There is no single person to replace Kirk, he was too unique.
That said it isn't the worst thing. My hope is this is more like what happened when Andrew Breitbart died suddenly (and I still wonder about that btw but there is no real evidence of wrongdoing). Breitbart inspired everyone from Ben Shapiro to James O'Keefe and beyond. Kirk didn't know Breitbart but was also inspired by him significantly and especially Breitbart's mantra that "politics is downstream of culture" and his understanding of how to battle the Left with words but also fearlessly and ferociously. He woke a lot of people up and even though he has been dead 13 years the seeds he planted now epitomize the grass roots and intellectual conservative movement.
Unfortunately Steve Bannon destroyed the Breitbart organization from its original intent but that is less relevant. The larger point is that Kirk and TPUSA have inspired thousands of activists to get involved and impacted millions more as he was the voice of young conservatives and especially males. Hopefully this is a hydra type moment where they cut off one head and many more pop up in its place. It won't be the same but that is both good and bad, you can't kill a martyr twice and now criticism of him will be viewed very differently than it was before. For instance when MLK was alive (and I don't think of Kirk as MLK) he had a lot of criticism for his actions and positions (much of it valid) but afterwards to do so was the best way to have people dismiss anything else you said. MLK's death inspired an entire generation of leaders in the black community to the point where anyone who ever shook his hand was able to have his aura rub off on him (and was often abused with folks like Jesse Jackson and many others).
This is all very fresh so we don't know where it will go but I think somewhere between Breitbart and MLK in terms of impact on the future of the conservative movement.
That said it isn't the worst thing. My hope is this is more like what happened when Andrew Breitbart died suddenly (and I still wonder about that btw but there is no real evidence of wrongdoing). Breitbart inspired everyone from Ben Shapiro to James O'Keefe and beyond. Kirk didn't know Breitbart but was also inspired by him significantly and especially Breitbart's mantra that "politics is downstream of culture" and his understanding of how to battle the Left with words but also fearlessly and ferociously. He woke a lot of people up and even though he has been dead 13 years the seeds he planted now epitomize the grass roots and intellectual conservative movement.
Unfortunately Steve Bannon destroyed the Breitbart organization from its original intent but that is less relevant. The larger point is that Kirk and TPUSA have inspired thousands of activists to get involved and impacted millions more as he was the voice of young conservatives and especially males. Hopefully this is a hydra type moment where they cut off one head and many more pop up in its place. It won't be the same but that is both good and bad, you can't kill a martyr twice and now criticism of him will be viewed very differently than it was before. For instance when MLK was alive (and I don't think of Kirk as MLK) he had a lot of criticism for his actions and positions (much of it valid) but afterwards to do so was the best way to have people dismiss anything else you said. MLK's death inspired an entire generation of leaders in the black community to the point where anyone who ever shook his hand was able to have his aura rub off on him (and was often abused with folks like Jesse Jackson and many others).
This is all very fresh so we don't know where it will go but I think somewhere between Breitbart and MLK in terms of impact on the future of the conservative movement.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
