Ben Shapiro Said Charlie Kirk Never Stopped Talking Until a "Killer’s Bullet Ripped His Life From Him"
Ben Shapiro claims more political violence has come from the left than the right.
Published Sept. 11 2025, 3:00 p.m. ET
Following the death of ultra-right-wing conservative Charlie Kirk, who was murdered while hosting an event at Utah Valley University, his friend and fellow pundit Ben Shapiro had a few thoughts he needed to share. According to a piece Shapiro penned for The Free Press, he and Kirk met when the latter was only 18 years old.
Kirk had just started Turning Point USA, the conservative nonprofit organization whose mission is to "identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government." Shapiro described the young Kirk as eager, aggressive, and whip-smart. Thirteen years later, Shapiro had much more to say.
Ben Shapiro had much to say about his friend Charlie Kirk's life and death.
The first thing Shapiro thought upon meeting Kirk was that he would someday be the head of the Republican National Committee. "I was wrong," writes Shapiro. "Charlie became far more important than that." He went on to describe Turning Point USA as the "single most important conservative political organization in the country," and attributed most of its success to Kirk and his abilities as a public speaker and debater.
Shapiro applauded the person Kirk was in the video clips that often went viral, but put more emphasis on who he was behind the scenes. Kirk's desire to "build and grow coalitions" was a "messy business" that came with "aches and pains," writes Shapiro. "That’s how a guy who never went to college ended up as a confidant of the president of the United States, the vice president, and pretty much everyone else on the right side of the aisle."
It was Kirk's energy and love of the game that kept him moving. According to Shapiro, he never stopped going, and he never stopped engaging. "That infectious energy never left him," said Shapiro. "Until a killer’s bullet ripped his life from him. And there are no more words. There can be no more words."
Ben Shapiro claims the rising tide of violence is mostly coming from the left.
Shapiro references the 1960s and 1970s, when political violence was on the rise, stating America eventually rejected these kinds of actions. "Now, we’re watching the same ugly picture reappear, " he writes. The right-wing political commentator also notes the attempted shooting of President Trump, from the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to the slaying of two Israeli embassy staffers.
Shapiro neglects to mention the assassination of House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, a Democrat from Minnesota, who was allegedly killed by Vance Boelter, a registered Republican who attended campaign rallies for Donald Trump, per CBS News. He goes on to say that while the temperature in our country has been "steadily rising," the phenomenon is not distributed equally.
"The rising tide of violence on the left has become more and more virulent over the course of the last several years," claims Shapiro. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as of June 2020, "far-right terrorism has significantly outpaced terrorism from other types of perpetrators, including from far-left networks and individuals inspired by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda."
Shapiro believes the answer to this so-called rising tide is more thoughts and prayers. He says we need prayers for our country and our souls, in order to "hold ourselves accountable for the way we treat others."