Why is Charlie Kirk now being hailed a "martyr"?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
American flags are flying at half mast today to honour the memory of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and MAGA influencer shot dead at a university event in Utah.
It is hard to state how influential Kirk was in attracting younger voters towards the Republicans. Donald Trump has said he was influential to his 2024 election campaign.
In a White House video, Trump said the “radical left” were "directly responsible" for the "terrorism" now present in America, by comparing “wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers”. He pledged that it would be put to a stop. Other MAGA commentators have gone further, claiming that the US is at war and that American conservatives cannot co-exist with liberals. What does Kirk's death mean for American politics now? And why are some British politicians claiming that Kirk spoke "common sense", when his views were so out of kilter with public opinion?
Later, how damaged is Keir Starmer by Peter Mandelson's resignation as our man in DC - less than a week out from Trump's state visit?
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.0 | This is a global player original podcast. We're going to play you the last conversation that Charlie Kirk ever had. |
| 0:17.2 | It was on the campus of Utah Valley University, seconds before he was shot dead. |
| 0:22.2 | He was talking about gun crime, specifically what he called transgender mass shooters. |
| 0:27.9 | We're not going to play you the moment it happened. |
| 0:30.4 | So do you know how any transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years? |
| 0:35.4 | Too many. |
| 0:36.5 | Okay. |
| 0:36.7 | Thank you. mass shooters over the last 10 years? Too many. Okay. Okay. |
| 0:38.3 | On the year 11th there is five. |
| 0:42.3 | Okay. |
| 0:43.3 | Now, five is a lot, right? |
| 0:44.3 | I'm going to give you some credit. |
| 0:45.3 | Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years? |
| 0:50.3 | Counting or not counting gang violence? |
| 0:52.3 | Charlie Kirk was one of the most important figures in MAGA world. |
| 0:58.0 | His murder has enraged President Trump and many of his followers, some of whom are even now talking about civil war. |
| 1:06.0 | How dangerous a moment is this for American politics and what happens to Magnau. Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:18.2 | The Newsagents. It's Emily. It's Lewis. And we're going to start by setting out exactly what |
| 1:23.7 | happened last night and telling you a little bit about Charlie Kirk. If you don't know him or |
| 1:28.7 | are only just familiar with the name, that may not be a surprise because he hasn't hit these |
| 1:33.9 | shores in the same way that he has dominated the airwaves in America. But he was essentially an |
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