Charlie Kirk and His Killer Both Knew That the Tongue Is the Most Powerful Organ
His voice will never be silenced.
Dad is on a business trip with Jesus.
This was the answer Erika, Charlie’s wife, had to give their daughter when the little girl asked where her father was.
I am young, not yet a parent, but my stomach clenched as I listened to Erika’s speech in full, where she shared various moments, including this one.
Charlie is not the real victim in this story: he is gone, and he probably did not suffer much, passing away in a matter of moments. The real victims, tragically, are his wife and their children.
Those little ones will have with their father the same kind of relationship I had: a digital relationship. Fifteen years from now they will be able to rewatch recordings, listen again to speeches, and maybe read books, but nothing more.
Charlie Kirk has now become a hero, in the United States and beyond. His social media profiles have gained millions of new followers since the murder. Charlie is dead, but his ideas have grown louder.
New people are being drawn to his positions.
New people will join Turning Point USA.
New people will turn toward Christianity.
But what does all this mean for us?
What happened to him concerns all of us, in ways we may not even be able to imagine. The reactions already unfolding — and those yet to come — will have consequences for each of our lives, far beyond American borders.
There are many things that need to be said.
Like it or not, this marks a turning point.
His Last Words
Several days have passed, and I still cannot watch that cursed video without feeling a deep anger. In front of him were hundreds of young men and women who will carry with them forever the terror of attending public events. How many of them will develop a true agoraphobia?
Charlie, when he was struck, was speaking. He had the microphone in his hand. His last word was:
“Violence”
Charlie was a man who voiced ideas — some more or less shareable, some not; I myself agreed with only a few — in a raw and deliberately provocative style. But wasn’t that very roughness an essential part of his persona? Charisma is a non-negotiable requirement for anyone who aspires to be a public figure, and above all, a speaker.
In my own small way, I’ve come to understand this truth too, thanks to my work as a writer.
In my view, what pushed people away from Charlie was not so much his ideas, but the way he communicated them. I myself sometimes catch myself “switching off my brain,” refusing to listen to certain positions, dismissing entire arguments outright.
It happens to me, for example, with flat-earth supporters or with other conspiracies as fanciful as they are unfounded: my mind shuts down and prevents me from taking what I hear seriously.
Charlie, like every speaker, ran up against the same limitation. He often spoke of Jesus, and for many people that alone was enough to reject the rest of his message out of hand.
And yet, the very violence he often spoke against and always despised struck him down — but it did not silence him. Charlie will continue to speak through the consciences of all those who followed him, and of those who will begin to follow him precisely after his death.
The Writing on His T-Shirt
On the day he was fatally shot, he was wearing a T-shirt with a single word:
Freedom
Charlie was a free man, a staunch lover of freedom.
He never advocated persecuting homosexuals, even though he often cited biblical verses that, directly or indirectly, condemned homosexuality. This made him controversial, but no less consistent with his worldview.
Freedom is one of the founding values of the West. From Los Angeles to Tokyo, passing through New York, Lisbon, Rome, Tel Aviv, and Kyiv, it is the invisible thread that unites diverse cultures under a common principle. And so, anyone who considers it legitimate to limit the freedom of others — regardless of political affiliation or religious belief — can only be seen as incompatible with Western values.
In this sense, Charlie was an example. A man who embodied, for better or worse, the principles of democracy.
Charlie Kirk and his killer both knew that the tongue is the most powerful organ.
The tongue gives us speech, and speech, when used wisely, can literally change the world.
Charlie knew this well: democracy lives on the consent of the majority. Voters are not to be corrupted or bought — they must be won over, persuaded, engaged. Speech is the only legitimate weapon one has in a democracy to win an election.
And in this, Charlie made a difference. He played a decisive role in Donald Trump’s victory in November 2024. And in that sense, yes: Charlie truly changed the world. Because American elections do not only shape the domestic politics of the United States — they inevitably have repercussions on the international stage as well.
The one who pulled the trigger knew it. He knew that the tongue can influence elections far more than violence. And yet, he chose the path of violence, deluding himself into thinking he could silence that tongue.
Firearms
In my life, I have only seen a pistol a few times. I have never touched one. I have never even seen a rifle up close.
The only occasion when I was able to examine a weapon closely was thanks to a relative who was a police officer.
In Italy, as in much of Europe, it is very rare for a private citizen to legally own a firearm. It is possible to possess one, of course, but only after a long and complex bureaucratic process.
Between 1922 and 1943 Italy experienced real fascism. In those years the Duce, Benito Mussolini, imposed increasingly strict limits on weapon ownership. Only those very close to the Party could keep them. Why? The purpose was clear: to prevent and discourage any armed popular uprisings.
And, folks… it worked.
The revolution happened only during the Second World War. After twenty years of oppression, my great-grandparents — like many other Italians — seized the opportunity presented by the landing of American forces to join them and fight against the German occupiers and against Italians still loyal to the regime.
That is why, when Charlie Kirk said that guns are a symbol of freedom, he spoke from experience. He knew well the risks a disarmed population runs. Weapons should not be used to annihilate each other, but to defend ourselves, one day, from a potential tyrannical government.
Yet I hear some say that Charlie “deserved” to be killed because he supported the right to bear arms. Isn’t that a petty lie?
Charlie — and anyone with even a shred of intelligence — would never have said it is right to solve private disputes by shooting at each other.
His objective was different: to prevent in the United States what already happened in Italy, namely one part of the population seizing dominance over the other. Just as happened in the American Civil War.
We Are All at Risk Now
I put myself out there online too. I don’t hold public rallies, of course, but I share ideas, write articles, receive insults, compliments and sometimes even threats.
That young man, Charlie, could have been me.
He could have been you.
Some people, opponents of Charlie Kirk, say that:
Those are not opinions, it’s violence, he deserves to be silenced.
And who decides what is opinion and what is violence? Is it something any one of us can establish arbitrarily? Can I decide, for example, that what another person says are not opinions but violent words and, consequently, legitimize their murder?
Do you see how dangerous this way of thinking is?
Today it was Charlie Kirk. But if we accept the theory that they are not opinions, therefore it is right to kill, tomorrow it could be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Think about it: ”Tax the rich is not an opinion, it’s violence.”
Couldn’t someone convince themselves they have the moral right to organize an assassination based on that twisted reasoning?
If you are among those who think this way, I invite you to unfollow me immediately: you are dangerous people, and I do not want you among the readers of my articles.
Charlie Kirk could have been me.
Charlie Kirk will continue to speak through the voices of many of us.
Because the tongue remains the most important organ.
Rest in peace. Amen.