WIRED Roundup: How Charlie Kirk Changed Conservative Media
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 12 September 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today’s episode, Zöe is joined by WIRED’s Jake Lahut to discuss the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death — from the response of right-wing tech leaders, to how Kirk helped shape conservative media influencers and U.S politics as we know it.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
- Right-Wing Activist Charlie Kirk Dead at 31 | WIRED
- ‘War Is Here’: The Far-Right Responds to Charlie Kirk Shooting With Calls for Violence | WIRED
- MAGA Influencers Take Their Victory Lap, With Big Tech Picking Up the Tab | WIRED
Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from Alexis Ohanian's newest tech venture to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests.
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Wired's Uncanny Valley. |
| 0:08.1 | I'm Wired's director of business and industry, Zoe Schiffer. |
| 0:11.9 | Today on the show, we're skipping our regular roundup to discuss the news that's gripped the nation since yesterday, |
| 0:17.7 | the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. |
| 0:21.0 | On Wednesday, Kirk was fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University. |
| 0:25.5 | It was the first appearance of what was supposed to be a nationwide tour aimed at, |
| 0:29.8 | quote, equipping students with the tools to push back against left-wing indoctrination |
| 0:33.9 | in academia. |
| 0:35.1 | It was hosted by the nonprofit that Kirk founded, called Turning Point USA. |
| 0:39.6 | As of this recording, local and federal authorities are still looking for a suspect. |
| 0:44.1 | We'll dive into who Kirk was and how he shaped a movement of right-wing digital influencers |
| 0:48.5 | and commentators that has changed not just conservative media, but U.S. politics at large. |
| 0:53.7 | I'm joined today by senior politics writer Jake LaHette. |
| 0:56.2 | Jake, welcome to Uncanny Valley. |
| 0:58.1 | Hey, Zoe. Good to be nice. |
| 1:01.7 | So listeners probably have some idea of who Charlie Kirk was. |
| 1:07.2 | He's obviously a right-wing activist and a major Trump ally. |
| 1:10.6 | But take me back to how he became so influential in conservative circles. |
| 1:15.9 | So Charlie Kirk was basically a teenager and had been planning on going to college, |
| 1:22.1 | ends up getting noticed by this guy, Bill Montgomery, who was a conservative activist from Nebraska. |
| 1:27.2 | And he basically convinces |
| 1:28.6 | him in a not too dissimilar fashion to a lot of the tech folks that we cover all the time |
... |
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