The assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has sent shockwaves through the conservative movement — and bestselling author and national radio host Michael Savage says it’s far bigger than one tragic act of violence. In an exclusive interview, Savage warned that Kirk’s death is a grim marker of a society unraveling, proof that the cultural and political civil war he predicted more than a decade ago is no longer on the horizon — it has already begun.
Savage pulled no punches: “We’re already in the civil war,” he said. “It’s not coming — it’s here. And it’s one-sided. The left is killing the right. The left is silencing the right. People are terrified to even speak their views in public, afraid of being attacked.”
To Savage, Kirk’s murder reflects a deeper crisis — the collapse of faith, meaning, and values in the West. “You see people today celebrating death, even the killings, of those they disagree with,” he said. “Something has broken in the West. It’s not just politics — it’s the loss of religion, of values, of a higher purpose. Charlie Kirk saw that and was trying to fight it.”
He described America’s descent into a “fetish for death,” fueled by endless foreign wars, violence streamed across social media, and a culture that confuses online role-playing with real life. He pointed to reports that Kirk’s assassin had scrawled “Bella Ciao” — a radical left-wing protest song — onto his bullets. “It’s basically an anti-fascist workers’ anthem,” Savage noted, linking it to decades of left-wing agitprop. “Bernie Sanders and so-called democratic socialism brainwashed a generation with this garbage, and now you see the fruit: a murderer who convinced himself he was killing for the cause of humanity.”
Savage also warned of the toxic influence of technology and narcissism: “The iPhone has made everyone into a star behind their bars — how many bars they have on their phone. Everyone’s the actor, writer, director, producer of their own show. They go on Instagram, and suddenly they think their opinions have the same validity as Einstein. If Einstein were alive today, he’d go on YouTube to explain the theory of relativity, and some schmuck would comment, ‘You’re just a Zionist Jew, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ That’s what passes for dialogue.”
The result, he said, is a society where “truth is gone.” Schools no longer teach logic or critical thinking, and institutions that once anchored families and communities have been hollowed out. “When anything goes, everything goes,” he lamented. “Marriage doesn’t mean anything. Family doesn’t mean anything. Loyalty doesn’t mean anything. Everyone is living in their own world, a world unto themselves.”
The danger, Savage stressed, is not only the violence but the rhetoric that fuels it. “If you’re calling your enemy day and night a fascist, fascist, Nazi, Nazi, Nazi — and then someone kills one of those people — how do you stop it?”
Savage believes conservatives must fight back — but lawfully and decisively. “Trump has the power to stop it,” he said. He pointed to the need for leadership willing to cut off taxpayer funding from organizations that suppress free speech and to hold networks accountable when they actively incite hatred. “MSNBC is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC — do you really think Bill Gates is going to step in to stop the hate? Of course not. But Trump could have the FCC suspend their license for disseminating hatred and fomenting revolution, and let them sue the government while they go silent.”
For Savage, Charlie Kirk’s assassination is not an isolated event but the opening shot in a broader wave of unrest. “The unanswered questions remain — the rifle, the roommate, the accomplices. This isn’t over. More political violence will follow.”
As Savage made clear, this is a moment of reckoning. Kirk’s courage and faith will be remembered, but his death is a stark reminder of what conservatives now face: a culture that demonizes them as “fascists” and a political left increasingly comfortable with violence against its opponents. The time for denial is over. The civil war isn’t coming — it’s here.
