What Was Charlie Kirk's Ceiling?
- Fred
- Sep 16, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 16, 2025
Our co-founder at Beacon of Speech, Ted, loved John Lennon.
Now because I'm a jerk, I have soured poor Ted on Lennon's Legacy a little bit, but other than the death of his parents, Ted's saddest day in life was the assassination of John Lennon in 1980.
When assassinated, John Lennon was 40 years old.
We talk ad nauseam about classic rock at Beacon of Speech, the Beatles continue to be Ted's favorite band. But I argue with Ted all the time that John Lennon didn't leave a lot of music on the table at his death. If Lennon had lived, and if he stayed with Yoko Ono, he would have meandered through life, put out a solo album here or there, and maybe....MAYBE the Beatles would have gotten back together for Live Aid. Maybe they would have done a tour or two and released one more album. The Eagles got back together, released one average album, the Long Road Out of Eden, then, for all intensive purposes, became a legacy band. One album in 40 years.
If Lennon moved on from Yoko Ono, the Beatles could have done a string of farewell tours, like The Who, and he could have had a string of Asian-American Wives, not unlike Nicolas Cage. The Who released two mediocre albums in the last 40 years.
But Lennon's days of culture-shaping hits were already over. He could have easily semi-retired and became a pot farmer.
When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the Right in this country rightfully mourned his loss. After a few days, the Left came out from under their rocks to disparage Kirk in death.
That wasn't surprising. Nancy Armour's hit job of Kirk at the USA Today a week after his death was as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning.
But we at Beacon of Speech are going to use a slightly different Sports Analogy than Armour.
If Charlie Kirk had lived, what was his ceiling?
What do I mean by that? If Kirk had lived what could he have done? I believe his ceiling was Rush Limbaugh. Kirk could have been a pillar of modern Conservatism and made tens of millions of dollars. Rush Limbaugh sold you Conservatism in the realm of entertainment, Charlie Kirk sold you Conservatism in the realm of entertainment. Neither man ever held an elected office and both wrote multiple books espousing the virtues of Conservatism.
Rush Limbaugh never ran for office because he jokingly "couldn't afford the pay cut," one of his contracts was for 8 years and $400 million. That's baseball money. In reality, he didn't need the headaches that went along with public service.
If you are a dittohead and say no one could replace Rush, I would offer up similar, lesser peers like Stephan Crowder, Ben Shapiro, or Glenn Beck for comparison.
Say you think Kirk was a novelty act, going to colleges and picking on stupid 18 year olds. There's still a market for that. You're a hater and think Kirk was no better than Carrot Top, hitting a hundred college shows a year? Carrot Top is worth $75 Million.
What's the point?
Because I'm on Bluesky, there is STILL a steady stream of Charlie Kirk hate. I need to say this out loud:
CHARLIE KIRK WASN'T YOUNG HITLER-
Kirk wasn't Young Hitler, Young Mussolini, Young Pol Pot, or even Young Idi Amin. Charlie Kirk's end game was not taking over America and putting liberals in concentration camps. That was never, ever going to happen. If you didn't like Charlie Kirk, it was very easy to avoid him.
Charlie Kirk wasn't the anti-Christ or the Devil. If Kirk had lived, he wouldn't have ushered in the Rapture.
A representative of the Left killed someone they didn't like, based on their speech, plain and simple. Charlie Kirk had no hidden agenda for world conquest. He simply debated others in the arena of ideas.
When you break it down, an American was assassinated for his words. That is a dangerous precedence for free speech.
You know what I see? Rush Limbaugh used to say "when the Left is losing an argument, they resort to name calling."
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