For many young people on the right of American politics, Charlie Kirk was an icon.
He was 31-years-old, a media personality, podcaster, an author and the founder of Turning Point USA.
The non-profit organisation champions conservative politics in schools, colleges and university campuses. It has been described as one of the fastest-growing organisations of its types in America.
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He had a huge following with his podcast consistently charting in the top 20.
According to NBC News, The Charlie Kirk Show is being downloaded between 500,000 and 750,000 times each day. It consistently charts highly on Spotify and Apple.
Across social media, he had a huge following with more than 7.3 million followers on TikTok, 7 million on Instagram, 5 million on X and 3.5 million on YouTube.
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A popular political activist, he spent much of his time travelling to college campuses across the country, encouraging debate and promoting conservative values.
A big supporter of President Trump and somewhat of a MAGA spokesman to young people across America, he publicly promoted conservative, Trump-aligned causes and often debated with people opposed to his views.
Born in Chicago in 1993, he was attracted to politics early, volunteering for the US Senate campaign of Illinois Republican Mark Kirk (no relation) during his high school years.
He was accused by critics of promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories on issues including COVID-19, climate change and the 2020 US election.
Responding to the January 6th 2021 riots on Capitol Hill, he said it was not an insurrection but that the rioters did not represent the mainstream of Mr Trump’s support.
A day before the riots, in support of what he believed to be a stolen election, he wrote on X that he was organising for “buses of patriots” to Washington to “fight for the president”.
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Given his following among young people across America, this could be a moment of political jeopardy for the country.
Is this the spark which brings people together or drives the divide dangerously deeper?
