What is the future of US dissent in the post-Charlie Kirk era?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A wave of firings has followed since the killing of controversial right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. From TV hosts and journalists to professors, critics who spoke honestly about his record have faced consequences, even as Kirk is elevated as a martyr by the right. What does this backlash reveal about who gets to speak freely in the US today?
In this episode:
- Manisha Krishnan (@manishakrishnan), Senior Culture Editor, WIRED
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker, Tracie Hunte, and Sarí el-Khalili, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Chloe K. Li, Melanie Marich, Farhan Rafid, Kisaa Zehra, and our guest host, Natasha Del Toro. It was edited by Kylene Kiang.
The Take production team is Marcos Bartolomé, Sonia Bhagat, Spencer Cline, Sarí el-Khalili, Tracie Hunte, Tamara Khandaker, Kylene Kiang, Phillip Lanos, Chloe K. Li, Melanie Marich, Catherine Nouhan, Haleema Shah, Amy Walters, and Noor Wazwaz. Our editorial interns are Farhan Rafid, and Kisaa Zehra. Our host is Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:11.0 | Today, Charlie Kirk and a new era of censorship. |
| 0:15.6 | Do I think we are at a turning point right now in society and with free speech? |
| 0:20.5 | Yes, I do. |
| 0:22.2 | While the controversial right-wing activist built his brand on free speech, |
| 0:27.2 | why those who've spoken out honestly about his record have been silenced. |
| 0:33.5 | I'm Natasha Deltoro, and this is The Take. |
| 0:48.7 | Before we continue with today's episode, if you're watching us on YouTube or Spotify, |
| 0:50.7 | please leave us a comment. |
| 0:56.0 | What did you think about the reaction to Charlie Kirk's assassination? We'd love to hear what you thought about this episode and what stories that you would like to see us cover next. |
| 1:01.6 | And if you're listening to this podcast, check us out on those platforms to see us on video. |
| 1:10.7 | I'm Anisha Krishishnan. I'm a senior culture editor at Wired, and I'm based in Brooklyn. |
| 1:17.4 | Awesome. Welcome to the Take, Manisha. We're really excited to have you on today. |
| 1:21.3 | So a lot has gone down since right-wing political activist and Trump allyallied Charlie Kirk was shot to death. |
| 1:28.2 | Now, we know that the alleged shooter is a 22-year-old named Tyler Robinson, who prosecutors say |
| 1:34.7 | planned the attack in advance. Briefly, what more do we know about him at this point and his motive? |
| 1:43.8 | So we actually know very little about his motive. |
| 1:47.5 | There's been sort of a scramble, you know, to assign blame. But really, in terms of his actual |
| 1:55.1 | motivations, it's still very unclear. We knew that he grew up in a Mormon family. |
| 2:07.6 | His parents reportedly were registered Republicans, but he is not affiliated with either party. |
| 2:15.2 | We know that authorities say that a lot of the bullet casings found at the scene had various memes carved into them. |
| 2:17.8 | And there's been sort of a scramble to find a deeper meaning, I guess, to those. |
... |
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