Joe Concha on Erika Kirk: ‘Let her try to move on with her life’
Joe Concha, a *Washington Examiner* columnist, said Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk makes “a great point” that the U.S. has become unrecognizable amid political violence, and he also criticized personal attacks directed at her. Concha argued that current political rhetoric functions as permission for violence, citing Kirk’s claims that such hostility contributed to the events that followed the September 2025 assassination of her husband, political activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk spoke about the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting in Washington, D.C., where gunfire cut the event short and President Donald Trump and other VIPs were evacuated. Federal agents tackled the alleged shooter,Cole Allen,who faces charges including attempted assassination; at least one Secret Service agent was injured but not seriously. Kirk said she was shaken and later described wanting to “go home,” while also lamenting how violence and threats have become normalized, including media responses that she felt blamed others or treated attempts on Trump as routine.
Concha further contended that the dinner should have been a secure setting given major political attendance and criticized remarks he linked to TV host jimmy Kimmel,calling the comments cruel and inappropriate,and urging that Kirk be allowed to move on.
Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha said Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk has a “great point” that the United States has become unrecognizable in the wake of political violence and highlighted personal attacks against her.
Concha called the political rhetoric “a permission slip for violence” on Thursday on Fox & Friends First.
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Kirk’s husband, political activist Charlie Kirk, was assassinated in September 2025 while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. Since then, she has faced allegations that she planned her husband’s murder and criticism that she cannot handle running TPUSA.
“If you want the personification of a person who has been through utter hell over the last nine months, it’s Erika Kirk,” Concha said.
Kirk spoke out on Wednesday about the shooting that happened at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. The Saturday event was cut short when gunfire rang out in the Washington Hilton and President Donald Trump, among other political VIPs, was evacuated.
Secret Service agents tackled the gunman, Cole Allen, 31. No serious injuries were reported, but one agent was shot on his bulletproof vest and is recovering. Allen was charged with trying to assassinate the president.
A clip from the event shows Kirk in tears leaving the dinner, saying, “I just want to go home.”
Kirk spoke out about the dinner on The Charlie Kirk Show.
“Our country has become unrecognizable,” Kirk said. “These people have perverted the truth to the point that they motivated the murder of my husband. They’ve continuously tried to assassinate the president. And anyone who stands in their way is labeled hateful, racist, fascist, and every other trigger word that is grossly dishonest.”
“The fact that this is so normalized that this happened just on Saturday night, and already you see in some parts of [the] media blaming Trump for his own assassination attempts against him or just in general just being apathetic about this as if this is a new normal,” Concha said.
Concha argued that the WHCA dinner should be one of the safest places for people to be because the president and vice president attended.
“Security was almost the equivalent of your average 7-11, where anybody can walk in and out,” Concha said.
During the podcast episode, Kirk also criticized comments made by late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel about the first lady looking like an “expectant widow.”
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“Good for her for also calling out Jimmy Kimmel for the sick person that he is, for rooting for the death of Donald Trump to make Melania Trump a glowing widow, for what? Cheap laughs,” Concha said.
“Give the woman some peace and just let her try to move on with her life.”
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