I was doom-scrolling this weekend, and what do I see? A couple of my fellow Colorado Republicans are locked in the same tired slap fight. “RINO!” one screams. “Not in touch with the grassroots!” another chirps. Someone didn’t get a shiny A+++ rating on some self-appointed website’s grift list, so the digital tomatoes start flying.
This wasn’t just some random Tuesday flame war. This childish garbage was still raging after Charlie Kirk was shot dead. One of the brightest voices in conservatism took a bullet to the throat for speaking truth, and instead of honoring that loss or rallying together, we’re out here screeching “RINO!” like toddlers fighting over Goldfish crackers.
We look like idiots. Absolute morons.
Take it from me – a three-time RINO Wall of Shame award winner and a proud member of the Colorado GOP Central Committee: SHUT. UP. Just shut up for five minutes. Stop the name-calling. Stop the power plays. Stop the endless, whiny “point of order” theatrics that make our state party meetings look like a preschool meltdown. We don’t have time for this nonsense.
Because while we’ve been busy measuring purity with rulers made out of ego and self-importance, Charlie Kirk was out there doing the work. He broke free of the social-media echo chambers and had real conversations with real people. He spoke plainly, with conviction, and in doing so built an army of young conservatives – the exact demographic our party desperately lacks.
They listened to him. They loved him. Not because he was perfect, not because he scored a 100% on some online litmus test, but because he believed in them.
Charlie understood the struggles of Gen Z conservatives: unaffordable housing, alienation, a sense of being silenced in overwhelmingly “woke” institutions. He told them, “I see you. I hear you. You belong here.” He turned politics into culture. He made conservatism feel bold, relevant, even stylish. He built parasocial bonds with millions through podcasts, debates, and those famous “Prove Me Wrong” tables. He transformed conservatism from something stigmatized into something young people could wear with pride.
And while we were screaming “RINO!” at each other, Charlie was raising up the next generation of leaders – people like Karoline Leavitt, Anna Paulina Luna, and J.D. Vance. He lifted others up because he actually believed in the promise of young conservatives.
That’s why millions of young people loved him. That’s why his murder has hit so damn hard.
So let me be blunt: if we keep up this self-destructive behavior, Charlie’s movement dies with him. Or more likely, it continues without us. His followers, who are right now grieving and searching for community, will drift away into cynicism and despair. And we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.
So let’s knock it off. Let’s put down our petty swords, unite, and carry on his work. #ForCharlie, let’s stop fighting over bylaws and purity tests and start fighting for the future. Let’s prove to the young people who loved him that conservatism isn’t a squabbling clown car, but a real movement with room for them.
Charlie showed us the way. Now it’s on us to follow it.
