They are Charlie Kirk

Today, Explained

Vox

News, Daily News, Politics

4.3 • 10.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Young conservatives are struggling with where to turn after Kirk's assassination. Some of the options are frightening. This episode was produced by Kelli Wessinger, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Andrea Lopez-Cruzado, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Noel King. A woman holding an American flag at Turning Point's annual AmericaFest conference, in remembrance of late right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk. Photo by Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty Images. Further Reading: Inside the Conservative Campus Revolution Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Turning Point USA's last big event, America Fest, was held in December without founder Charlie Kirk.
0:06.8	Had Kirk been alive, it might have gone differently, but it was a mess. Ben Shapiro went ham on
0:12.9	Megan Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens. So no, Tucker Carlson, it is not an excuse to go silent
0:19.0	on Candace's targeting of TPUSA.
0:22.9	Or to mirror her bullshit lines of questioning because you love Candace personally.
0:28.0	The same holds true of Megan Kelly.
0:30.1	Kelly and Tucker hit back at Shapiro.
0:32.2	To hear calls for like deplatforming and denouncing people at a Charlie Kirk event. I'm like, what? This is hilarious.
0:39.7	I don't think we are friends anymore.
0:43.5	I've been a very good friend to Ben.
0:45.7	Nobody knew who the heck Ben Shapiro was when I started putting him on my shows on the Fox News
0:50.2	channel.
0:51.1	Erica Kirk tried to keep it light.
0:52.9	The enemy has thrown a lot of curveballs at us today.
0:58.5	My iPad won't even turn on.
1:00.5	Nikki Minaj was there.
1:01.6	Why not?
1:02.5	And those people are adult professionals.
1:04.7	Charlie Kirk started Turning Point USA to reach college students.
1:08.2	It was a campus organization first.
1:10.4	So what are the students thinking?
1:12.0	That's coming up on Today Explained.
	...

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