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Dec. 31, 2025 - Lionel Nation
27:04
How Tragically Erika Kirk Has Become A Laughingstock

How Tragically Erika Kirk Has Become A Laughingstock

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I've been wanting to say this for a while and wasn't sure exactly how I would do it because invariably people would take it the wrong way.
And not that I care about people taking it the wrong way.
I just don't want to violate my own rules in terms of saying what I wish people wouldn't say during times of tragedy.
I always want to talk about fact.
I want to talk about evidence.
I don't want to talk about the way people look and people's facelifts or how they've changed.
That's just, I mean, that's okay.
It's not me.
It's low-hanging fruit and low-hanging fruit can be fun, but I want to stay away from that.
But in the matter of Erica Kirk, there's something that is different.
What I'm about to say is not about the way she looks, but the way she acts, her affect, her stagecraft, her demeanor, the way she's coming across.
And I'm hearing more people than I ever have who are saying, this woman's a phony.
I don't believe her.
Why is she acting like that?
This is a grieving widow, etc., etc., etc.
And you know you've heard it too.
You might have even said it.
I've said it.
I don't understand.
And it's not that you have to grieve in a particular way, but this transcends this.
Look, let's just assume a couple of things here.
First, we're adults.
We've been around the block.
We know just in life when people are acting in ways that are consistent with what they are saying and the like.
So don't be afraid of saying the obvious.
What many people are struggling to say out loud, and I'm going to be as diplomatic as possible, is that Erica Kirk has become, in certain conservative and online political circles, a source of discomfort and quiet embarrassment rather than confidence or reassurance.
This is not because people want to be cruel, and it is not because they deny that she has been placed in a difficult, if not impossible, situation or position.
It's because leadership, and that's the context of this, leadership in terms of TPUSA, because leadership during a crisis requires a very specific kind of awareness and timing and tone and rhythm.
And many people feel she has missed those marks repeatedly and consistently and embarrassingly.
Who's advising her?
Because you know she's media savvy.
And media savvy is critical.
If you want to get the message across, you have to convey it, not just in words, but in the way you say it, in what you exude, in the feelings that you inspire.
You know, there's an old rule, an old adage, I guess, in public life that when something serious happens, especially something violent or shocking, as is the case of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the people closest to it are judged less by what they say than by how they say it and when they say it.
People aren't looking for perfection, but they're looking for grounding.
They want to feel, sincerely feel, and they want to believe that someone understands the gravity of the moment, the import, and further knows how to carry it.
Now, right now, many observers feel that Erica Kirk doesn't.
And you know what's true.
And you can shake your head all you want, but you know what's true.
The criticism isn't that she lacks intelligence or education.
It is not that she lacks credentials by no stretch of the imagination.
It is that she appears tone deaf, tone deaf to the emotional temperature of the room.
When people are unsettled, when people are confused, when people are angry, they expect clarity and restraint.
Instead, what they believe they're seeing in this particular case is this kind of a polished messaging that feels premature, performative or performance-based, inauthentic, synthetic, detached from what ordinary people are actually worried about.
That's what people are saying.
And who is advising her?
I have no idea.
This is where the idea of stagecraft comes in.
Stagecraft is not manipulation.
It is awareness.
Ronald Reagan knew it.
Trump knows it.
It is knowing when to step forward and when to step back.
It's understanding that sometimes, a lot of times, sometimes saying less carries more weight than saying more.
Many critics have suggested, and many critics and people believe, that Erica Kirk hasn't grasped that balance.
They feel she almost behaves as if everything can be handled with branding and posture and controlled appearances and just her being there.
You know, when in fact the moment demands something more human and less rehearsed and less choreographed.
She has to watch it.
I know there is a fanfare and there's a certain degree of fireworks and excitement to a lot of the TPUSA events and that's fun and AmFest or whatever.
But when she comes out, imagine Coretta Scott King.
Imagine Jackie Kennedy to an extent.
When you now are in the role of someone who is the leader, who is almost the mother, who is helping people feel and absorb how to grieve.
It's as though the pre, I hate to say it, the pre-assassination Charlie Kirk era of Erica has never been supplanted.
You might want to put a lot of that away.
It's almost as though she says, no, no, this is, I like that.
I like the gold and the, you know, whatever, whatever you want to call it.
That may not be appropriate anymore.
You may have, you may have, by virtue of your member, if you're not the leader of TPUSA, it doesn't really matter.
You see, there's also something, which is a bigger thing.
The issue of trust.
See, in moments of uncertainty like this, in moments of, there's a lot of kids who are really affected by this.
Trust is fragile.
And people really scrutinize the inconsistencies closely.
They listen for what is not said as much as what is said.
They're very meticulous with this.
And when explanations feel incomplete or overly managed, suspicion grows.
Even among those who don't want to be suspicious, who love her and Charlie and everything else.
There's this sense of, what are you doing?
It's almost like too soon, that old comedic adage, but not in a comedy sense.
That particular dynamic doesn't require wrongdoing to exist.
It only requires poor communications, poor thinking, a poor appreciation, a kind of a tone deafness as to stagecraft and what people are thinking and how people are acting.
You know, some of the ridicule that's surrounding Erica is not loud.
It's not explicit.
It shows up in jokes and side comments.
Read between the lines.
Read the memes.
Look at what people are saying.
Know how to read.
You know, social media provides an absolutely incredible litmus test and a barometer and a thermometer of what people are saying.
Read the online sarcasm.
You know, that kind of response is actually more dangerous, and again, more critical, more dangerous than open hostility because what it means is it means people have, in essence, stopped expecting better.
And that's a critical thing to understand.
They're no longer outraged.
They are resigned.
It's behind them.
They haven't forgotten.
And once a leader becomes a punchline, authority, attendant authority, erodes immediately.
So this is critical stuff right now.
What makes this situation even more uncomfortable, if that's possible when you look at it, when you evaluate it and analyze it carefully, is that Erica appears unaware of how she's being perceived.
It's almost like she doesn't know, and I think she doesn't care.
Sometimes people will say, forgive me, they will say, you don't understand.
I'm Erica Kirk.
I'm the wife of Charlie.
I run this show.
You will just understand what I'm doing.
By virtue of what I'm saying, it has passed any litmus test.
It is good by virtue of the fact that I'm saying it.
Or if she is even aware of what's going on, she doesn't seem to adjust.
And that's where sympathy enters the picture.
Leading a huge, enormous, this large political organization, especially one built around a dominant personality like Charlie, and be not mistaken, there will never be another Charlie, ever, I don't see how TPUSA can anywhere exist a tenth of what it was.
But finding somebody as charismatic and as critical as Charlie is extremely hard to find impossible.
And when the central figure is suddenly removed from the spotlight, especially by crisis, the person stepping forward, the person who says, I'm going to take over, the person assuming the reins, is almost guaranteed to be compared unfavorably.
That's a reality.
And that comparison isn't fair, but it's inevitable.
Understand how this works.
This is the dynamic of groupthink, the dynamics, this is mob mentality.
This is Gustave Le Bon.
This is the way crowds work.
And Charlie Kirk's strength was not just his ideas, but his instinct for performance.
He had Charlie down.
He understood the rhythm and essence of public outrage and concomitant reassurance.
He knew when to press and when to pause.
And he always seemed sincere and authentic.
Many people believe Erica doesn't have that instinct.
At least not yet, to be fair, at least not yet.
Instead of easing tension, her appearances often seem to increase it.
Online memes, the glare, those stuff it.
Going after Candace Owens, I don't know what she was doing with that one.
I would have handled this.
I would have defused Candace.
I told you this repeatedly.
I would have defused Candace.
I would have given her all, bless her heart.
She means well.
Now let me talk.
Thank you, Candace, for all your work.
Now let me talk.
Here's what we're doing.
This is important.
Well, you know, Candace is saying, Mid Sam, okay, interesting.
Now, what we're doing at TTP USA, that's the way I would do it.
I would acknowledge her.
I would thank her, and I would just move on.
I would say, it's no big deal.
Listen to me.
Pay attention to me.
Erica Kirk seems to make things worse.
Whatever suspicions there are, she tends to increase it because they feel her reactions feel out of sync with the mood of the audience.
And a lot of people are grieving and they're saying, this is not consolation.
So far, we have been pretty much abandoned.
We've been, all right, come on, let's go.
You know, fundraising.
Let's go, people.
Okay, I'm going to be on TV now.
I'm going to buy the book.
Buy the book.
Let's go.
Come on, I'm in charge.
I know that may sound cruel, but I'm giving you a very exaggerated view of what's happening.
Now, another problem is that silence and overexposure are being interpreted negatively.
See, when Erica speaks, many critics say she is rushing to control the narrative.
Okay.
When she doesn't speak, they say she's hiding.
You see that?
See that duality?
It's almost impossible position.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
And that is one that skilled communications and communicators, I should say, learn to kind of navigate imbalance.
Now, right now, many people believe she is failing to do so.
And I hope she can turn that around for the sake of the organization and for the sake of people who look to her as some kind of a beacon of strength.
Now, this is where Candace Owens enters the picture.
And listen to me carefully.
This is important.
Candace is not just another commentator.
I don't have to tell you that.
She has sucked every bit of oxygen out of the room.
The focus is on her.
She owns a story.
She has built her reputation on questioning narratives and pushing into uncomfortable spaces.
I think with an aplum and with a deftness that belies her tender years.
Sometimes I got to remind myself, she's a young woman, but yet she's possessed of so much savvy, it's not even funny.
And when Candace raises concerns or asks questions, the response from Erica's orbit, including Erica, has often been defensive rather than explanatory, or mean, or those eyes, those eyes.
That's had the opposite effect of what was likely intended.
And in fact, I'm sure of it.
I don't think she meant to do this.
Instead of shutting down speculation, it's fueled it.
And it's inadvertent and it's sad and it's unfortunate, but it's true.
People notice when, how would you say this?
People notice when energy is spent attacking critics instead of clarifying and elucidating and magnifying through limpidity and clarity facts.
They notice when character attacks replace timelines and facts and data.
They notice when legal threats are hinted at, but never materialize.
And now, remember, none of this proves wrongdoing, to be sure, no doubt about that.
But it does create, it does create the impression of fragility rather than confidence, which she so desperately needs.
Now, it's part of the calculus of leadership.
Now, the result in all of this is that Erica is no longer being viewed simply as a grieving partner, a grieving wife, a mother with two children that she must console, or an interim leader.
She is being evaluated as a public actor.
And by those standards, my friends, by those standards, many believe she is falling short.
And you know it's true.
You know it's true.
That evaluation is happening whether she likes it or not or whether you like it or not.
Public life, being in the spotlight, does not pause for personal circumstances.
Nobody gives her a timeout.
And audiences can be unforgiving.
You know it's true, especially in this world of social media, in this scrum, in this kabuki theater dance of ours.
Now, what is especially painful about this whole thing is much of the backlash could likely have been avoided from the beginning with a different approach.
A slower pace.
Fewer appearances.
Few online media hits.
Fewer entreaties for money and books and sales and newsletters.
No.
There should be more acknowledgement of uncertainty, a willingness to say, we don't know yet.
We don't know yet.
Say that without trying to close the conversations.
And to look at the audience and say, I need you.
I'm going to need you more than ever.
Join our team.
Join me.
Let's take our grief.
Let's take our collective sorrow and work together to carry on Charlie's work.
It's important that nothing interrupts that.
Not our grief, not our sadness.
Don't mention anything about money.
Please, don't.
Don't.
And if you insist upon going on cable news shows, then say what I'm saying.
Talk only about how you're concerned.
You feel almost like, believe it or not, a mother to many of the young people that came on board to Charlie's message and Charlie's passion.
And that kind of humility often buys time and goodwill, and people love it.
Show this.
Express to them what you know they're feeling.
And when somebody says something, you can say, if Candace Owens, you almost appreciate it, say, I understand.
Candace has been a great friend of ours.
And Candace, like everybody else, is in the middle of trying to make things make sense.
And who can blame her?
And believe me, there's nobody who wants to make more sense out of this than I do.
Move on.
That's it.
Acknowledge her.
Thank you very much.
And move on.
Unfortunately, many feel that that opportunity was missed.
I don't know if that's true.
You can always change the course at any time.
Nothing is ever.
You can't go forever, but there's still time.
Now, instead, what people see as a leadership style that feels overly curated and controlled and manufactured and plastic and choreographed at a moment when authenticity and legitimacy and real, real matters more than polish.
That mismatch is what turns discomfort into ridicule.
And this is true.
You see, people aren't laughing because they think because they think this is funny.
I don't think so.
They're laughing because it feels surreal.
It's almost a nervous laughter.
Like watching someone read from the wrong script in the middle of a serious scene.
It's almost like a blooper reel.
That's what they're glomming onto.
And there's also an underlying resentment here that I think a lot of people are seeing, a lot of people are saying, and a lot of people are recognizing and making very clear.
A resentment that Turning Point USA, the TP USA, appears to be trying to move forward as if nothing fundamental has changed.
We're not even talking about Charlie anymore or who is responsible for his death.
And for supporters who felt emotionally invested in Charlie Kirk, which are the millions, Charlie Kirk is a figurehead as a leader, as a big brother, as a father even, that feels rather dismissive.
And they expected a pause, a kind of a, and I use that, it was kind of a corny word, but a reckoning, or at least a visible transition.
Instead, what they have is they feel pushed to accept continuity without explanation.
And they're saying something's wrong with this.
This is why, my friend, this is why some say Erica Kirk has become a symbol, a symbol of the, a symbol of the organization's inability to read the moment.
She is not necessarily the cause of that failure by any stretch of the imagination, but she has become its face.
And as you know, symbols attract disproportionate blame, even, even, even when the reality is far more complicated.
Complicated is the theme of this.
So it's also worth emphasizing a couple of things, my friends.
It's worth noting that none of this requires bad intent.
You know, people can mean well.
People can be well-intended and well-intentioned and still fail publicly.
They can be trying their best and still misjudge the moment, misjudge the event.
They can read the room wrong.
Sympathy and criticism are not opposites here.
They may seem to be, but they're not.
They coexist.
They're antipodal.
They're chiral opposites, if you think about it.
The harsh truth, the very, very harsh truth, the sad truth, is that leadership after a crisis is often less about strategy and more about emotional intelligence.
Reading the room.
I say it again.
Right now, many observers feel that Erica is operating as if, in a way, as if this is a normal branding challenge rather than a rupture, a fracture, a schism, a kind of a dehiscence that abandons any attempt at recalibration.
And that perception, fair or not, is what has turned her into a subject of mockery rather than support in certain circles.
And you know it's true.
Not that it should be, remember, but that it's true.
If there is a path forward, it likely involves stepping back rather than pushing forward.
Listen to me carefully.
Letting other people speak, allowing space for unresolved questions, among other things, interally, as we say, accepting that not every narrative can be controlled is critical right now.
She needs professional help, not emotionally, but in terms of her stance.
Public trust is not rebuilt through assertion.
It's rebuilt through patience and understanding the method, understanding what's needed, and understanding the emotions, again, of the room.
The situation is not hopeless.
Erica, if you're watching, I say this again, it is not, but it is fragile and it takes special, special care.
And the longer it continues without any kind of adjustment or course correction, the more entrenched and I hate to say solidified the negative perception becomes.
That is the quiet reality many people are reacting to, even if they don't say it directly.
And that's my message here.
Let me say again: this is not about winning an argument.
This is about something even more important.
This is about whether Erica Kirk can recalibrate, readjust, retool, reformulate her approach before the perception hardens and sets completely.
Once that happens, once that happens, sympathy disappears.
And what remains, I'm sorry to say, my dear friend, is permanent damage to credibility, both personal and organizational and professional.
And that's something which is true.
And again, I mean nothing but support.
I want TPUSA to work.
This is an important and a critical aspect.
This is how we can recruit.
I've always been talking about the farm team and the bench for whatever it is that we do, whether it's conservatism or Republicans, I don't know, whatever our movement is, we need to course correct that quickly.
Let me thank you for this.
As we proceed to the end of the year, my God, I can't believe that.
Let me thank you, my friends, as well for your incredible kindness, your reaction to this.
And I hope you appreciate the intellectual challenge that I think this poses.
You have been so kind.
Your thoughts and comments have been terrific.
You've also been very kind to my beloved wife and my hero, Lynn Shaw from Lynn's Warriors.
And I got to tell you something, at the end of the year, we're constantly thinking, how do we get that message across?
If you go to her, and I ask you to subscribe to her channel at Lynn's Warriors, one of the problems that we see, I should say, I don't want to speak for her, but I see through her, is trying to convey the message to the country, trying to calibrate and balance concern over a subject that people don't want to talk about.
Child predation, child victimization, human trafficking.
People want to talk to it like drive-by.
Okay, they don't want to spend a lot of time on this.
The same thing goes with this.
The issue of Erica Kirk and Charlie and what happens next.
It's something that people don't want to address, but we have to.
Why?
Because we're adults.
And in order for us to win the war, we have to understand how the battle is played.
That's it.
That's simple.
So I thank you, my friends.
I've got some questions for you to ask or to answer, I should say.
I thank you so much for participating.
Please like this video.
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That's our lifeblood.
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