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A close friend and colleague of Charlie Kirk says the conservative leader and media star “was one of one” and doubts he’ll ever be replaced.
But asked about a void in the conservative movement, Andy Surabian, who’s a top political adviser to both Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr., told Fox News Digital that Kirk “inspired a generation of young conservatives who have the potential to grow into being somebody like Charlie Kirk.”
Kirk, who was shot and killed this past Wednesday during a college campus event in Utah, was a top conservative activist, culture warrior, and media rockstar for millions of MAGA and right-wing followers.
A crucial ally to President Donald Trump, Vance, and Donald Trump Jr., Kirk transformed the Turning Point USA conservative youth organization that he co-founded at age 18 into an extremely influential political powerhouse and a voter turnout machine for Trump in last year’s presidential election.
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“I don’t think there’s any singular person who will ever replace Charlie Kirk,” Surabian said.
But pointing to Kirk’s inspiration to a generation of younger conservatives, Surabian said, “This is the thing that Charlie would be proudest of, it’s the thing that makes me so proud of Charlie.”
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Surabian said he and Kirk first met in 2018 and quickly became “generational peers.”
“We would constantly gut check things with each other….both of us respected the political instincts of the other,” Surabian said. “There was an implicit trust.”
In a social media post, Surabian wrote that he and Kirk “bonded quickly over our similar political views and closeness in age, and ultimately developed a close friendship. We always had each other’s back. If I needed help, I knew he would always be there for me. If he needed anything, I was always there for him. If there was a candidate for office he vouched for, that was all I needed. If there was a candidate for office I vouched for, that was all he needed.”
Surabian said Kirk was the person who introduced him to Vance, ahead of Vance’s successful 2022 campaign for the Senate in Ohio.
“I was skeptical, but since Charlie was vouching for him, I was on the phone with JD within the hour. 90 minutes later, after JD and I had hit it off and decided to work together, Charlie excitedly told me I wouldn’t regret it — and he was certainly right about that,” Surabian wrote.
Speaking with Fox News, Surabian listed off Kirks’ numerous political attributes.
“Charlie was a terrific fundraiser. He was beloved by donors. Charlie was extremely charismatic and was extremely impressive in debates. Charlie was very talented at doing media. He was a great talk show host. Charlie understood how to organize students. Charlie understood messaging and how to deliver a message in a way that even some of the top PR experts in the country couldn’t touch with a 10-point pole. Charlie understood how to organize in politics. Very rarely do figures come along who can put all those things together the way Charlie put it together,” Surabian highlighted.
“Never mind the fact that, in addition to all that stuff, he was highly intelligent. And most important of all, he was a fundamentally decent person,” Surabian added.
While Kirk had already accomplished much by age 31, Surabian predicted that his friend would have had many chapters to come.
“Despite how influential he became, despite how famous he was, I do absolutely believe that he was still at the start of his rise and not at the end of it,” he said.
And Surabian said that Kirk “was getting to a place where in a few years I think he had the potential to be the next Rush Limbaugh, and when I say that, anyone who understands the influence that Rush Limbaugh had on the conservative movement knows what a big statement that is.”
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