posted<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n ![\"Audience](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757581401_604_\")
<\/p>\n
Crowd members react after Charlie Kirk\u2019s shooting at Utah Valley University.<\/p>\n
(Tess Crowley \/ Deseret News \/ AP)<\/p>\n
Leading Democrats also moved swiftly to condemn the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,\u201d California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on X. \u201cIn the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabrielle Giffords, a former Arizona congresswoman who survived a political assassination attempt in 2011 and is a gun violence prevention advocate, said on X that she was horrified to hear that Kirk was shot. <\/p>\n
\u201cDemocratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Matthew Boedy, a professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia, has written a forthcoming book about Christian nationalism that prominently features Kirk and his influence. The book, \u201cThe Seven Mountains Mandate,\u201d comes out Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is a tragedy,\u201d Boedy said in an interview with The Times on Wednesday. \u201cIt is a red flag for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boedy said the shooting \u2014 following the two assassination attempts against Trump on the campaign trail last year \u2014 was a tragic reminder of \u201cjust how divisive we have become.\u201d<\/p>\n
In June, a man posing as a police officer fatally shot Minnesota state House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in an incident that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called \u201ca politically motivated assassination.\u201d <\/p>\n
Another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, were also injured at their residence less than 10 miles away.<\/p>\n
In April, a shooter set fire to the Pennsylvania governor\u2019s mansion, forcing Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family to flee during the Jewish holiday of Passover.<\/p>\n
In July 2024, Trump survived a hail of bullets, one of which grazed his ear, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Two months later, a man with a rifle was arrested by Secret Service agents after he was spotted amid shrubs near Trump\u2019s West Palm Beach golf course.<\/p>\n
Kirk\u2019s presence at the Utah campus was preceded by petitions and protests. But, Boedy noted, that was typical with his appearances.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharlie Kirk is, I would say, the most influential person who doesn\u2019t work in the White House,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kirk reached a vast array of demographics, Boedy said, through his radio show and social media accounts and was \u201cin conversation with President Trump a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had said his melding in recent years of faith and politics was influenced by Rob McCoy, the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park in Ventura County. Kirk called McCoy, who often spoke at his events, his personal pastor.<\/p>\n
Boedy said McCoy turned Kirk toward Christian nationalism, specifically the Seven Mountains Mandate \u2014 the idea that Christians should try to hold sway over the seven pillars of cultural influence: arts and entertainment, business, education, family, government, media and religion.<\/p>\n
Kirk \u201cturned Turning Point USA into an arm of Christian nationalism,\u201d Boedy said. \u201cThere\u2019s a strategy called the Seven Mountains Mandate, and he has put his TPUSA money into each of those.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirk was a vocal 2nd Amendment supporter, and Boedy said that the shooting probably would further the desire among his conservative followers who tout the idea of having good guys with guns \u201cto have more guns everywhere, which is sad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Times staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":217778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1578,1582,276,12495,118902,118904,15916,2961,224,5337,13664,17867,118905,10655,27184,1446,118903,118901,989,15613],"class_list":{"0":"post-217777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-associated-press","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-condition","12":"tag-conservative-commentator-charlie-kirk","13":"tag-handcuff","14":"tag-kirk","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-mike-lee","19":"tag-multiple-report","20":"tag-old-man","21":"tag-social-medium","22":"tag-spokesperson","23":"tag-tour","24":"tag-utah-senator","25":"tag-utah-valley-university-event","26":"tag-video","27":"tag-wednesday"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115184861619518657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}