A day after Charlie Kirk’s mega-funeral—which corralled tens of thousands of young people, far right politicians, a roster of Christian Nationalist pastors and an otherwise distractible president, all into an Arizona stadium—political pundits on the left are already wondering: Can we have a Charlie Kirk?

If you believe that Kirk’s inflammatory rhetoric towards Black women, trans people, and a whole host of other Americans he openly despised was his main appeal, then you have your answer: No.

But I spent countless hours with Charlie Kirk, his donors, co-workers and members of his loyal fan base while writing my book Raising Them Right, a narrative account of how the modern conservative youth movement was birthed; and while I found his hateful rhetoric increasingly distasteful and ultimately very frightening, I don’t actually think hate was his main appeal.

More central I think was Kirk’s understanding of what today’s generation of anxious, rudderless young people want —and need.

If the broad—and increasingly hapless—coalition that makes up the American left wants to cultivate a young charismatic personality prepared to spread the pro-democracy, anti-MAGA message, that person will need to follow a few guidelines that Kirk and the multitude of donors who generously supported him understood to be essential. Hate does not have to be part of the equation.

Offer A Road Map

For the modern GOP, Charlie Kirk was a powerful political strategist. But for his young fans, he was first and foremost a motivational speaker, who carried his MAGA message to them through a self-empowering focus on bettering their own lives.

Kirk, who had 5.4 million followers on X, did a hefty amount of political ranting about diversity initiatives, overly woke campuses, “sick” gender confused young people, and the war in Gaza – usually blaming some subset of the Democrats and/or minorities whom he spoke of in the cruelest of terms. But on his popular daily podcast, which often ranked number one in political offerings, in his lively speeches at Turning Point USA events, and during recorded chats with his wife Erica Frantzve, a Christian Right influencer, he spent a lot of time laying out an action-oriented vision for a young person’s life in an increasingly chaotic country with diminishing safety nets and a progressive party in shambles.

While few of his prescriptions offered actual policy solutions, and some were deeply disturbing, a lot of his advice was agnostic, and actually pretty helpful, particularly for young people finding their way.

Get out of the gaming chair, get a job, get yourself together so you can date. These were a few of his choice tips. For young men plagued with insecurity and an inability to get motivated, he had tough love: Grow up. It seemed to resonate.

Young pro-democracy influencers who want to break through in the way Kirk did will have to provide their own self-empowering message and adopt a forward-looking mantra that deals specifically with the trials of growing up and finding your way in modern America.

The now prevalent and ultra-depressing message often repeated by members of the splintered Democratic coalition—“No one is coming to save us”—isn’t going to cut it. Echoey calls about the ills of the American oligarchy don’t motivate much either.

This doesn’t mean a powerful influencer on the left should abandon politics. Young people want to hear opinions, gripes, missives and background filtered through an engaging commentator’s world view, which is one of the reasons political influencers like Twitch star Hasan Piker and Tik Tok streamer Dean Withers have garnered large followings. But young people also want to be given some ideas on what to do about it all. Neither men, who played the role of cool buddies to their audiences, rather than Charlie’s role of instructive coach, offer much in the way of advice.

For Democrats that advice should be both personal and political, delivered with a dose of empathy that Kirk insisted he didn’t have much use for, but that he seemed to have for the young people who were being driven down by the pressures of modern life. (On his podcast, he often spoke about male depression, the youth suicide epidemic and the challenge that difficult parents could pose.) During the first podcast episode after his death, his podcast mates showed up without him because they believed Charlie would have wanted them to. They talked about him and in front of an audience of millions, the young men cried. If you’ve watched a lot of the Charlie Kirk Show, you’d know it was all on point.

A left-leaning pundit’s advice for life’s challenges might look like: how to join your local union, petition your governor, tackle your depression, protest on your campus without getting arrested, get off your phone, run for office, fight anti-DEI efforts at work, deal with racism, and get to the gym.

Define Family

Kirk talked family all the time. His was a rigid, impractical almost suffocating vision where wives submit to their husbands, harsh bible verses dictate behaviors, and appropriate sex partners are narrowly defined. It was surely a vision that many of his followers did not adhere to. Yet, it was refreshing for them to hear a young person talk honestly about the importance of home, when so many on the left, fearful of offending, shy away from it.

An impactful progressive influencer needs to acknowledge that in a scary, fractured world, a strong home base — be it with your family of origin, or the family you create of friends, romantic partners, co-workers or fellow-activists—isn’t just a notion. It’s essential for a connected life.

Young Democrats have a warm, inclusive and exciting vision for the modern family, which they talk about endlessly through a social justice, civil rights lens that focuses on why a broadly defined family is morally right, but under attack. Rarely do they talk about why it’s healthy and also fun.

Get Spiritual

Polls and the rise of best-selling, spiritually-centered self-help books targeting young audiences suggest that young people are hungry for faith.

Kirk knew that and used that to push his Christian Right ideas, through his own appearances, his collaborations with far right pastors and his wife’s online ministry, BibleIn365.

For Kirk and much of the modern-day GOP right-wing, Christian faith and politics are closely linked, ebbing and flowing into each other in performative ways that build alliances, fidelity, reliable voters, and a comfort with cultish adoration.

Not all of Kirk’s fans were religious, but his strong faith-based convictions suggested he believed something firmly and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. It was another way he spoke a truth that Democrats have been reluctant to address: that actively engaging in a religious community often enhances peoples’ happiness, and finding a spiritual life is important.

A young Democratic influencer who seeks to reach a broad audience will need to offer sincere models for building a spiritual life in 2025, ones that are neither rigid, exclusive, bigoted or hateful. This could be through online book groups with religious studies as their focus, multi-faith conferences, yoga classes, meditation apps, or talks on the connection between nature and spirituality.

By avoiding the spiritual, left-leaning influencers are leaving young people who yearn for spiritual guidance in the hands of extreme Christian sects that do know that people want a spiritual life and offer a myriad of opportunities to engage with them.

Come from the Network

A firebrand spokesperson for the young left with the ability to reach far and wide should emerge from a group that is already connected to the collegiate community.

Groups like Rise, Planned Parenthood Generation Action, the Campus Vote Project, or the environmental group Sunrise already have roots on college campuses, distinct personalities and brand recognition. But unlike Turning Point USA, and other far right college youth groups, they operate with anemic budgets, have limited connections to each other, and aren’t structurally designed to promote personalities. All that needs to change. A charismatic face of the young anti-MAGA movement should be part of that change, strengthening the network of pro-democracy groups and being the online face of pro-democracy initiatives that are being worked on, on the ground.

Take a Hybrid Approach

While Kirk has long had a strong online presence; his career began as a grassroots organizer, and his popularity has been magnified by his continued willingness to show up and perform in exciting and attention-grabbing ways that mix people, politics, and live —albeit often offensive — theater. The Utah “Prove Me Wrong” event where he lost his life was a trademark campaign for him. Kirk’s fiery speeches at Turning Point USA conferences, his rockstar-like tours, and his appearances at other ultraconservative events have offered young people another way to connect with him. Making his name synonymous with community has helped to solidify his reputation as affable, available, and relatable to his fan base.

A progressive Kirk will have to do the same, connect online, but also in-person, prioritizing engaging events, and working closely with already developed on-campus infrastructure. Relationships with campus groups will help. But so will money.

Open the Spickets

If the left truly wants to support a flourishing influencer community that spreads an engaging pro-democracy message across American youth spaces, its donors will need to put their money where their influencers are.

Kirk catapulted onto the American stage via his own outsized ambition. But he was propelled upward by hundreds of millions of dollars that right-wing donors who chose to trust his instincts funneled his way on a regular basis. That money funded everything: his training, wardrobe, travel, staff, education and eventually the hundreds of Turning Point USA chapters that popped up on college campuses around the country to remind people of who he was and what he stood for.

Rather than direct millions into paid Washington D.C. consultants with little to no connection with young America; the left needs to double down on young spokespeople already garnering audiences online, adopting a venture capital approach that takes a chance on many, with the hopes that one or two will break out big time.

Along with money to influencers, the left needs to get serious about supporting pro-democracy youth groups so their presence on college campuses can be as exciting as the one Turning Point USA has developed. The candy, t-shirts, and constant barrage of new, glossy high-design posters, bumper stickers and fliers that the right-wing group produces regularly aren’t cheap. But they have been one of the genius ways Kirk and his team have branded their MAGA vision. “Young people love stuff,” one of Kirk’s Turning Point USA employees once told me.

Such an approach would require Democratic leaders to address a larger hurdle: their bad relationship with their kids. Internecine warfare between older Democrats, clinging to their staid talking points and policy speeches and more progressive, media savvy up and comers is a problem that might well take the party down.

Mimicking the more collegial approach that Republican leaders take with their young is surely in order: Don’t shun them, keep them close, accept that they might know a thing or two, and build trust by financially supporting their ideas. Money tends to foster fealty and accepting that young people generally know how to talk to other young people should be a given.

During Turning Point USA’s early years, Kirk went to donors to tell them he had an idea for his first campus campaign: Socialism Sucks posters would regale American campuses, announcing the arrival of his right-wing group. Many were skeptical. The idea sounded too risky and crass. Kirk convinced them. The Socialism Sucks campaign jacked up campus recruitment, attracted reams of press and put the young man who would be the face of their modern movement on the map.

Kyle Spencer is the author of Raising Them Right, the Untold Story of America’s Ultraconservative Youth Movement and its Plot for Power and the editor of Reporting Right, a weekly newsletter for local journalists. She is also the founder of The Pro-Democracy Information Lab, a 501c3 that aims to help news organizations reach larger audiences with pro-democracy news.