic itch.” — Sasha Stone (07:29)

3. Justification of Violence and Public Celebrations

• Several liberal commentators and TikTokers express (often gleeful) approval or justification for Kirk’s death, reciting his past positions as rationales for their lack of empathy.
  • “I'm not saying she deserved it, but I'm saying God's timing is always right.” — TikToker 1 (03:19)
  • “If you identify yourselves with those people who were cheering and someone just got killed, just hope you can take a look at yourself and think, is this who I really want to be? Because that is disgusting.” — Anonymous Liberal Commentator (02:29)
  • “No one mourns the wicked.” — TikToker 1 (07:01)

4. Historical Echoes & Mass Hysteria

• Stone draws troubling parallels between the current climate and other periods of mass hysteria.
  • “It might have been the people of Salem celebrating watching their friends and neighbors hang because they refused to confess. But this was America in 2025, not 1692.” — Sasha Stone (08:41)
  • Reference to the Manson murders as the last time she saw “that same wild eyed happiness and glee at something as gruesome as a murder...” (09:30)

5. High-profile Voices Respond

Barack Obama’s Cautioned Grace (10:49)

Obama, while condemning the violence and mourning for Charlie Kirk and his family, meticulously clarifies his disagreement with Kirk’s beliefs and emphasizes the sanctity of disagreement in a democracy:

• “Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy... The central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence.” — Barack Obama (10:49)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Congressional Tensions (14:58)

AOC also condemns the killing but insists on remembering Kirk as a symbol of bigotry, reinforcing that his legacy caused harm:

• “Today, we should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. A man who believed the Civil Rights act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake...” — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (15:41)

Bill Maher’s Critique of Tribalism (17:43)

Maher laments the taboo against expressing any compassion for Kirk in progressive circles, framing the true battle as “between the people on both sides who want war and the people who don’t.”

• “The people who mocked his death or justified it, I think you're gross. I have no use for you.” — Bill Maher (18:04)

6. Personal Stories and Pushback

• Jamie Lee Curtis (19:24): Shows compassion for Kirk as a human being, only to receive online backlash, highlighting the social cost of empathy across ideological lines.
  • “Yeah, I still believe he’s a father and a husband and a man of faith. And I hope whatever connection to God means that he felt it.” — Jamie Lee Curtis (19:51)
  • Curtis later clarifies her remarks in the face of criticism.

7. Repeated Cycle: Deaths, Celebration, and Justification

• Coverage of liberals and leftists celebrating Lindsey Graham’s death in a manner eerily similar to the Kirk reaction.
  • “I am happy. One down, so many more to go.” — Sacha Stone (22:11)
  • “Rest in piss, you evil closeted homophobic senator.” — Conservative Commentator (24:00)
• Stone condemns this pattern and warns of its consequences for civil society.
  • “Celebrating the death of evil people should be reserved for mass murderers like Stalin or Hitler. That they believed Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump or Charlie Kirk are on that level is proof enough that they've lost their minds...” — Sasha Stone (25:31)

8. The Right’s Own Descent & Candace Owens’ Opportunism

• Stone is unsparing toward Candace Owens, accusing her of exploiting Kirk’s death for personal gain and fueling conspiracy theories, furthering dehumanization from a different corner.
  • “She’s stolen Charlie’s legacy and has now written herself into this story so everyone will notice... She was useful for a time. Maybe she was even his friend for a time. Now she has shown her true colors and it is the most evil thing I’ve seen in the 30 years I’ve been online.” — Sasha Stone (29:28)

9. Redeeming Moments: Humanity, Loss, and Legacy

• Heartfelt accounts from Kirk’s friend Frank Turek (32:08) and his widow, Erica Kirk (36:02), bring the episode back to basic human emotion—grief, love, resilience—contrasting dramatically with the online spectacle.
  • Frank Turek’s poignant recounting of the desperate attempt to save Kirk (32:08–35:29):
    • “Charlie wasn’t there. His eyes were fixed. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking past me, right into eternity. He was with Jesus already.” — Frank Turek (35:14)
  • Erica Kirk’s strength in the face of tragedy (36:25, 38:35, 40:41):
    • “You have the Internet coming after you... You wake up that next morning, you put on the armor of God and you keep going.” — Erica Kirk (40:26)

10. Charlie’s Ongoing Legacy

• Reports from TPUSA’s summits and massive student engagement serve as testament to Kirk’s enduring influence despite tragedy.
  • “Students lined up at 3am to hear from Erica Kirk and waited hours in a line that wrapped around the breakfast hall just to get into the general session. Students are activated and motivated to take action... We continue to grow Charlie’s legacy...” — Oceanrasso, quoted by Sasha Stone (41:05)
• Announcement of a statue of Charlie Kirk to be placed in Times Square as a symbol of his legacy (42:38).

11. Self-Reflection and Redemption

• A notable TikTok commentator provides a rare moment of introspection about the perils of tribal thinking and the redemptive power of earnest engagement:
  • “I was basing literally every single thing I believe about a human being...on a small handful of out of context clips... I foamed at the mouth right along with the rest of those rabid and bloodthirsty dogs... That is, until I began to notice a common thread, the exact same comment... ‘Have you ever actually watched any of his debates?’” — TikToker 2 (43:12–46:19)
  • “Charlie Kirk is my hero. He opened my eyes to the cruel and manipulative nature of our political media, brought my family back together, and taught me how to love again.” — TikToker 2 (46:12)

12. Broader Warnings and Final Appeals

• Vivek Ramaswamy (46:43) situates Kirk’s death within the larger question of free speech and generational trauma:
  • “Violence is violence. Words are not violence. Violence is violence. And violence is never an acceptable response to words. Not in the United States of America.” — Vivek Ramaswamy (48:11)
• Stone ends on an elegiac note, urging the preservation of humanity and dialogue, suggesting Kirk’s movement and ideals live on through those who refuse to hate.
  • “Let his memory be a reminder of how important it is to hold on to our humanity.” — Sasha Stone (46:19)
  • “We have his legacy because we still have his voice. And thanks to the Internet, it is everywhere and he will never be forgotten.” (53:06)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

00:13 - Sasha Stone:
“Our goodness is not determined by a political party...it is our willingness to preserve our humanity when tested that really counts.”

02:29 - Anonymous Liberal Commentator:
“If you identify yourselves with those people who were cheering...just hope you can look at yourself and think, is this who I really want to be? Because that is disgusting.”

07:29 - Sasha Stone:
“The more disgusting they were, the more their hate and dehumanization were rewarded.”

10:49 - Barack Obama:
“Regardless of where you are...what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy...you have to be able to disagree...without resort to violence.”

17:43 - Bill Maher:
“Would it have killed someone to get up there?...We had a political assassination this week and that’s wrong...The people who mocked his death or justified it, I think you’re gross.”

19:51 - Jamie Lee Curtis:
“I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope in that moment...he felt connected to his faith, even though...his ideas were abhorrent to me.”

25:31 - Sasha Stone:
“Celebrating the death of evil people should be reserved for mass murderers like Stalin or Hitler. That they believed Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump or Charlie Kirk are on that level is proof enough that they've lost their minds...”

29:28 - Sasha Stone:
“She’s stolen Charlie’s legacy...Now she has shown her true colors and it is the most evil thing I’ve seen in the 30 years I’ve been online.” (On Candace Owens)

35:14 - Frank Turek:
“He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking past me, right into eternity. He was with Jesus already.”

40:26 - Erica Kirk:
“You have the Internet coming after you...You wake up that next morning, you put on the armor of God and you keep going.”

41:05 - Oceanrasso (quoted):
“Students lined up at 3am to hear from Erica Kirk...Students are activated and motivated to take action...We continue to grow Charlie’s legacy...”

46:12 - TikToker 2:
“Charlie Kirk is my hero. He opened my eyes to the cruel and manipulative nature of our political media, brought my family back together, and taught me how to love again.”

48:11 - Vivek Ramaswamy:
“Violence is violence. Words are not violence. Violence is violence. And violence is never an acceptable response to words.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00-04:43: Sasha Stone recounts the immediate aftermath, social media reaction, and her dismay at the response of her former political tribe.
• 07:01-09:30: Montage of TikTok celebrations, mass-hysteria parallels.
• 10:49-14:40: Barack Obama and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comment on Kirk’s death; nuanced yet political responses.
• 17:43-19:51: Bill Maher and Jamie Lee Curtis on the dangers of political tribalism and extending empathy.
• 21:09-25:31: Repetition of celebration at Lindsey Graham’s death, Stone’s warning about chilling escalation.
• 27:19-32:08: The right’s own conspiratorial spiral post-Kirk and Candace Owens’ opportunism.
• 32:08-40:41: Emotional stories from Frank Turek and Erica Kirk, demonstrating the enduring power of love and resilience.
• 43:12-46:19: TikToker’s confession and journey from dehumanization to empathy through engagement.
• 46:43-48:43: Vivek Ramaswamy situates Kirk’s assassination within the narrative of generational trauma regarding free speech.
• 51:50-53:06: Erica Kirk on what the movement is about and what the legacy means now.
• 54:25-end: Poetic musical coda: “His name was Charlie. He spoke without fear...” — a call to remember the human cost of political hatred.

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Conclusion & Takeaways

This episode serves as both a warning and a lamentation: the embrace of hatred and dehumanization in American politics has eroded foundational values of empathy, debate, and shared humanity. Sasha Stone challenges listeners—regardless of political stripe—to break free from facile narrative bubbles, to never become the monsters they seek to defeat, and to preserve free speech and human dignity even for those with whom we most profoundly disagree. In doing so, she offers the memory of Charlie Kirk not just as a political symbol, but as a reminder of the ultimate stakes in the culture war: the loss or reclamation of our common humanity.

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Transcript

[Sacha Stone]

Hi, this is free thinking through the fourth turning. I'm sacha stone. The dehumanization of charlie kirk and the face of evil. I will come out of this very surreal moment in American history and in the story of my own life, understanding the basic truth that our goodness is not determined by a political party. It isn't the politics that makes us better than anyone else. We all have our own ideas of what matters. Instead, it is our willingness to preserve our humanity when tested that really counts. We can blame the Internet and the algorithms for what has happened to all of us in the last 20 years, to our politics, to our culture, to our relationships. But that can only take us so far. At some point, we all have to reckon with who we are and what we've become. I always thought we were the good guys. We didn't mock, degrade, or dehumanize other people. We were decent and we were empathetic. That is, until Donald Trump won in 2016 and all of that changed. What I saw happen to my own side was ugly. It was dark. I wanted nothing to do with it. It's been almost two years since Donald Trump was nearly shot and killed on live television. The way the left dealt with that shooting was shocking. They diminished it. They said it was staged or just shrapnel. They did everything but wake up to the radicalization on their own side. By then, they'd become consumed by hatred, having tried everything they had in their arsenal to take down Trump, and all of it had failed. How could they pivot back to their humanity? So when Charlie Kirk was assassinated on video, with the clip going viral to millions of views in seconds, they were primed and ready to once again leave behind their humanity and celebrate one more battle against their named evil. A guy who said things they didn't like. Here is a tiktoker.

[Anonymous Liberal Commentator]

I just witnessed Charlie Kirk get assassinated. It was the most awful thing I've ever seen in my life. He shot him in the neck and blood went everywhere. And the worst part of it all was the liberals who were there were cheering. So I just have one thing to say. If you identify yourself with the Liberal Party, it's okay. You can believe what you want to believe. But if you identify yourselves with those people who were cheering and someone just got killed, just hope you can take a look at yourself and think, is this who I really want to be? Because that is disgusting.

[Sacha Stone]

It became a thing on TikTok. Here are some tiktokers.

[TikToker 1]

And I'm not saying she deserved it, but I'm Saying God's timing is always right.

[Sacha Stone]

We need to locate Charlie Kirk's killer

[TikToker 2]

because I want to give him a nice firm handshake.

[Sacha Stone]

I don't think a lot of you

[Left-wing Critic]

liberals and even self proclaimed leftists have learned anything from history really. It is an objectively good thing thing when die regardless of how they were taken out. Caring more about how people are celebrating the death of CK instead of what he represented and what his legacy was and being relieved that he's no longer to inflict harm upon people with his rhetoric is certainly a choice. This is a man who spent his entire adult life making other people who were not exactly like him miserable. If you are not a cisgender, straight, white, able bodied, European American, Christian Republican man, CK did not like you. In fact he thought that you were lesser than him, that you had. You should have less access to the same rights that we all should have than him. This is a man who said that if his 9 or 10 year old child was r worded he would force her to carry that baby, that pregnancy to full term. That man was morally bankrupt. So you're not going to try to moralize my relief that he is gone from this world when he made paycheck after paycheck on off of the dehumanization of so many individuals who are not right now.

[Conservative Commentator]

You want to know why I'm so fucking stoked?

[Sacha Stone]

Go ahead and google Charlie Kirk. Go ahead, go ahead, read the read the latest headlines and you'll see why

[Left-wing Analyst]

I'm so yeah, when conservatives die, they leave no discernible legacy behind that can be pointed to that improved anyone's life at all. When's the last time you thought of Rush Limbaugh? When's the last time you thought of Jerry Falwell? These men were titans of their time. They spewed hate into the world relentlessly. The last thing Charlie Kirk said on earth was gang violence. He was stoking racial hatred. If you look at what he tweeted in the last 24 hours, it's all about trying to get people to hate black people. Right? This is what he spent his time on earth doing.

[Sacha Stone]

Nobody deserves to be shot because of their political beliefs and speaking about, okay,

[Progressive Advocate]

no one deserves to be shot because

[Anonymous Liberal Commentator]

of the color of their skin.

[Progressive Advocate]

Trans people don't deserve to fear for their lives for simply just existing. Women don't deserve to have their life put at risk for carrying a baby to full term against their will. Survivors of sexual assault don't deserve to be called liars. Gay people don't deserve to have legislation challenging their ability to marry. Children do not deserve to continuously lose their lives in a place of education. The people who surrounded themselves and supported a man who did not believe in empathy do not deserve empathy. There's a difference between supporting violence and recognizing that a man who made his career on inciting hate and perpetuating fear mongering beliefs against people that were different than him was doing more damage for this world than good.

[Sacha Stone]

Just got the news. Whoever you are, thank you.

[Left-wing Critic]

People are so funny nowadays. You call a Nazi a Nazi and

[Conservative Commentator]

they say prove it. No,

[Sacha Stone]

do your own research. The people saying that he was a father. What about the Palestinian fathers who have washed their children's bodies being ripped to shreds?

[TikToker 1]

I wasn't even gonna post today, but Charlie Kerrick died and no one mourns the wicked. And then I go online and I see people saying, oh, y' all are so weird because y' all don't care and like y' all have no respect and all that type of stuff. And mind you, this is a man who said that children dying due to gun violence doesn't matter. We have to protect the second Amendment. And he died from what? Gun violence?

[Podcast Narrator/Interviewer]

The amount of misinformation and the amount of hatred that that man spewed out

[Sacha Stone]

of his mouth every single day. I'm surprised it didn't happen any sooner. They all took to X and competed for who could be the ugliest and the cruelest. The more disgusting they were, the more their hate and dehumanization were rewarded. Social media has messed with our perception of what defines love and hate with those tiny deceptive hearts we press every time someone scratches that sadistic itch. For podcast listeners, a montage of dozens of tweets mocking the death of Charlie Kirk. Here are some samples. Raise your hand if you didn't cry today because a racist bigot had died. Don't worry, fellow liberals. There are thousands of us in Arizona who aren't celebrating the life of a racist today. The Charlie Kirk Memorial is a Christian nationalist political rally. The Charlie Kirk Memorial is just another Klan rally. Charlie Kirk spread a lot of hate and look where it got him. The reaction to Charlie's assassination by the left was unlike anything I've ever seen or anything I thought I would ever see from my former side. It might have been the people of Salem celebrating watching their friends and neighbors hang because they refused to confess. But this was America in 2025, not 1692. How could they not have been shaken out of their decade long Mass hysteria stupor. My mind goes to Charles Manson and his followers who showed no mercy slicing up the bodies of the rich in the Hollywood Hills, a pregnant Sharon Tate among them. To hear the Manson family tell it, they deserved it. They were the establishment. They'd been dehumanized and their lives didn't matter. Podcast listeners pictures of the Manson girls. I bring up the Manson murders a lot because that was the last time we saw that same glint, that same wild eyed happiness and glee at something as gruesome as a murder or someone's death. I thought that would have been the end of it back then. It was enough to end the 1960s, keep Richard Nixon in power, and send our society tumbling toward Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. But now that same kind of bizarre cult like fury has overtaken the left once again and nothing can shake them out of it. Not the near assassination of Trump, not the brutal murder of Charlie Kirk, not the celebrating afterward. The hate bubbled up inside them so profoundly that even when Barack Obama tried to show some grace in the wake of Charlie's death, his biggest applause lines came after he decided to repeat the cherry picked out of context lies pushed by the left that led to the dehumanization of Charlie Kirk in the first place. Here is Barack Obama.

[Barack Obama]

Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy. What happened, as you mentioned, to the state legislators in Minnesota, that is horrific. It is a tragedy, and there are no ifs, ands or buts about it. The central a premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence. And when it happens to some, buddy, even if you think they're on the other side of the argument, that's a threat to all of us and we have to be clear and forthright in condemning it. Obviously, I didn't know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong. But that doesn't negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family. He's a young man with two small children and a wife who obviously and a huge number of friends and supporters who cared about him. And so we have to extend grace to people during their period of mourning and shock. We can also at the same time say that. I disagree with the idea that the Civil Rights act of 1964 was a mistake. That's not me politicizing the issue. It's making an observation about who Are we as a country? I can say that I disagree with the suggestion that my wife

[Conservative Commentator]

or

[Barack Obama]

Justice Jackson does not have adequate brain processing power. I can. I can say that I disagree that Martin Luther King was awful. I can disagree with some of the broader suggestions that liberals and Democrats are promoting conspiracy to displace whites and replace them by ushering in illegal immigrants. Those are all topics that we have to be able to discuss honestly and forthrightly. While we still insist that in that process of debate, we respect other people's right to say things that we profoundly disagree with.

[Sacha Stone]

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez took her cue from President Obama and followed the same pattern. She offered a condemnation of political violence, but then launched into the kind of attack that they believe justifies all of what they've been doing for the past 10 years.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

Today, the Republican House majority brought to the floor a resolution honoring, quote, honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's assassination was a horrific and vile attack and incident of political violence. And condemning the depravity of Kirk's brutal murder is a straightforward matter, one that is especially important to help stabilize an increasingly unsafe and volatile political environment where everyday people feel more at risk. We can deeply disagree with and come together as a country to denounce the horror of this killing. And it is not a license for the abuse of power and whitewashing of American history. Today's resolution only underscores the majority's recklessness by choosing to author this condemnation and honoring on a purely partisan basis. Instead of uniting Congress in this tragedy with one of the many bipartisan options to condemn political violence and Kirk's murder, as we did with the late Melissa Hortman. Instead, the majority proceeded with a resolution that brings great pain to the millions of Americans who endured segregation, Jim Crow, and the legacy of bigotry. Today, we should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. A man who believed that the Civil Rights act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake. Who, after the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, claimed that, quote, some amazing patriot, unquote, should bail out his brutal assailant and accused Jews of controlling, quote, not just the colleges, it's the nonprofits, it's the movies, it's Hollywood, it's all of it, unquote. His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.

[Sacha Stone]

This is a country built on freedom of speech, and yet the entire left doesn't believe in it, or they think it's Trump that that's doing It. But they control the culture, which is why they couldn't even offer a word about Charlie's death, not even at the Emmys or anywhere else. Here is Bill Maher talking about Charlie

[Bill Maher]

Kirk at the Emmys. Would it have killed someone to get up there? Since they all want to talk about their politics, Would it kill somebody to get up there, not give a speech about how much they like Charlie Kirk? Just to say we had a political assassination this week and that's wrong and we should. They would have been booed off the stage because he was on the wrong team. So you're not even allowed to say that. Can you imagine if a left wing person was assassinated that week? The whole show would have been about that.

[Conservative Commentator]

I just.

[Bill Maher]

All right, So I didn't realize this was going to be kind of a theme show because we write our editorial before the week starts. And so it was all about freedom of speech. Then the assassination occurred. So this is turning into a theme show. But it is kind of interesting that this guy was shot and he's been on our show. But on my podcast, I talk to him. I like to him. I like everybody. I talk to everybody. I think I'm glad I took that approach. But he was shot under a banner that said prove me wrong because he was a debater. And too many people think the way to do that, to prove you wrong is to just eliminate you from talking altogether. So the people who mocked his death or justified it, I think you're gross. I have no use for you. The people who are saying, now we're at war, I have no use for you. So my first question, true or false? I think the real war is not between left or right. It's for the people from the. It's between the people on both sides who want war and the people who don't.

[Sacha Stone]

Jamie Lee Curtis had a moment of sorrow for Charlie when she choked up on a podcast. But the activists descended upon her, and of course, she was forced to clarify what she meant.

[Podcast Narrator/Interviewer]

Jamie Lee Curtis is setting the record straight. The Oscar winner broke her silence on the backlash surrounding tearful comments she made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting. Curtis originally spoke out on the assassination in a September episode of WTF with Marc Maron and became emotional while sharing her thoughts on Kirk's final moments. I disagreed with him on almost every point I ever heard him say.

[Sacha Stone]

Yeah, But I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope in that moment when he died that he felt connected to his faith, even though I find what he his ideas were abhorrent to me. Yeah, I still believe he's a father and a husband and a man of faith. And I hope whatever connection to God means that he felt it.

[Podcast Narrator/Interviewer]

Though some listeners had praised Curtis for being compassionate about Kirk's death despite their differing views, many others shared disappointment that she didn't express stronger disapproval of his divisive stance on topics including trans rights. The 66 year old has a transgender daughter and is frequently outspoken about her support for the LGBTQ community. And she told Variety in a new interview published on October 28 that she believes her remarks didn't land the way she'd intended. An excerpt of it mistranslated what I was saying as I wished him well. Like I was talking about him in a very positive way, which I wasn't. I was simply talking about his faith in God, she said to the mag, marking her first public statement on the matter.

[Sacha Stone]

All it took was losing one election for my side to transform into monsters who believed that as long as their fellow Americans stood in their way, they could justify anything that happened to them. Yes, even an assassination. Even now, I still get twitchy when I see the blind hot hatred coming from the left aimed at anyone on the right. I've never gotten used to it. I've never been able to overlook it. I certainly couldn't be a part of it. I was reminded of that this week after Lindsey Graham's untimely death. I watched the same pattern play out, the same ugliness, the same mocking TikTok videos demanding those inside Utopia disconnect from their humanity. Here are some TikTokers.

[Podcast Narrator/Interviewer]

It is 7:54 in the morning and

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

I just woke up.

[Conservative Commentator]

Yes, I slept in my makeup.

[Sacha Stone]

Lindsey Graham is dead and I think

[Conservative Commentator]

everybody in the neighborhood should know about it.

[Sacha Stone]

I am happy. One down, so many more to go.

[Podcast Narrator/Interviewer]

Another one bites the dust. Another one bites dust. If you're waking up and it's July 12th, you're waking up to find out that Lindsey Graham, 71, died last night or early this morning, not 100% sure and don't actually care. All I care about is that he's dead.

[Anonymous Liberal Commentator]

Husband woke me up this morning and he said, hey babe, do you want some good news? And I said, yeah, sure. And still with my eyes closed, he goes, lindsey Cram died. And like, not the old racist white

[Sacha Stone]

guy that I was hoping for.

[Anonymous Liberal Commentator]

But I mean, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, look, I told y' all all we had to do was wait. We would literally outlive Maga and here we are waking up. And Lindsey Graham didn't. Lindsey Graham is f Cking dead. Rest in piss, you evil closeted homophobic senator.

[Sacha Stone]

Lindsey Graham just died.

[Musical Performer/Chorus]

Oh no.

[Conservative Commentator]

I'm devastated.

[Sacha Stone]

I was on my way home listening to NPR at 2 in the morning and some incredible news graced my ears. Lindsey Graham's dead. Mitch McConnell is dead or dying. And he brought Lindsay down to hell with him.

[Podcast Narrator/Interviewer]

Don't judge me.

[Sacha Stone]

Lindsay Graham's dead. Lindsey Graham's dead. Celebrate good times.

[Conservative Commentator]

Sing a Brett.

[Sacha Stone]

Let's celebrate.

[Conservative Commentator]

They always say deaths come in threes. We have Mitchie and Lindsay and. I'm getting too excited.

[Anonymous Conservative Commentator]

So for all the pathetic Democrats that are taking the moral high ground on this one, I'd like to say something to you, you weak mother. His death doesn't change the fact that he was a piece of. He was a bad person. And we celebrate when those people are gone because the world is a better place without them. And for all you maggots who are just so traumatized that people are celebrating, this man's unaliving. You pathetic f s. You don't have a moral high ground to stand on. And if you think you're going to pull a Charlie Kirk and start going after people and trying to get them fired, good luck with that, bitches. It's impossible to get me fired. I stand ten toes down on what I said. He was a piece of. The world's a better place without him. And you're all pathetic without a moral high ground to stand on. And Democrats grow some balls.

[Sacha Stone]

Hey, Lindsey Graham is dead. Mitch McComa dead.

[Podcast Narrator/Interviewer]

Cross your fingers, people.

[Sacha Stone]

Cross your fucking. Even if Trump danced on the graves of his enemies, Rob Reiner and Robert Mueller, doesn't mean he spends his days wishing any of them would be murdered or dead. Plenty of people on the right, even journalists and right leaning outlets, had no problem condemning Trump for it. Why can't they do that on the left? Why are we now seeing them once again celebrating the death of a politician for the crime of disagreeing with them? They will keep doing this. And as long as they do, someone out there will think picking up a gun will make them a hero. Celebrating the death of evil people should be reserved for mass murderers like Stalin or Hitler. That they believed Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump or Charlie Kirk are on that level is proof enough that they've lost their minds and it's taken us to a very dangerous place. Something wicked this way comes. When Charlie was assassinated, it was like the leg of a pier giving way and the whole thing thing crashing into the water. He held the MAGA movement together by his optimistic and inclusive nature. But once he was gone, a full blown war broke out. It all started with the JQ group, the Jewish Question white nationalists who instantly blamed Charlie's death on Israel. This was then picked up and amplified by Candace Owens, who has now become more popular than she's ever been. By positioning herself as the anti Charlie Kirk, she is now attempting to steal his legacy, bully and harass his widow and destroy everything he ever built.

[Left-wing Critic]

Why?

[Sacha Stone]

Who knows? Maybe because she's a total zero and her friendship with Charlie was the best it was ever going to get for her. Maybe she was bitter and resentful about being sidelined by Charlie and tpusa. Either way, she has now done the left a solid by changing the conversation around Charlie's death. It isn't the rising fanaticism on the left or their pathological need to control thought and speech. It isn't that they've become so totalitarian that they fantasize about the deaths of their enemies and celebrate when people die. No, it was actually Israel. I didn't think anyone or anything could ever match the level of insanity of the left. But Candace Owens has done it for clicks, views and money. She sold out her so called friend. Charlie's been dehumanized yet again, this time transformed into nothing more than a stepping stone to success by a woman who could never get enough of it, who needs people to be talking about her, looking at her, thinking about her, doing anything but ignoring her. She's stolen Charlie's legacy and has now written herself into this story so everyone will notice. She was once a part of Charlie's world, not an important part. She was useful for a time. Maybe she was even his friend for a time. Now she has shown her true colors and it is the most evil thing I've seen in the 30 years I've been online. For podcast listeners, a series of tweets by Candace Owens Today, the Tyler Robinson show trial begins. Evidence like text messages, confessions will be allowed in the courtroom despite the fact that Tyler's defense has not been allowed to view those messages to determine if they were doctored or who actually sent them. Remember, the FBI and ATF were not forced to turn over key evidence despite multiple discovery requests because the judge has ruled it's not necessary at this stage. Key witness testimony from Lance Twigg will be played, but Lance Twigg is not allowed to be cross examined because the judge has ruled it's not necessary at this stage today is about a motion. You will hear the Fed's narrative absent any ability for the defense to meaningfully dispute it. What you can expect, aside from Erica's tears, are an orbit of her payrolled influencers trying to convince you that the unvetted evidence is overwhelming and undeniable. Sit back and watch the predictable show. The real trial will come later. Charlie's army is growing. Ultimately, truth will win. And another one. One more fight, Charlie. I don't fear these demons. We will win. And another. Wake up, fighters. With a picture of Charlie. Go, Max. And another. Hope they get it out of their systems. To be honest, I don't even feel their punches. See you guys on Monday. And a picture of Candace with Charlie. And another. We are back. Tyler Robinson's preliminary hearing is a good time to remind people that we should believe facts, not government stooges. Today we will discuss the evidence and the psychotic influencer campaign against it. And another picture of Candace and Charlie. And finally, the drama. People suing me. I'm on tv talking like it's just you and me. I'm just saying how I feel, man. I ain't one of the Cosbys. I ain't going to the Hill, man. And a picture of Candace with Charlie. How lonely and empty does a person have to be to steal someone else's life that so many have followed her? That there is such a thing as the woke, right? That Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones and others have actually indulged this sick fantasy that anyone but Tyler Robinson could have done this proves that goodness is not about political parties. It is about our humanity. Whether we have it or whether we've abandoned it. Charlie's Angels. Something real and violent happened on September 10, 2025. The algorithmic, hypnotic churn of the Internet. Our absurd, pointless civil war. The obsession on the right with Israel. None of that could stop what really happened that day. There isn't a person who was there or who was closest to Charlie that Candace Owens hasn't consumed for content and blamed for his death. Here is Charlie's friend and mentor, Frank Turek.

[Frank Turek]

Charlie Kirk was literally like a son to me. I have three sons. He was like my fourth son. If your son got hit, what would you do? What would you do? I got in the car because if there was any way I could save him, I had to do something. I couldn't just. Oh, yes. Take them. You guys got it. So they got him into the side of the car. It was an suv. The SUV we took over. And I'm on one Side and there's actually some video of this. Somebody's taking video of this. I'm on one side of the car, the right side, and they're getting Charlie in. So I run over the other side. But the guy was dragging him in is now blocking that entrance. So at that point I run around to the back, I pop the top, the back gate open and I jump in the back. The car lurches forward. Apparently somebody jumped in the cars. The car lurches forward. So I almost fall out of the car or the suv. Then I grab the thing and, and close it. And there's five of us in the car now. Justin is driving, Dan is up front with the, with the gps. Rick has got him. Rick's on my left and Brian is there and I'm coming over the back seat and Charlie's laid out in front, just right in front of me and Charlie. So tall. We can't, we can't close the door. We drove four miles, some, I don't know, it's four something miles all the way to the hospital with the door open. To this day, I don't know how Brian stayed in the car because we're just go, go, go, go, go. We're, you know, we're trying to do, we're trying to stop the boy bleeding. You saw it. And I'm yelling, come on, Charlie, come on, come on. Meanwhile, my phone is still on. My son and daughter in law are hearing this whole thing. And his security team again. Justin, Dan, Brian and Rick, they love Charlie, but they're much cooler than I. I mean they're just carrying out, they're calmly, but they're swiftly doing exactly what they were trained to do. Rick starts praying out loud. I'm praying out loud. We're yelling, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. My son's hearing all this and we're, we're doing the best we can to navigate traffic. This not a highway. We're on surface streets and suddenly there's an ambulance coming toward us. And there was conversation in the car. Should we stop? We're like, no, no, just keep going, just keep going. The doctor later said that was the right thing to do. Ambulance goes by us. We, we're still heading to the hospital, trying to get there. At one point somebody says, let's get there in one piece because we're just, we're cutting through intersections. You know, we're just beeping the horn. This is not a emergency vehicle. There's no, there's no lights. There's none of this. And I go, we got to start cpr. So I try and start that now. Charlie wasn't there. His eyes were fixed. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking past me, right into eternity. He was with Jesus already.

[Sacha Stone]

But she's underestimating the strength of Charlie's widow, his most powerful angel, Eric Kirk. Candace has used her, too. Laid her out like raw flesh to be consumed by sycophants. But somehow, that has only made Erica stronger. And now Candace is the one who's about to understand what love really means and what goodness looks like. Here is Erica Kirk.

[Erica Kirk]

Sa.

[Conservative Commentator]

You guys. God bless you. Love you, too. Last year, when Charlie was on this stage, I have watched that speech. I can't tell you how many times, and I can't tell you how many times my son and daughter have watched that speech. This event is the final event that was on my husband's calendar. Throughout this whole time, I have had so many people ask, why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? Why are you doing his book tour? Let me tell you something. First and foremost, when you have commitments, especially those that your loved one has made, you follow through on them. And it doesn't matter how hard it is, doesn't matter how tough life is. You gave your word. And between my husband and I, our word is our bond. And so when it did come to, his last book could have been about finance. I know nothing about finance. But it wasn't. It was about God. It was about his faith, and it was about something that was so intricate to our family dynamic. So what do you do? Do you let someone else do the book tour? Sure, they could. You could have a pastor do it. We had a few pastors get up on Fox and other places to talk about it. It's fine. Do you wait two years and then do the book tour? Sure, I guess. Is it really that relevant? It'll always be relevant. But is it still on that commitment schedule that your husband had?

[Sacha Stone]

So you do the book tour.

[Conservative Commentator]

You go to Amfest, you go to college campuses, you talk to the students, you pop into the chapter meetings. You do the hard thing, you do the right thing. And that's what my husband did every single day. Every day. And that's what you guys do every day. You all flew here from across the country. I can take a plane, too, to be here after I've been through hell this past week. No, it's not easy. It's not easy. Life is not easy, Charlie would say. And those in our inner circle knew this. Some of you know this too. How many of you have gone through hell these past 10 months? Raise your hand. Yep. How many of you had your life change in a negative way in the past 10 months? Raise your hand. Yep. Same. You're in good company. But what did Charlie say? He would say life has suffering and it does, and it sucks. But you choose the people that you have along the side while you're going through that suffering, you choose those people. And all of you in this room are those people who I am so proud to have in my army as I go through this battle against Satan. So when's a good time to give up? Right? Never. So you have the Internet coming after you. You have them slandering your name, you have them saying all this trash about you, and what do you do? You wake up that next morning, you put on the armor of God and you keep going.

[Sacha Stone]

That's what you do. Erica is Charlie's angel, but lucky for him, he has a lot of them. They're out there fighting every day to keep his memory alive and the movement he built thriving for podcast listeners. A tweet from Oceanrasso I attended Turning Point USA's Chapter Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. last week and there's a lot of misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating about the event. To start, all those claiming that TPUSA is dying are losing relevance. There are 2,500 chapter leaders who choose to spend their time traveling to Washington, D.C. to be equipped to lead in their communities and strongly disagree with that narrative. Remember, these are just the chapter leaders. Think of how many more members are growing the movement across the roughly 3,500 chapters of Club America on college campuses. I posted many photos and videos from the main general sessions and a majority of the time it was standing room only. The line to check in with the conference was hours long and wrapped around the inside of the hotel. Lines to hear Nick Shirley and Savannah Hernandez speak were out the door and the venue was yet another standing room only crowd. On the final day of the conference. Students lined up at 3am to hear from Erica Kirk and waited hours in a line that wrapped around the breakfast hall just to get into the general session. Students are activated and motivated to take action. But more than that, we're ready to change the culture. At a time when it is considered dangerous to debate and dialogue, TPUSA students are bringing real change to their communities. We continue to grow Charlie's legacy and his movement to change minds, cure the culture, and make heaven crowded and a sculptor is putting a statue of Charlie Kirk in Times Square, New York. We know how that is going to go. We know because we know the Left Podcast Listener's A picture of artist Sergio Funari unveils a beautiful new statue honoring Charlie Kirk, which is set to be on display in New York City's Times Square on the first anniversary of his assassination. The way the Left responded to Charlie's assassination should be something none of us ever forgets. It is something that they will have to reckon with one day. And for many of them, wiping away its shame won't be easy.

[TikToker 2]

I'm actually glad that Charlie Kirk was murdered, but probably not for the reason you think. I was at work when I first found out a fellow employee had wandered up to me, cell phone in hand, and asked, did you hear that Charlie Kirk just got assassinated? And I, without even a moment's hesitation, responded, good Nazi white supremacist piece of shit. I had never before witnessed such a perfectly blended expression of disgust, disappointment, sadness and surprise all through the window of another man's eyes or experience a silence so uncomfortable as the one that followed. And although that look on his face now haunts me more and more with each passing day, at the time it only made me distrustful and upset. But little did I know that the sentence which followed would end up becoming the most profoundly psychologically impactful question that I've ever been confronted confronted with have you ever actually watched any of his debates? I decided to end the conversation immediately. This man was clearly a lost cause, one of those intellectually dishonest Kool aid drinking types who refuses to engage in good faith with any perspective which contradicts their outstandingly narrow and propagandized worldview. And by this man I mean me. Because I hadn't actually watched any of his debates, I was basing literally every single thing I believe about a human being. With thousands of hours worth of publicly available recordings of himself openly expressing his opinions on a small handful of out of context clips that had been curated for me by algorithms and media organizations being funded by the political opposition. I foamed at the mouth right along with the rest of those rabid and bloodthirsty dogs gleefully mocking those who had been saddened by his death and downplaying the atrocity of it all by suggesting that political violence is just an unfortunate yet necessary step toward our coveted socialist revolution. That is, until I began to notice a common thread, the exact same comment being repeated ad nauseam in nearly every single online space. Have you ever actually watched any of his Debates. I didn't think much of it at first. Of course, right wingers are all regurgitating the exact same talking point. They're in a cult. They're brainwashed. It was an ordinary and boring morning on the day I found out that I am a monster in that moment where my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to click on some random YouTube thumbnail of Charlie Kirk with his goofy and gummy smile and an attempt to reaffirm my preconceived biases. And it was an unusually stressful afternoon on that very same day when I spoke to my father for the first time in years, despite the fact that he had always loved and supported me unconditionally. And it was a never ending sleepless night coming to terms with the fact that literally every single thing I thought I hated about the right, the bigotry, stupidity, violence, vitriol and narrow mindedness, was actually just an outward projection of hatred toward my own self. Charlie Kirk is my hero. He opened my eyes to the cruel and manipulative nature of our political media, brought my family back together, and taught me how to love again. And to anyone who takes issue or offense with that, I'm going to do exactly what he would have done and challenge you to answer a simple, honest and straightforward question. Have you ever actually watched any of his debates?

[Sacha Stone]

It will be up to those angels of Charlie's to continue his lifelong devotion to open debate, to talking to those you disagree with, and to preserve our freedom of speech and expression. Above all, let his memory be a reminder of how important it is to hold on to our humanity. Here is Vivek Ramaswamy.

[Vivek Ramaswamy]

He says that's what messed up our generation's understanding of capitalism was the 2008 financial crisis. Because you told a young person, if they worked hard, they play by the rules, they go to college, then they get to live the American dream. And it didn't work out that way. And that jaded us with respect to American capitalism. I think was right about that. I thought about that when we saw the news of Charlie's assassination this week because I worry that Charlie's assassination will have the same impact on Gen Z's attitude towards free speech itself. So many of you, you got college students in this audience. I can't imagine what that death does to the psychology of a generation. Just a few years ago, you run your college campuses afraid that if at your internship you wore the wrong hat to work, you might not get the full time job, that you say the wrong thing on your college Campus, you may not get the right grade at the end of the semester. And then just over the last year, things began to turn. We made our way towards what it felt like was the light. Young people, particularly on the college campuses that Charlie and his compatriots at Turning Point visited, beginning to have the conviction to speak their mind. Whether they were conservative or they're liberal, it didn't matter. People feeling liberated to actually talk to one another again. And then he shows up on one of those campuses. What's he do? He's talking to those people who disagree with him. And then he's shot and killed in cold blood. I cannot imagine what that does to the psychology of an entire generation. Violence is violence. Words are not violence. Violence is violence. And violence is never an acceptable response to words. Not in the United States of America.

[Sacha Stone]

The world has changed since Charlie was shot and killed. It's darker and it's meaner. Holding on to hope is harder than it's ever been. But Charlie Kirk lives on through his widow, his babies, his true friends, and the tens of thousands of young people keeping TPUSA alive.

[Conservative Commentator]

You love your children, I'm assuming.

[Erica Kirk]

Hold on. Actually, someone. Every day we get death threats. So this is not an abstraction. And I'm not leaving America.

[Conservative Commentator]

That makes sense. But because the United States, the code,

[Erica Kirk]

I mean, so it's actually very real. Every day someone says they want to murder me and kill my family. I'm staying.

[Conservative Commentator]

But has anyone genuinely ever like, driven to your house, done, like a drive by?

[Erica Kirk]

I'm not going to get into the details, but plenty of people have been arrested trying to kill me. Thirteen years ago, I was in a car driving to Rockford, Illinois, and this journey started. It was June 5, 2012. I was wrestling with kind of what we're going to call this organization, and my dad came up with a list of names. And all of a sudden he said, turning Point. I said, that's the one. Spoke at a Tea Party rally out in Rockford. And the journey started. No money, no connections, and no idea what I was doing. Started to barnstorm Illinois and the Midwest, speaking at every, every possible Tea Party rally I could. That was the garage that we literally started in Lamont, Illinois. I had burning desire, looking back at it, I wanted to grow this thing more than anything imaginable. I poured every part of my being into this. And now we are 13 years old. We are a teenager defying all the odds and only made possible thanks to God Almighty blessing us every step of the way. Would you like to introduce Yourself or should I introduce you?

[Sacha Stone]

Mortifying.

[Erica Kirk]

How would you like me to start? All right, we'll try it again. Hey, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Charlie Kirk Show. Joining me is the most special guest, my fiance.

[Conservative Commentator]

That was a really long pause. We're gonna be here for hours. You guys.

[Erica Kirk]

I'm sorry, I can't stand when people say follow your heart. That's bad advice. Don't do that. Okay? I'm going to do what I love. Don't do that. Do what you're good at. Every single one of you has a God given skill. Every single one of you. So you might say, well, Charlie, I. I don't know if what my skill is. What do people compliment you on that is different? Maybe you're good at noticing, good at writing, good at speaking, good at organizing, good at empathizing, good at whatever it is. Find that skill that you don't truly hate and then pursue that whatever it is. For me, my number one love would be college football. Like, okay. Do you know why I cried on election night? Because you thought it was a restoration of the Judeo Christian. Partly.

[TikToker 2]

They're inherent to the.

[Erica Kirk]

It's all the Constitution. Let me tell you why, because I think you might appreciate this as a historian. Joe Biden sent the entire federal government after turning Point USA and me personally. They wanted me in federal prison. And by the way, that's what despots do, not Donald Trump. Let me finish. And so when Donald Trump won, it was a sigh of relief that maybe I won't have to go to federal prison. This movement is not about Republican or Democrats. This movement is not about conservative or liberal. And I think you're going to see that on display in a little bit. Just maybe. This movement is about the citizens versus the oligarchs. This movement is about we the people versus the ruling class. This movement is about America versus the globalists. This movement is about all, all of us against them. Does the phrase e pluribus unum mean

[Sacha Stone]

why is that relevant?

[Erica Kirk]

Because it was on every founding document and presidential seal from our founding, which means out of many 1. You, sir, and your ideology is not conservative. It is right wing, identitarian and has no place in the conservative movement. My friend, get out along.

[Sacha Stone]

We have his legacy because we still have his voice. And thanks to the Internet, it is everywhere and he will never be forgotten. Thanks for listening to this podcast sashastone.com and if you like my work, you can leave a tip. Just go to the main page and scroll down. You'll find a Link for that. Thank you so much for your support. And remember to thine own self be true.

[Chorus/Poet]

He was sitting on a stage

[Musical Performer/Chorus]

afternoon

[Chorus/Poet]

light speaking with the young truth in plain sight? Crowd leaning close 3000 strong. Then a shout rang out and then he was gone.

[Musical Performer/Chorus]

His name was Charlie. His name was Charlie. He spoke without fear. He spoke without fear. Don't let it fade. Don't let it fall. All voices together? This is how freedom dies. No voice at all.

[Chorus/Poet]

It starts with a label Enemy of the state. Screams feed the flowers. Fire turning love to hate. Headline shout war pointing who's to blame when we kill for a difference nothing's the same.

[Musical Performer/Chorus]

His name was Charlie. His name was Charlie. He spoke without fear. He spoke without fear. Don't let it fade. Don't let it fall. Fall. Voices together. This is how freedom dies. No voice at. This is how it ends when silence wins the fight. Don't close your mouth, don't dim your light. They want us to whisper to hide what we believe. But truth only lives when the brave still speaks.

[Chorus/Poet]

We're not afraid, no. We'll speak louder still when they try to silence. We've been not killed. Voices in the dark Rising through pain. You can take down a man but his words remain.

[Musical Performer/Chorus]

His name was Charlie. His name was Charlie. He spoke without fear. He spoke without fear. Don't let it fade. Don't let it fade. Oh. All voices together. This is how freedom dies. No voice at all. We're not afraid, no. We'll speak louder still

[Sacha Stone]

when they try to stop.

[Musical Performer/Chorus]

Silence we better not kill. Voices in the dark Rising through pain.

[Chorus/Poet]

You can take down a man but his words remain.

[Musical Performer/Chorus]

His name was Charlie. His name was Charlie. He spoke without fear. He spoke without fear. Don't let it fade. Don't let it fall. All voices together? This is how freedom dies. No voice at all

[Anonymous Liberal Commentator]

Sa. J.