When Alex Clark, the podcaster and one of Charlie Kirk’s top deputies at Turning Point USA, found out Kirk had been murdered September 10, the nonstop poster was left with only a few words. On Thursday morning, she shared her memories of Kirk, but added that it was “tempting to want to close up shop.” By Friday, she was making plans for the future. “Yesterday I woke up wanting to die,” she wrote. “Today I woke up ready for war. We can do this. TPUSA will be bigger and bolder than anyone could ever imagine. We cannot and will not stop.”
She continued by sharing what she thought Kirk would want his followers to do next: “Go to church this Sunday. A solid, Bible teaching church. Keep going,” she added. “Buy the biggest American flag. Put it in your front yard. We will not let him die in vain.”
This summer, Kirk made headlines for telling young women at TPUSA’s Young Women’s Leadership Summit to put their families first instead of focusing on their careers. Perhaps ironically, he had spent much of the previous decade supporting the careers of female influencers through his organization. Dozens of prominent right-wing influencers got their start at Kirk’s organization, including Clark, Candace Owens, and Representative Anna Paulina Luna. The contrast between Kirk’s public persona as a combative, occasionally insulting podcaster and his private reputation as a good friend to fellow conservatives helps explain the reactions to his death on both sides of the aisle.
James Meyer of Meriden puts together a poster outside the venue prior to a vigil for Charlie Kirk on Sunday, September 14, 2025.Jim Michaud/Connecticut Post/Getty Images.
The religious nature of Clark’s response reflects Kirk’s own pivot towards emphasizing Christianity in his public life. In the early years of TPUSA, which Kirk founded in 2012, his message was primarily secular. But in 2019, Kirk began working with megachurch pastor Rob McCoy. Two years later, they founded Turning Point Faith, which brought Kirk in contact with some of the country’s most prominent fundamentalist and charismatic pastors.
Isabel Brown, another social media personality whose career was supported by Kirk, returned to her YouTube show with a tearful remembrance of her friend. She praised Kirk as a mentor: He “personally handwrote my recommendation letter on my job application for my first job at the White House in 2018,” Brown said. By Friday, she was back to a more regular format, presenting clips of vigils for Kirk on college campuses across the country. Brown also shared a video of a child expressing his sadness about Kirk’s murder before beginning a reading from the Book of Matthew. She also reacted to an Instagram Reel from podcaster and missionary Bryce Crawford, who said that Kirk’s death was a sign that the “devil has overplayed his hand” and would start a religious revival in America. (By September 15, Crawford’s video had more than 8.4 million views.)
Brown added that she hopes Kirk’s death will inspire more members of Gen Z to embrace Christianity. “What I’ve seen more of—than support for America, support for the conservative movement, support for free speech and conservative politics—is a generational revival of faith, where young people everywhere are picking up our crosses. To bear the weight of this sorrow, but to move forward, to bring God into every fiber of our society again moving forward,” she said. On Monday, Brown continued in the same vein, with an episode titled “Charlie Kirk Was Right: America Is a Christian Nation.”
