Just how much impact did Charlie Kirk have on the Trump administration? Yes, he was posthumously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but Vice President JD Vance just showed up to do what Charlie no longer can do – talk to college students.

And not only did Vance show up at the University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”) on Wednesday evening, but Erika Kirk was there for her very first campus appearance since Charlie’s assassination. The crowds turned out for this event in a big way.
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And it was highly emotional for Erika Kirk.

“Being on campus right now for me is a spiritual reclaiming of territory,” she said. “There is a lot of symbolism in today. It’s Wednesday, seven weeks. And the more that I am coming to grips with the permanency of this nightmare, the more that I am starting to realize and witness that the enemy, he doesn’t want you.”

He wants your territory. He wants your influence. And I could just hear Charlie in my heart. I could hear him say, ‘Go reclaim that territory, babe. Go — the battles that God’s love conquers.’ And that’s why I’m here today,” she added.

Erika thanked the students who filled the arena, many wearing ‘Freedom’ T-shirts like the one she wore at the podium. “You have no idea how helpful it is to have all of you in my life, because you help me feel even more deeply connected to my husband,” she told them.

She recalled how Charlie made a point at every Turning Point USA event to stop and talk with student leaders. “He would ask you what your name is, what you’re studying, what issues are going on on campus,” she said. “He wanted you to know he was investing in you: into your chapter, into your school. That was a pulse point for him.”

“Earn your voice,” she urged. “You are the courageous generation. That’s what you are. All of you, Gen Z, you are the courageous generation. Make him proud.”

After Erika Kirk spoke, Vice President Vance took the stage. As you can imagine after all that has happened, security was much tighter for this event than past TPUSA events.

Admission to the event is free, but participants are required to register in advance before attending, with students receiving priority entry. Attendants will also go through what organizers described as “TSA-style screening and magnetometer checks” once the doors open at 3 p.m. CT.

Vance took the stage and immediately ditched whatever prepared remarks he had, and spoke off the cuff “because that’s what Charlie would so often do.”

Vice President JD Vance told the thousands of students attending the Turning Point USA event at Ole Miss that the most useful advice from Charlie Kirk was to start having children while they were young.

“Charlie wanted you more than anything to invest in the things that were worth having to build a life that was worth building,” Vance said. “Now, now, most of you are probably too young to have found the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. Some of you are lucky enough to have found that person already, but I will tell you, if you’re as lucky and blessed as I have been, it hits you like a ton of bricks. And I have found that person and my lovely wife, Usha, our second lady who is here with us today. She’s sitting in the audience somewhere. I don’t know where, but I love you, honey.

“And have children… Here’s the thing. The one regret, the only regret that I really have in my entire life. And I’ve made plenty of mistakes. But the one regret that I have is that, frankly, I wish we had started having kids sooner because when you’re a young father, you realize what an incredible blessing they are. But they’re also very exhausting. And I know here at Ole Miss we like to party a lot and I know it.

“The things that I have learned in my old age is that incredible energy, God actually meant it for another purpose, and that purpose was to help take care of a family. So while you’re young, have those babies if you’re able to. That’s something Charlie said all the time. But but if you think of that advice, if you think of that advice Charlie wanted you to get married. He wanted you to fall in love. He wanted you to build his family. He wanted you to find a vocation. That was the advice that he gave on campuses. But that’s not just about you. That’s also about our country and about our government. Because while you have the freedom to live life as you so choose, I have got a responsibility as your vice president to make the American dream as accessible as possible.”

Vice President Vance then went on to hold a Q&A session. And really, how amazing was that, for the some 10,000-plus people packed into the arena, to have a chance to ask the vice president questions and hear the answers directly? Vance actually tried to set the people asking questions at their ease, by telling a funny story about blanking when meeting Oliver North and Sean Hannity at a book signing while he was in college. Now, Vance wasn’t able to get through a lot of questions in such a limited amount of time, but he spent about 50 minutes answering as many as he could. Remember when he wiped the floor with Tim Walz during the vice presidential debate last fall? Moments like these prove how quick and easy JD Vance is when he is spontaneously answering questions. (Kamala Harris could never do this.)

Vance, 41, is known for enjoying combative repartee with his critics on social media. Taking a page from Kirk, he also took questions from the audience Wednesday night — several of them from students who grilled him about issues ranging from religion to immigration.

“I make no apologies for believing that Christianity is a pathway to God,” Vance said in response to a student who was concerned about prayer in public schools. “I make no apologies for thinking that Christian values are an important foundation of this country, but I’m not going to force you to believe in anything, because that’s not what God wants, and that’s not what I want.”

Vance sparred a bit with a young woman who peppered him with questions about his interfaith marriage — second lady Usha Vance is Hindu — and his desire to limit legal immigration.

“I’m going to finish answering the question, and then, you know, if I’ve answered all nine of your questions in less than 15 minutes …,” he said sarcastically, to laughter, during the exchange.

“What is the exact number of immigrants America should accept in the future?” Vance asked as he concluded his answer to her. “Right now, the answer is far less than we’ve been accepting. We’ve got to become a common community again, and you can’t do that when you have such high numbers of immigration.”

The entire event was streamed on YouTube via the White House’s official account, as well as airing on Fox News. Vance’s Q&A begins at an hour and five minutes into the video, and if you have the time, it’s very much worth the watch.

At one point, the audience started chanting “48,” to which Vance remarked “let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” We have three-plus more years of President Trump, but listening to Vance answer questions should give everyone confidence. The GOP has a deep bench, and the vice president is definitely sitting right on the aisle of that bench as the possible next man up. And if you pray, remember Erika Kirk and her children. She is attempting to bear Charlie’s legacy and negotiate her own emotional devastation at the same time, and deserves all the grace in the world while she does so.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click