💬 The Rubin Recap, Issue 26

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A tribute to Charlie Kirk

On Wednesday, my friend and political sparring partner, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed at Utah Valley University. Thankfully, by Friday morning, President Trump announced the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, had been taken into custody, turned in to authorities by people close to him.

Charlie was taken from us at the young age of 31 years old. Like you, I am in total shock and utterly heartbroken right now.

I first met Charlie in 2017 at a Horowitz Freedom Center event in Palm Beach. At the time, we were on opposite sides of the political aisle and spent our early conversations trying to figure each other out. Could we actually trust someone on the other side of the political aisle?

We both put our reservations aside, which led to a decade of respectful, powerful and necessary conversations — on and off camera. What started as spirited disagreements on politics, culture, religion and activism turned into a meaningful friendship and a turning point, pardon the pun, in my career.

Together, we went on to do dozens of college campus events where we both relished discussing our differences — not only with each other, but with the huge crowds of college students as well.

Bomb threats were often called in, fire alarms often pulled, in an effort to end our talks before they even began. Students (usually masked) would say unimaginably horrible things to us, throw things at us, and try to block the doors so other people wouldn’t be able to hear us speak.

Charlie always stood tall, undeterred and committed to engaging with people honestly and directly. He even instituted a rule I’ve used in all my public events since then: If you disagree with us, you get to speak first during the Question-and-Answer segment.

Charlie was a good man.

A principled man.

He stood up for what he believed in and never quit, no matter how hard the fight. Fighting for what he believed in was his job, but also his hobby.

From spending countless days and nights in swing counties, to debating on college campuses, to rallying youth toward more moral and responsible values, his impact was both tireless and undeniable.

It’s on us now to continue what Charlie started — to carry forward the mission he dedicated his life to: bringing more freedom and prosperity to this country and helping all of us return to a more virtuous and flourishing nation.

The question we all must ask ourselves is this: What kind of country do we want to live in? A country where we can debate our differences with respect, conviction and love — or a country that drifts further from truth and replaces it with violence?

I know which one Charlie was fighting for.

As George Orwell so wisely warned, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” Charlie leaves behind a legacy of love for country, courage, conviction and an unwavering commitment to truth.

He also leaves behind his beloved wife, children, and a movement that will forever feel his absence.

I will miss you, my friend, and I look forward to debating whatever little we still disagreed on when we meet on the other side.

A look back at September 11, 2001

The assassination of Charlie Kirk coincided with what is already a somber time for many Americans. He was killed the day before the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and he was taken into custody late on the evening of the anniversary itself. As I do every year, I spent some time this week remembering 9/11, terror attacks that changed America forever.

I was living in NYC on that fateful day and, and thinking about the city and America as the horror unfolded and the aftermath set in, is something I still do often.

I’ll never forget the leadership Mayor Rudy Giuliani showed during that impossible moment — leadership that helped the city as well as the nation get through the attack. The leadership that President Bush, who had been in office for less than nine months at that point, showed when he made his famous appearance at Ground Zero, with his arm slung around one of the exhausted firefighters working to rescue survivors, smoke still rising from the rubble of what two days earlier had been the Twin Towers, was immeasurable. I still get chills down my spine watching video of that moment.

And the courage he summoned on behalf of the entire nation several weeks later when he threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium for Game 3 of the World Series is also unforgettable. The president threw a perfect strike. It was an electric moment, a gesture that brought all Americans together at a time of national crisis.

And now we’re in the midst of another national crisis, almost a quarter of a century later, and I’m left wondering if we can come together as a country now the way we did back then. I honestly don’t know if it’s possible. It wasn’t perfect after 9/11 — we made some mistakes along the way, but there was a real sense of togetherness. And I wonder if something comparable to 9/11 occurred again, whether we’d be able to come together. Truly, I hope we never have to find out.

I was in New York on Thursday to attend a tribute held at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who lost his brother and hundreds of colleagues on that day. It was a moving event, and Howard made time to honor Charlie, too.

I’ll leave you with this thought about Charlie: We lost a good man for no good reason this week. And we should all think about that and see if we can take a horrific tragedy and spin it into something better.

Tweet of the week

Until next week … — Dave