Thread by @Scholars_Stage

Before his murder, Charlie Kirk was two things: a power broker in the Trump coalition and a symbol of a specific vision for that coalition.

You will not understand why his murder feels so cataclysmic to so many if you do not first understand what Kirk symbolized.

I have been thinking about Kirk and his appeal for several weeks now, actually. A producer from his show invited me to come on and talk to Kirk about China and Taiwan.

After I accepted this offer I began to binge his past shows, trying to prepare for the episode.

I also talked with several fans, asking them what shows they thought were best and what they liked most about Charlie Kirk.

This episode will obviously never happen now. But I can share with you what I learned about what Kirk means to the right--especially the young right.

This is important to do because those not involved in the new right's internal politics and controversies don't understand really what Kirk was about or what he accomplished. Most non-politicos tend to think of Kirk mostly as an internet provocateur chasing clout.

This is not accurate. It does not describe Kirk's actual role as a coalition-broker in the Republican Party nor what Kirk represented to the millions who followed him.

In this short memorial essay I try to explain both of those things: scholars-stage.org/bullets-and-ba…

On that first part: No man save Trump himself did more to pioneer the electorally viable conservative populism that now defines the GOP—not just in terms of its ideas and aesthetic style, but also in terms of its institutions, leadership, money flows, and personnel networks.

Kirk had four sources of influence: his massive megaphone; his vote-mobilization machine; his personal network of activists, donors, politicians, and media personalities; and the trust of the president.

If all you have seen of Kirk are some of his more viral clips you do not understand how important he was to the MAGA movement. Constantly he brokered peace between hostile factions, connected donors with politicians and statesmen with staffers, acted as a conduit for

advice, money, and ideas; got bodies at rallies and voters in booths; training a new generation of leaders while securing favors for the old. He was the indispensable man on the populist right, the man holding the movement together.