The Charlie Kirk blueprint
How the millennial activist tried to make conservative ideas聽cool, and then export them around the world.
On Wednesday, the divisive conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on the first stop of his 鈥楢merican Comeback Tour鈥�, where he invited students to engage him in political discussion. Kirk was the founder of the conservative nonprofit Turning Points USA and one of Donald Trump鈥檚 most powerful advocates, especially among young people. But his impact stretched far beyond the United States, as he leveraged social media to reinvent the right's image around the world.
Today, we speak to Semafor political correspondent, David Weigel, about the blueprint Kirk pioneered for winning young minds to the conservative cause. Then, we speak to Daniel Ogoloma, who partnered with Kirk for a debate while he was a student at Oxford University. He tells us about his plan to bring Kirk鈥檚 ideas into Nigerian politics.
Producers: Viv Jones, Xandra Ellin, Valerio Esposito, Lucy Pawle, Sam Chantarasak
Executive producer: Annie Brown
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo credit: Trent Nelson / The Salt Lake Tribune / Reuters
Last on
Broadcast
- Fri 12 Sep 2025 10:32GMT麻豆社 World Service
Podcast
-
The Global Story
The Global Story: Where the world meets America