135: The Death and Life of Charlie Kirk
I Don't Speak German
IDSG
3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 September 2025
⏱️ 95 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Daniel and Jack discuss who Charlie Kirk really was, and what he really said.
Features Megyn Kelly's reaction to the breaking news, and clips from Kirk's shows, including his very last podcast.
Content Warnings
Episode Notes:
New York Times Coverage of the Death of Charlie Kirk. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/10/us/charlie-kirk-shot-utah
Wall Street Journal, "Ammunition in Kirk Shooting Engraved With Transgender, Antifascist Ideology: Sources" https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/charlie-kirk-shot/card/ammunition-in-kirk-shooting-engraved-with-transgender-antifascist-ideology-sources-pdymd1sXXMSlVRhpvR4b
Ezra Klein Opinion, at The New York Times, "Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/charlie-kirk-assassination-fear-politics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lE8.c8fl.bhF6iMJ6NLxJ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
"You can dislike much of what Kirk believed and the following statement is still true: Kirk was practicing politics in exactly the right way. He was showing up to campuses and talking with anyone who would talk to him. He was one of the era's most effective practitioners of persuasion. When the left thought its hold on the hearts and minds of college students was nearly absolute, Kirk showed up again and again to break it. Slowly, then all at once, he did. College-age voters shifted sharply right in the 2024 election.
That was not all Kirk's doing, but he was central in laying the groundwork for it. I did not know Kirk and I am not the right person to eulogize him. But I envied what he built. A taste for disagreement is a virtue in a democracy. Liberalism could use more of his moxie and fearlessness. In the inaugural episode of his podcast, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California hosted Kirk, admitting that his son was a huge fan. What a testament to Kirk's project."
Robert Draper, New York Times, How Charlie Kirk Became the Youth Whisperer of the American Right: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/magazine/charlie-kirk-american-right.html
"But perhaps most important is that Kirk's dominant voice, via his podcast and his ubiquity on social media, has earned him credibility among conservatives as a die-hard Trump devotee. He has become a close friend of the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., with whom Kirk traveled to Greenland on Jan. 7 — wearing a "Charlie"-embroidered flight jacket for the occasion — to publicize Trump's proclaimed intent to acquire the Arctic territory. And Kirk was an early champion of JD Vance as Trump was deciding whether the senator would be his running mate."
Megyn Kelly, YouTube, Charlie Kirk Dead at 31 -- Assassination on Utah College Campus During Turning Point Event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goia3bx9aZ8
The Charlie Kirk Show, "What Does 'Phillies Karen' Say About American Men" https://thecharliekirkshow.com/podcasts/the-charlie-kirk-show/what-does-phillies-karen-say-about-american-men
Tricia McLaughlin at dhs.gov: https://www.dhs.gov/person/tricia-mclaughlin
USA Today Story on "Phillies Karen" https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2025/09/10/phillies-karen-outrage-explained/86070492007/
https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/133-the-mamdani-reaction
https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/102-rittenhouse-anarcho-tyranny-and-blood-libel
https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/episode-36-the-groyper-war
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/sep/17/turning-point-usa-professor-watchlist
https://x.com/queenie4rmnola/status/1965960315587416268
https://www.the-end.news/after-kirk-right-wingers-double-down-on-eliminating-opponents/
https://www.404media.co/charlie-kirk-was-not-practicing-politics-the-right-way/
Show Notes:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This podcast was recorded the day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. |
| 0:06.7 | Since it was recorded, it has been massively overtaken by the news. |
| 0:12.7 | But, as I often say, people don't come to this show for the latest news. |
| 0:18.7 | This episode is not about the news event as such. |
| 0:22.7 | It's about the background to the news event. |
| 0:26.1 | I can barely get my arms around the enormity of this. |
| 0:31.3 | Charlie is such a dear man, and he's such an important cultural figure. |
| 0:39.1 | He is one of the bravest people, I know. |
| 0:43.2 | He's been so unfairly demonized by his detractors. |
| 0:47.3 | At every turn, he's been villainized by people who disagree with him politically. |
| 0:59.0 | And that messaging can sink in. |
| 1:05.6 | I'm not blaming anyone. I don't know exactly who did it. And I know the motivations are, but I know that a lot of hate has been stirred up for Charlie that is grossly disproportionate to the messaging he's |
| 1:13.9 | bringing to this world. |
| 1:35.8 | And welcome to, if it weren't for us, you'd all be speaking German, our podcast. |
| 1:37.7 | Daniel. |
| 1:38.5 | Yes. |
| 1:45.6 | So, this is kind of an emergency gathering, I suppose, to record. |
| 1:48.6 | A luminary figure of American politics has been killed. |
| 1:50.7 | And we get to talk about it. Yeah. |
| 1:51.5 | I'm told a sort of MLK level figure. |
| 1:55.7 | Oh, believe me. |
| 1:57.1 | You haven't heard the audio yet. |
... |
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