Vice President JD Vance posted an impassioned eulogy on social media detailing his friendship with Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist and close ally of President Trump who was shot and killed on Wednesday while speaking at a Utah college campus.
“Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him,” Mr. Vance wrote.
The post on X, which is nearly 1,000 words long, provides insight into both Mr. Vance’s political development and the network of friendships within the president’s circle.
The two came into contact in 2017, when Mr. Kirk sent Mr. Vance, who at the time held no political office, a direct message on social media shortly after Mr. Vance had been interviewed on Fox News. Both were skeptical of Mr. Trump at the time, Mr. Vance said, adding that they both came to see his importance.
Mr. Vance, who wrote a best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and worked as a venture capitalist before entering politics, said Mr. Kirk was one of the first people he called when he was contemplating a run for the Senate in 2021. Mr. Kirk went out of his way to introduce him to people in his political circle, including the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., he added. Last year Mr. Vance turned to Mr. Kirk when he felt “acute guilt” about how being Mr. Trump’s nominee for vice president would affect his family, the vice president said.
“Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers,” Mr. Vance said. In private, he said, the two would debate Christianity from differing perspectives. Mr. Vance is a Roman Catholic while Mr. Kirk was a protestant.
Mr. Vance credited Mr. Kirk with sweeping influence. “So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene. He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government,” he wrote.
Over time, the lives of the two men became intertwined, Mr. Vance said.
“I am on more than a few group chats with Charlie and people he introduced me to over the years,” Mr. Vance, said. “We celebrate weddings and babies, bust each other’s chops, and mourn the loss of loved ones. We talk about politics and policy and sports and life,” Mr. Vance said.
His friend, a prolific podcaster who regularly held public events on college campuses, exemplified a willingness to speak openly and debate ideas, he said, describing that as a foundational virtue of the United States.
Mr. Vance said that news of the shooting was discussed on social media group chats in the White House. Over the next hour, he said he had prayed a lot for Mr. Kirk: “God didn’t answer those prayers, and that’s OK. He had other plans.”
Matthew Mpoke Bigg is a London-based reporter on the Live team at The Times, which covers breaking and developing news.
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