Erika Kirk shares a "call to action" for parents to stop political violence
Charlie Kirk's widow Erika Kirk said it's easy to "blame everyone else" for the recent rise in political violence, but she believes parents play a key role in preventing it.
"We have to look in the mirror," she said during a town hall with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, held months after her husband Charlie Kirk's assassination during a Turning Point USA event in Utah. The conversation will air Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Erika Kirk urged parents to consider how they're raising their children, discouraging them from taking a hands-off approach and handing kids devices to hold their attention: "When you become a father, when you become a mother, how are you raising your kids? Are you taking responsibility, or are you giving them a device and saying, 'Go down that rabbit hole. I'm trying to go to Pilates class.'"
"So, my call to action from that is: Parents, step up," she said. "Do you want your kid to be a thought leader or an assassin? That's where we're at."
In 2025, figures across the political spectrum have been targeted, resulting in deaths, injuries, and numerous threats. About 85% of U.S. adults said this year that politically motivated violence is increasing, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. A CBS News poll released in October found 86% of Americans believe political violence is unacceptable — while 34% of college students believe that it is acceptable to use violence to stop someone from speaking on campus, according to a recent poll from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Like the majority of Americans, Erika Kirk stated that she "will never support political violence."
Weiss asked Erika Kirk whether political leaders have a responsibility to turn down the temperature in order to break the cycle of political violence.
"Well, I think everyone has a responsibility to do that, and I'm doing my part," Erika Kirk said. "I'm not in control of other people."