Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk and head of Turning Point USA, responded to a New York Times newsletter on Friday on X, accusing it of completely missing the point on marriage and children."This @nytimes op-ed completely misses the point on the purpose of marriage and children and completely misrepresents my views in the process.The entire article is laced with viewing family through the lens of money and career as if those things bring fulfillment and purpose.
When you’re on your death bed, your money and your career won’t be whispering in your ear 'I love you' as you take your last breath.The material goods and fortune of this world mean nothing when we go to our eternal resting place," Kirk wrote.New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose wrote the piece headlined, "The Gap Between the Families We Have and the Ones Conservatives Want," and specifically cited Kirk's comments at the Hillsdale College commencement ceremony in May.JD VANCE WALKS BACK CONTROVERSIAL ‘CHILDLESS CAT LADIES’ COMMENT ON 'THE VIEW' BUT DEFENDS FAMILY MESSAGEKirk said, per Grose, that if her late husband were alive, he would have encouraged them to get married young.Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk speaks during a Turning Point USA event at the Dream City Church on April 17, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)She also said Charlie would have said, "Have more kids than you can afford." Grose pointed to backlash over Kirk's statement, due to elevated gas and grocery prices."Kirk pitches her message as countercultural, and in a sense, it is.A 21-year-old married speaker at Turning Point’s Women’s Leadership Summit in June said she was going against the culture by proclaiming her husband as the head of her household and feminism as a 'psyop.' But a young marriage isn’t what most Americans want," Grose wrote.Kirk said in her post that the author "conveniently leaves out the part of my Hillsdale commencement speech where I said "marry young, not rushed, but ...