{"id":174470,"date":"2025-09-22T18:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174470\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:10:07","slug":"the-teen-conservative-hailed-as-charlie-kirks-protege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174470\/","title":{"rendered":"The teen conservative hailed as Charlie Kirk’s protege"},"content":{"rendered":"

The teen widely hailed as Charlie Kirk\u2019s protege looked up to the conservative influencer as his mentor \u2014 and has vowed to get \u201clouder\u201d and \u201cbolder,\u201d even as the death threats against him have skyrocketed in the wake of his idol\u2019s assassination<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Brilyn Hollyhand, a 19-year-old dubbed \u201cthe internet\u2019s youngest voice of reason,\u201d<\/a> has seen his popularity surge ever since he landed an interview with the Turning Points USA founder as a pint-sized fourth-grader back in 2018.<\/p>\n

Since then, Hollyhand has drawn in nearly half a million followers on social media, has been rallying young conservatives in Kirk-like style across the country, and has been described as the conservative activist\u2019s heir.<\/p>\n

But in the wake of Kirk\u2019s public execution, Hollyhand told The Post on Monday he could never emulate his late mentor-turned-friend, but will \u201cdo what the Lord has given me the opportunity to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brilyn Hollyhand considered Charlie Kirk a friend and mentor after landing an interview with the Turning Points USA founder when he was 11 years old. brilynhollyhand.com<\/p>\n

\u201cCharlie has very huge shoes to fill. Not just because he was a man with a large shoe size but because, like, legitimately, nobody can replace him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is not to be Charlie, it\u2019s to be Brilyn and to do what the Lord has given me the opportunity to do. If I can do half of the work that Charlie Kirk did in his time on this earth, then I\u2019ll count that as a success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hollyhand\u2019s rise to conservative stardom unfolded back when the then-11-year-old launched a podcast but was struggling to book guests. The conservative whiz kid also founded The Truth Gazette, a conservative political website.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t need to go on the Brilyn Hollyhand show with a fourth grader, but he did and he gave me that opportunity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many people that you interview that you never talk to again, but he genuinely stayed a mentor and a friend through the past eight years of my political career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since meeting Kirk, Hollyhand has drawn in nearly half-a-million followers on social media and has been rallying young conservatives in Kirk-like style across the country. YouTube\/Brilyn Hollyhand<\/p>\n

The college freshman said he was even texting with Kirk just hours before he was gunned down on stage during Turning Point USA\u2019s \u201cAmerican Comeback Tour\u201d<\/a> at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were speaking that morning because he had just seen me on Fox and he texted to turn around and be like, \u2018Hey, man, you did such a great job this morning, so proud of you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He added they went on to speak about how Kirk was excited for the first stop of the now-fatal campus tour.<\/p>\n

Now, Hollyhand \u2014 who was named co-chair of the Republican National Committee\u2019s Youth Advisory Council in 2023 \u2014 is about to kick off his own 10-stop tour of universities across the country.<\/p>\n

The newly announced \u201cOne Conversation at a Time\u201d tour, which is being sponsored by Turning Points in the wake of Kirk\u2019s death, will kick off at the University of Arkansas on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Hollyhand acknowledged, though, that the threats against him have more than tripled following Kirk\u2019s slaying<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m living a completely different life than I woke up in, you know, a few Wednesdays ago before he passed,\u201d he said, noting that campus security now escorts him to classes at Auburn University in Alabama.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy threat level has tripled. I\u2019ve got a security team now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hollyhand\u2019s rise to conservative stardom unfolded back when the then-11-year-old interviewed Kirk and Candace Owens in 2018. Instagram\/@brilynhollyhand<\/p>\n

Hollyhand said those close to him have been advising him not to embark on the tour, but he was adamant that carrying on Kirk\u2019s legacy far outweighed the risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what they want. The coward who assassinated my friend wanted to shut my generation up and instead he woke us up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like this is a time where we have to get louder, we have to get bolder, we have to get more courageous, because that\u2019s the life that Charlie loves. And so we can\u2019t cower, we can\u2019t be silent, we have to go to these campuses now, more than ever before,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cHe lived and died for that and that\u2019s why I kind of feel this calling to keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since they first sat down together eight years ago, Hollyhand said Kirk\u2019s advice had always stayed with him \u2013 and was even referenced by President Trump during the conservative activist\u2019s memorial service in Arizona on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I asked him for inspiration, of you know, \u2018what should I do\u2026 \u00a0just to keep fighting this movement at such a young age?\u2019 He looked at me, and I\u2019ll never forget it. He said, \u2018Brilyn, the left will always out-fundraise us, but they\u2019re never going to outwork us.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never outworked Charlie. He always took the time to continue fighting for this country. They could not outwork him, so they had to kill him,\u201d Hollyhand said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The teen widely hailed as Charlie Kirk\u2019s protege looked up to the conservative influencer as his mentor \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[7927,236,49204,23276,88,194],"class_list":["post-174470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-assassinations","tag-celebrities","tag-charlie-kirk","tag-colleges-and-universities","tag-entertainment","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}