The Last Reporter to Profile Charlie Kirk

Brigham Tomco is a reporter for Deseret News, covering Utah politics and the conservative movement. For the past few months, he’d been digging into the political operation and personal ambitions of Charlie Kirk, the charismatic young activist and social media star who was murdered on Wednesday during an event on a college campus in Utah. The profile came out this week.

Kirk was one of the most influential figures among perennially online young conservatives, beloved for his viral videos where he debated—and often aggressively shut down—liberals on college campuses, and often espoused extreme views. His affability and political instincts helped land him in Donald Trump’s inner circle, and he was credited with playing a major part in the president’s political comeback.

He was not a reporter, but his social media presence, and the political operation he built, Turning Point USA, were a primary source of news for millions of young conservatives—content he created received more than fifteen billion views in 2024, according to Tomco. “He said during our interview explicitly, ‘We are not a journalistic outlet,’” Tomco said. “But he also said, ‘Our viewers come to us for truth, and we tell them the truth.’” This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.