JUST IN: Time Magazine Releases New Cover Featuring Charlie Kirk

A new blood-red cover for Time Magazine is illustrating the way America’s political communities are reeling following Charlie Kirk’s murder.

Kirk, 31, died after being shot in the neck by a rifleman who authorities believe sat as far as 200 yards away from the open-air tent where he was answering questions from Utah students. Just seconds earlier, he had been queried about transgender mass shooters like the one responsible for last month’s horrific attack at a Minnesota Catholic church.

Thousands of students and young people crowded in tight to hear Kirk speak on Wednesday, the last time his authoritative voice would be heard. Now, that moment has been iconized by Time above the headline “ENOUGH.”

For his cover story, correspondent Eric Cortellessa writes that the murder of Kirk at Utah Valley University near Salt Lake City “could become not just a tragedy but a catalyst—an event that radicalizes ever more Americans, less an aberration than a feature of our increasingly perilous national politics.”

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who credits her rise to the U.S. House of Representatives to her time with Turning Point USA, the youth-forward organization founded by Kirk, was among those who feared that Kirk’s death portends a darker future ahead for the U.S.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to be the last, which is why it’s so scary,” she told Time.

The number of violent political acts in 2025 appears to be a high-water mark in recent years. Just last month, a gunman who blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his poor health opened fire at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga; another shot and killed a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband while critically wounding another and his wife.

And last year, of course, President Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts; the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was firebombed; Tesla dealerships were set ablaze in nationwide protests; the CEO of United Healthcare was assassinated; and an Israeli couple was shot and killed outside the Washington, D.C. embassy, among many other political acts of violence during and after the election.

President Trump extolled Kirk in a post announcing his death and promised retribution.

“To my great fellow Americans, I am filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah. Charlie inspired millions, and tonight, all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror,” President Trump began.

“Charlie was a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country that he loved so much, the United States of America. He fought for liberty, democracy, justice, and the American people. He’s a martyr for truth and freedom, and there’s never been anyone who was so respected by youth. Charlie was also a man of deep, deep faith, and we take comfort in the knowledge that he is now at peace with God in heaven.”

“It is long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible. For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now,” the president went on to say.