Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk‘s assassination during a campus event at Utah Valley University in 2025.
From college debates to national addresses, here are some of the most memorable moments of Kirk engaging in a free exchange of ideas during his life as a political activist:
During a 2018 Politicon debate with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who previously worked for “The Young Turks,” Kirk called out Piker for pushing socialist policies without being willing to “give 95% of your money away and go live on a commune” in solidarity.
“I live what I practice. I am a free-market capitalist,” Kirk said. “I employ people. I took a risk. I have my own startup business. Every single day I practice what I preach. He wants other people to contribute to what he considers to be a good idea, what he considers will make the world a better place. You have the freedom to go live as a socialist. Go do it, Hasan. What’s stopping you?”
During one of his many college campus debates in 2024, Kirk was approached by a student asking if he felt “silly” debating college students while being a man in his 30s.
“So I vote and you vote. So I’m talking to voters of this country that will determine the future of Western civilization. That’s what I’m doing here, too,” Kirk said.
At another debate that same year, Kirk was confronted by a student who accused him of being a “fascist.” Kirk challenged the student to name one belief he held that qualified as “fascist.” The student was unable to immediately think of one.
“I’m such a bad fascist I let the people who disagree with me an open mic to talk to me for two hours uninterrupted. I’m an awful fascist,” Kirk joked.
Kirk surprised the hosts of “The Iced Coffee Hour” in 2025 after he said, “Under no circumstance ever should a man ever let a woman pay for a date,” even if he intends to marry her.
When they asked if it would be considered a “nice gesture” for a woman to pay for a date, Kirk disagreed, emphasizing that a woman is meant to be provided for by a man.
“This is feminism. Feminism is that you have to be this like self-independent,” Kirk said. “It’s not a nice gesture. It’s you trying to be like egalitarian. No. You, as a woman, should want to be provided for. In fact, you should have an expectation that you, as a woman, are so important and so critical and so necessary and beautiful that it shouldn’t even be a question.”
INSIDE CHARLIE KIRK’S EFFORT TO DEVELOP THE NEXT GENERATION OF CONSERVATIVE VOICES
Just months before his assassination, Kirk appeared on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast where the two discussed deep topics, including the existence of God. Maher, a well-known atheist, remarked that “nobody knows” whether there is a God.
“Do you hope you’re wrong? That’s the most important question,” Kirk asked.
“That’s a great question,” Maher replied.
“Do you hope there’s a heaven?” Kirk followed.
“I hope they figure out how I can live forever. I like it here with you, Charlie, drinking this and smoking pot,” Maher said.
Kirk took part in Jubilee’s “Surrounded” series in 2024, which featured him pitted against 25 liberal college students. Early in the debate, Kirk was questioned about what should happen if a woman has a serious health complication during her pregnancy.
Kirk countered by saying that the woman could have a C-section instead, flustering the female college student he was debating, who admitted she was not familiar with the procedure.
“Cesarean section … it’s a C-section. They do an insertion … they go right below the belly button, and they deliver the baby and that way she doesn’t have to give birth. It’s technically birth, but it’s much safer. So that’s actually safer than an abortion procedure.”
One of Kirk’s last high-profile debates before his death was an appearance at Oxford University in August 2025. Before his comments, Kirk used his time to criticize an Oxford student for making what he said were inaccurate statements about President Donald Trump, including suggesting that he was deporting U.S. citizens.
“I’ll give you 1,000 pounds right now. If you could tell me the U.S. citizen that was deported under Donald Trump. You said that twice. The U.S. citizen that was deported under Donald Trump. Can anyone tell me, 1,000 pounds? I’ll give it to you right now,” Kirk said.
He added, “That was a lie. You should know better than that. You go to Oxford.”
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At a 2025 Turning Point USA event, Kirk addressed his issues with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and explained his view of the conservative position to the crowd.
“What we believe as conservatives is that skin color really doesn’t matter that much. We care about character and merit. We want a country built on what you bring to the table, not how you look,” Kirk said.
“If you do something racist on top of something racist, that doesn’t make the second racist action good,” he added.
During another 2025 event, Kirk got into a heated debate with a student over the scale of abortion, which Kirk compared to the Holocaust.
“It’s 45 million babies. It’s nearly eight times worse than the Holocaust. What’s the moral difference between a small baby in the womb and a grown Jew who was killed at Auschwitz? What’s the moral difference? One is older?” Kirk said.
“One of them is a person,” the student responded.
“What species is the baby in the womb?” Kirk asked.
“It’s a human,” the student answered.
“Therefore, they should have human rights,” Kirk said.
Kirk spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention in support of Trump’s bid to return to the White House. During his remarks, he specifically highlighted the Gen Z audience watching him and informed them that national decline is a choice.
“You don’t have to stay poor. You don’t have to accept being worse off than your parents,” Kirk said. “You don’t have to feel aimless and unhappy. You don’t have to support leaders who lied to you and took advantage of you for your vote. America’s future is a series of choices. Our current state of slow-motion national decline is a choice. This November, we’re going to choose success.”
