Charlie Kirk and Rush Limbaugh had a few things in common. From a young age both were passionate conservatives. Both were college dropouts. Neither saw the value in cooling their heels on a college campus when they already knew what they wanted to do with their lives. And both found their biggest successes when they broke the mold and decided to create organizations that suited their personalities and dreams, and in turn transformed political and media landscapes.
Rush saved AM radio. Before Fox News and any other voice on the radio, before the Internet, Rush created this thing called the new media, an alternative to the legacy media. He made conservatism popular with the working class. For decades, Rush built a loyal following of millions who listened to his show, which had the power to determine the success or fate of U.S. presidents, senators, congressional reps, and even a few judges.
Through Turning Point USA, Turning Point Action, and the power of his own personality, Charlie Kirk made conservatism popular with young people and helped Donald Trump win back the White House with those young people in 2024.
Charlie and Rush were founders, innovators, visionaries. They were articulate, intelligent—never deviating from their core values, never compromising, never apologizing. They were fearless warriors, willing to take their lumps and risk their very lives for the things that really mattered to them.
Earlier this year, Charlie said this on the anniversary of Rush’s death:
“(Four years ago,) not only did Joe Biden become president but then we lose Rush. Donald Trump was in exile. Our entire movement was in darkness. And we were without our north star, our guiding light, the great El Rushbo. We needed Rush during that period of time. We were aimless. And we as a movement weren’t sure where to go. The great El Rushbo, time and time again during the times of Obama led us through it. During the times of the first Trump term led us through it…led us through the impeachments…led us through Kavanaugh. Rush was the fulcrum. He was the trailblazer. He was the trend setter. He was the pacemaker.
“It’s almost like God put all that burden of that time on the back of a new generation, focusing us to own it, to get strong. It was on us, and it was heavy. So, I was subpoenaed by the January 6th committee. We had lawfare coming in every possible direction. It was dark. And now today doesn’t look as dark. Now today we are looking around at the victory that Rush made possible.”
We can’t know how Rush would have responded, but on January 11, 2018, he made it clear how he felt about Charlie. On his show, he said he first met Charlie on the golf course. Charlie was in West Palm Beach to set up a conference for Turning Point USA where roughly 3,000 conservative student activists were slated to converge.
This is a group that has been put together and operates under the auspices of Charlie Kirk…you’re gonna be hearing that name if you haven’t. He’s at ease enough….They brought Charlie Kirk to the golf course to meet me about a month ago.…I spoke with him for about a half hour and he told me how he grew up in a home where my program is on all the time. This is the kind of guy that you can see really becoming big in politics as he gets older. Just has the kind of the carriage, the personality, the charisma.
Rush then told a short story about how Bill Clinton made a similar impression with people during his college days at Yale, how even then, people at Yale just knew Clinton would be president someday.
“He just had that kind of ambition, and he impressed people. And I’m telling you that people say the same things about Charlie Kirk.”
Rush Limbaugh talked about the first time he met Charlie Kirk! pic.twitter.com/7dreBV1lEQ
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) September 11, 2025
A year later, on January 9, 2019, Rush said this to his audience about Charlie:
“He’s 25 years old. You will not believe this guy…This guy is gonna give you more faith and more hope for the future, not just of conservatives but therefore of the country. There clearly is a changing of the guard.”
While Charlie was so refreshingly unique in many ways, he did little to disguise his influences, and clearly Rush was one of them. Just about everything he said when describing Rush could be used today to describe Charlie.
On Rush, Charlie said, “He was funny, he was charming, he was light-hearted, and he was wicked smart. He was on top of all of it…early. He saw it all with clarity across the landscape. He wasn’t crazy, he was early, and they tried to take him out….God bless you, Rush. We’re in a much better time in America. Thank you.”
God bless you, Charlie. In spite of it all, we are in a much better time in America, and we thank you.
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