Op-Ed: Coby Lobaugh: Why Charlie Kirk's assassination feels so different to us
Coby Lobaugh asks why is a social media influencer, podcast host, and fundraising powerhouse’s death more consequential than the leader of the free world?
Charlie Kirk’s murder shocked the nation and awakened the world to the fact that anyone, even with First Amendment protections, is not safe from harm for voicing their opinions. Kirk’s death is more devastating than a presidential assassination because it proves it can happen to anyone.
Political violence is nothing new, Americans have had a generational gap in political violence causing a tumultuous, opinionated history to fade. Realistically, we are reliving the 1960s, which saw Martin Luther King Jr., Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy, and some of their murderers assassinated.
In 1967, the Governor of California began his inaugural address with “freedom is a fragile thing, and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.” It appears, however, that freedom and America’s memory can only last one generation.
Our country relies on disagreements to determine her future. In the land of law and order, disagreements resulting in death are rare but not unprecedented.
Presidents Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and Kennedy were all assassinated; similarly, presidents and candidates Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, President Donald Trump, and George Wallace have all been the targets of assassination attempts.
These politicians were generally targeted or killed owing to disagreements over policy. In these examples, their death breaks the dynamic in which the entity in charge loses the position of power and ability to control the dissenting party.
Is America not controlled by the people, for the people? Yes, however, this control is delegated to our elected officials. This sort of extreme violence over disagreements, however, usually only affects elected officials, which is why Kirk’s murder is so shocking. Kirk was not elected, he could influence policy and control legislation no more than you or I.
The difference between Kirk and a president is he did not have term limits or interest in holding public office, his brand was becoming too big to ignore. An unrivaled level of influence and a campus tour schedule that brought thousands was seen as a threat to those who did not share his worldview.
Kirk’s death is alarming because it proves President Trump’s claim: “they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you — and I’m just standing in their way.” Political polarization is not a byproduct of social media —it’s generational.
Kirk relied on faith and the First Amendment to define his brand. Martin Luther King Jr. relied on civil disobedience and nonviolence. The 1963 March on Washington had an estimated 250,000 attendees, and Turning Point USA claims to have 250,000 student members, but like Kirk’s social media following, King’s and Kirk’s supporters were in the millions.
Charlie Kirk’s assassination is more consequential than any elected leader’s assassination. Why is a social media influencer, podcast host, and fundraising powerhouse’s death more consequential than the leader of the free world?
It’s simple — an American president’s death does not bring the country to halt. In the event of a sudden death in the executive office (or campaign trail), a vice president is elected or selected by the people in the event of the worst possible outcome.
The Secret Service has teams assigned to protect, and America has an insurance policy so that our representatives can speak freely and be unafraid of what danger may come. Kirk was an everyday citizen; Regular Joes do not get Secret Service protection, have armored cars, or three decoy helicopters.
Kirk’s death is a threat to every voice. As tragic as Butler could have been for President Trump, America has a succession plan; with Kirk every person will now second guess who it is safe to speak freely with. While our voice may be constitutionally protected, how free is America after the Patriot Act or looming threat of death from dissent?
After the terrorist attacks on September 2001, the nation vowed to ‘never forget’ the lives lost that day. One generation later, however, the New York City mayoral front runner associates with supporters who claim that “America deserved 9/11.” On September 6, 1901, President McKinley was assassinated. In 2015, Mt. McKinley was stripped of its name. On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated, only months after a bloody ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, brought a bipartisan effort to slow the inflamed rhetoric before it became deadly.
Violence creates more violence, whereas debate can create solutions.
The core issue is not social media, not positions of power, not the law, but ourselves. Everyone must practice self-control with the same fervor that we practice free speech.
We claim to never forget, but we fail to use our voice to remind ourselves that being right is not a life-or-death matter. Kirk wore a white t-shirt emblazoned with the word ‘FREEDOM’ across his chest, but his clothes and our nation are stained by the blood of those who chose to death by dissent.
Coby Lobaugh, 25, is a former congressional communications staffer.