Sept. 20, 2025 - Liberty Hangout - Kaitlin Bennett
10:16
| 
| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Dear Charlie, a lot of time has passed since we last talked, and there are some last words I wish I had the chance to tell you before you left us. | |
| Words of gratitude, words of praise, and even words of regret. | |
| Over the past week, I've had a lot of time to reflect on your passing and what your work to the world meant to my life in particular. | |
| I wish I had done this reflection earlier and am so upset with myself that I put it off until now. | |
| The first words I want to share with you, Charlie, are thank you. | |
| Many here in 2025 don't know it, but I would not be who I am today if it weren't for you. | |
| I would not have this platform on Liberty Hangout, I would not have my passion, and I would not have my family. | |
| Most here know me from my YouTube videos and viral encounters with liberals, and some have been here long enough to remember me for my graduation photo in 2018. | |
| But only you and my classmates can say they remember me from my days with Turning Point USA, nearly a decade ago. | |
| When I transferred to Kent State University in the run-up to the 2016 election, I was exposed to radical left-wing rhetoric for the very first time. | |
| Without even growing up in a political household, their brainwashing had no effect on me, and I was instead repulsed by what I saw. | |
| So much so that a desire to get involved on campus became too strong to ignore. | |
| Writing the high from Trump's When, I felt like if he could stand up for what's right, then what's stopping me? | |
| Thankfully, I wasn't the only one on my extremely left-wing campus that felt this way. | |
| And that's when I stumbled across a little known club called Turning Point USA. | |
| That's when I looked up the name Charlie Kirk for the first time. | |
| And from that moment on, my calling in life was crystal clear. | |
| Watching someone just as young as me fearlessly stand up to the SJWs and feminists the way you did helped me find my passion. | |
| And for the first time ever, I felt a deep love for something in life. | |
| I did not grow up like other Americans and have a love for things like sports, politics, or even religion. | |
| Thank you, Charlie, for being the first person in my life to give me values to live for and something to be passionate about. | |
| Little did I know at the time how much of an impact you would have on literally my entire life going forward. | |
| Not only did you give me my inspiration, but you were the first to recognize my passion and gave me my very first job in politics as a campus coordinator for Turning Point USA. | |
| In just one year, our club at Kent State grew tremendously, and the passion you helped bring out of me allowed us to build one of the biggest turning point chapters in the country on one of the most liberal campuses in America. | |
| You inspired me so much, Charlie, that I would skip classes my senior year just to let everyone on campus know about Turning Point USA. | |
| To the point I was routinely number one on your national leadership board for TP USA signups. | |
| The fire that you and Turning Point ignited in me will be something that I will never forget. | |
| I truly love Turning Point so much. | |
| Okay, starting to get emotional. | |
| I went from a girl who struggled with public speaking in high school to a confident woman in college who found her passion and her voice. | |
| This is the impact that you have always had on young people like me, Charlie. | |
| And that was nearly a decade ago when so many of the young people that look up to you today were still in diapers. | |
| Which, speaking of diapers, gets me to the next part of our journey. | |
| Charlie, something else that you helped me discover is that I am a troll. | |
| I have always loved holding a mirror up to the left so they can see how ridiculous they look. | |
| My friends and I took that a little too literally one day when we held an event on campus mocking safe spaces. | |
| And yes, one of our members literally dressed in a diaper to make our point. | |
| We just wanted to mock the socialists on our campus that would always cry, and I never expected that this would get you so much backlash and turn into a meme. | |
| I got to meet you for the first time in Cleveland just days later, and we got to laugh about the event, and you told me to keep up the good work at Kent. | |
| Hearing that from you meant the world to me. | |
| Not only did I look up to you so much and receive my direction and life from you, but these words were so comforting to me at a time when all of the internet was mocking us for our anti-safe space event. | |
| Sadly, this would be one of only two times I got to meet you and where my time with Turning Point came to an unfortunate end. | |
| Somehow my event lost you donors, and I am truly so sorry that happened. | |
| I loved Turning Point with my whole heart and never wanted to hurt your organization. | |
| I truly hope you were able to see how dedicated I was to helping Turning Point grow, but unfortunately my relationship with you guys was never the same after that. | |
| What happened next is what I want to apologize to you for, Charlie. | |
| In 2018, we had a public falling out, and I ended up writing a pretty scathing resignation letter because I genuinely felt betrayed and let down by my bosses. | |
| Maybe you guys only saw me as just another activist, but when you love something as much as I love Turning Point, you can understand why I felt as hurt as I did. | |
| It felt like being rejected by someone you loved with all your heart. | |
| I loved Turning Point so much that I told everyone I knew that my dream was to work for you guys full time after college. | |
| I never had the chance to address my hurt with you directly in a retrospect. | |
| I wish I did. | |
| I wasn't very high up on the totem pole, but you always made yourself accessible to everyone in Turning Point, and I did not take advantage of that when I should have. | |
| Since your death, I have struggled with feelings of regret and sorrow for what transpired so long ago because I held on to s because I held on to so much resentment and hurt through the years. | |
| My heart was heavy with heartbreak over feeling betrayed. | |
| But without that heartbreak, I wouldn't have shifted my focus to Liberty Hangout, and my voice in this movement would look very different. | |
| By God's grace, even in my ingratitude and fieriness, the Lord still gave me the chance to discover my calling and take the passion you gave me and build my own platform. | |
| For the next seven years, I looked at Turning Point very unfavorably and never had a kind word to say. | |
| My pestering earned me the honor of joining Turning Point's Blacklist. | |
| And even though we shared the same audience and the same message, I was never welcome at any of your events, even all the way up to this year. | |
| When you came to visit USF for your American Comeback Tour in February, I was told by the school that Turning Point did not want me to even enter the reserved space on campus and attend your event. | |
| Unlike my old self, I bit my tongue and kept this private, as I should have years earlier for the good of fighting for a common cause. | |
| But despite all of our drama, Charlie, I'm so thankful that our story has a happy ending. | |
| Even though I felt unwelcome at Turning Point events, I couldn't help but come to do interviews outside of the Student Action Summit this summer since it was hosted in my neck of the woods. | |
| I was ready to pack up and head home after filming when my close friend, the beautiful Savannah Hernandez, insisted I come inside Sass and see Media Row. | |
| I insisted that I was not allowed to be there and I would be getting her in trouble. | |
| What you guys did next is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. | |
| Savannah went right upstairs to you guys and you told your staff, and I quote, I want her here. | |
| Give her a badge. | |
| You were ultimately too busy that day to make it downstairs to see me, but that closure you gave me was all my heart needed. | |
| You were merciful to me as God is merciful to us. | |
| Never in the last seven years did I show you that same kindness. | |
| It felt like more than half a decade of tension and wounds had been lifted off my shoulders, and I thank God that we had the chance to leave it all behind and make amends before it was too late to do so. | |
| That closure has made your death so much harder for me to handle. | |
| I've never been so hurt by someone's passing, and only now realize how much of my life I owe to you. | |
| Without Turning Point, I wouldn't have met my husband who traveled two states away to meet me so he could help me table on campus for Turning Point. | |
| And if I didn't meet Justin, I wouldn't be the mother of our two beautiful children. | |
| When your beautiful wife Erica gave her statement and shared with all of us that if you ever ran for office, your mission would be to revive the American family. | |
| I felt that in my gut. | |
| I wouldn't have my family if it weren't for you. | |
| But there's something even more important that I wouldn't have if not for you. | |
| After I got married, I abandoned my atheism and was called to give my life to Christ. | |
| I never credited you in any way for this, but looking back, I can finally see how you planted the seeds that helped lead me there. | |
| The principles you taught me weren't political values, they were Christian ones. | |
| My family, my faith, and my vocation can all be credited back to you. | |
| I'm so upset with myself that it took you passing to look back and realize all of this, and I wish I could have had the chance to tell you all of this to your face. | |
| I never really understood what people meant when they said God brings good out of horrible evils. | |
| And I am admittedly struggling to know how any good could come from this. | |
| But after seeing all the prayer vigils, talking with students who looked up to you and seeing thousands of people say they will start going to church again because of you, it's starting to make sense. | |
| Just as you helped inspire me at the start of my journey, I hope you can help me now in my next chapter of life. | |
| I hope that I can be just as boldly and unapologetically Christian as you and I hope that my work can lead people to Christ just like yours. | |
| From the bottom of my heart Charlie, thank you for everything. | |
| Thank you for giving me something to be passionate about. | |
| Thank you for giving me my first job and turning point. | |
| Thank you for creating an organization that I made so many lasting memories with. | |
| Thank you for instilling in me a love for free speech and dialogue. | |
| And most importantly Charlie, thank you for my family and for my faith. | |
| Thank you for being part of my story and thank you for spreading the love of Jesus and thank you for introducing the world to your amazing wife. |
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