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Honestly with Bari Weiss

Charlie Kirk’s Murder and the Rise of Political Violence

Honestly with Bari Weiss

The Free Press

News, Society & Culture

4.67.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2025

⏱️ 88 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Yesterday, in broad daylight, in front of a crowd of 3,000 people at Utah Valley University, Charlie Kirk was shot dead. Kirk was not just a husband, not just a father, and not just one of the most prominent young conservative voices in the country. He made his name doing something fundamental to the American project: disagreeing out loud.  He famously said, “When people stop talking, bad stuff happens.” And so his thing was going to campuses, setting up a tent, and asking people to change his mind. People on campuses lined up to challenge him, often fiercely debating—and that was the point. He was a living embodiment of our First Amendment. As Matthew Continetti wrote in our pages: “The attack didn’t just deprive a family of its center. It struck at the ties that hold a free society together: open assembly, civil debate, viewpoint diversity. Like every terrorist act, the shooting was meant to instill fear—in this case, fear of speaking out, of exposure, of making a difference.” And as shocking and tragic as his murder is the response to it: the people online celebrating—yes, celebrating—his death simply because they disagreed with his politics. Today Bari sits down with Ben Shapiro, Senator Mark Kelly, Matt Continetti, Katherine Boyle, Konstantin Kisin, and The Free Press’s own Eli Lake and Maya Sulkin to reflect on Kirk’s life and this awful moment in American history—and to consider how we can begin to look forward. New episodes of The Isabel Brown Show can be viewed on DailyWire+ here: ⁠www.dailywire.com/show/the-isabel-brown-show⁠ Follow Isabel on X: ⁠www.x.com/theisabelb⁠ Follow Isabel on Instagram: ⁠www.instagram.com/theisabelbrown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

from the free press this is honestly and i'm barry wice yesterday in broad daylight in front of a crowd of

0:09.9

some three thousand people at utah valley university charlie kirk was murdered charlie was not just a husband

0:17.5

not just a father and not just one of the most prominent young conservative

0:22.0

voices in the country. He made his name for doing something fundamental to the American

0:27.5

project, debating and disagreeing out loud. He famously said when people stop talking, bad stuff

0:35.4

happens. His thing was going to campus, setting up a tent,

0:40.8

and asking people to talk to him to change his mind. And people, tens of thousands of them on

0:47.4

campuses across the country would line up to do so, to challenge him often fiercely debating.

0:53.4

And that was the point.

0:56.2

I don't think you can think of someone in American life,

0:58.8

whether you agree with him or not,

1:00.4

who was more of a living embodiment of the First Amendment.

1:04.7

As our columnist Matt Contenetti wrote in the free press,

1:08.5

the attack on Charlie Kirk didn't just deprive a family of its center.

1:13.0

It struck at the ties that hold a free society together,

1:17.0

open assembly, civil debate, viewpoint diversity.

1:21.8

And like every terrorist attack,

1:23.9

the shooting was meant to instill fear,

1:26.1

in this case,

1:27.3

fear of speaking out, fear of exposure, and fear of making a difference.

1:33.6

As shocking as the murder is, and it is very shocking to see that video,

1:40.1

perhaps more disturbing or as disturbing is the response.

...

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