Max Eden

Trump 47 WH Domestic Policy Council Alum |
@A1policy Federal Education Policy Director |
Tweets my own |

[Kite & Key Media @kiteandkeymedia]

An Indiana college student joined a Zoom call to plan a commemoration of Tiananmen Square.

A few days later, the authorities knocked on his parents’ door ... in China.

Our new video looks at the quiet influence of authoritarian countries on American college campuses.

[PragerU @prageru]

Moral relativism. Indoctrination. The collapse of higher ed.

Allan Bloom called it out decades ago. @maxeden99 @michaeljknowles

[Walter Kirn @walterkirn]

The conversion of college campuses into the least socially and intellectually free places in the country is complete.

You'll get more diversity of thought at a rural Wyoming bar, and I'm absolutely serious.

I don't like going to campuses anymore.

[Hunter Pollack @PollackHunter]

.@AGPamBondi is exactly right: “Under President Trump, DOJ will be unabashed in our efforts to root out credible, violent threats. We will investigate organizations that pursue illegal activities, engage in political violence, violate our civil rights. https://t.co/tnsPRwwBjF

[Mary Katharine Ham @mkhammer]

These absolute psychopaths are tone-policing a widow who watched her husband be murdered three days ago, who gave a stunning tribute to him with dignity these people can’t muster in the face of an anxiety diagnosis for their cats, and they’ll tell you they’re the good guys.

[JD Vance @JDVance]

A while ago, probably in 2017, I appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox show to talk about God knows what. Afterwards a name I barely knew sent me a DM on twitter and told me I did a great job. It was Charlie Kirk, and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today.

Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind. Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives. When others were right, he learned from them. When he was right--as he usually was--he was generous. With Charlie, the attitude was never, "I told you so." But: "welcome."

Charlie was one of the first people I called when I thought about running for senate in early 2021. I was interested but skeptical there was a pathway. We talked through everything, from the strategy to the fundraising to the grassroots of the movement he knew so well. He introduced me to some of the people who would run my campaign and also to Donald Trump Jr. "Like his dad, he's misunderstood. He's extremely smart, and very much on our wavelength." Don took a call from me because Charlie asked him too.

Long before I ever committed (even in my mind) to running, Charlie had me speak to his donors at a TPUSA event. He walked me around the room and introduced me. He gave me honest feedback on my remarks. He had no reason to do this, no expectation that I'd go anywhere. I was polling, at that point, well below 5 percent. He did it because we were friends, and because he was a good man.

When I became the VP nominee--something Charlie advocated for both in public and private--Charlie was there for me. I was so glad to be part of the president's team, but candidly surprised by the effect it had on our family. Our kids, especially our oldest, struggled with the attention and the constant presence of the protective detail. I felt this acute sense of guilt, that I had conscripted my kids into this life without getting their permission. And Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers. Some of our most successful events were organized not by the campaign, but by TPUSA. He wasn't just a thinker, he was a doer, turning big ideas into bigger events with thousands of activists. And after every event, he would give me a big hug, tell me he was praying for me, and ask me what he could do. "You focus on Wisconsin," he'd tell me. "Arizona is in the bag." And it was.

Charlie genuinely believed in and loved Jesus Christ. He had a profound faith. We used to argue about Catholicism and Protestantism and who was right about minor doctrinal questions. Because he loved God, he wanted to understand him.

Someone else pointed out that Charlie died doing what he loved: discussing ideas. He would go into these hostile crowds and answer their questions. If it was a friendly crowd, and a progressive asked a question to jeers from the audience, he'd encourage his fans to calm down and let everyone speak. He exemplified a foundational virtue of our Republic: the willingness to speak openly and debate ideas.

Charlie had an uncanny ability to know when to push the envelope and when to be more conventional. I've seen people attack him for years for being wrong on this or that issue publicly, never realizing that privately he was working to broaden the scope of acceptable debate.

He was a great family man. I was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office today, and he said, "I know he was a very good friend of yours." I nodded silently, and President Trump observed that Charlie really loved his family. The president was right. Charlie was so proud of Erika and the two kids. He was so happy to be a father. And he felt such gratitude for having found a woman of God with whom he could build a family.

Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him. I am on more than a few group chats with Charlie and people he introduced me to over the years. We celebrate weddings and babies, bust each other's chops, and mourn the loss of loved ones. We talk about politics and policy and sports and life. These group chats include people at the very highest level of our government. They trusted him, loved him, and knew he'd always have their backs. And because he was a true friend ,you could instinctively trust the people Charlie introduced you to. So much of the success we've had in this administration traces directly to Charlie's ability to organize and convene. He didn't just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.

I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him. And that's how I learned the news that my friend had been shot. I prayed a lot over the next hour, as first good news and then bad trickled in.

God didn't answer those prayers, and that's OK. He had other plans. And now that Charlie is in heaven, I'll ask him to talk to big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly.

You ran a good race, my friend.

We've got it from here.

[Michael Knowles @michaeljknowles]

Charlie Kirk would have been president. His friends knew it. His admirers knew it. And his enemies knew it.

This universal confidence in Charlie’s future began with his countless political accomplishments. At 18, he founded Turning Point USA, which went on to become the most important cultural organization on the American Right. By 22, he was addressing the Republican National Convention. Three years later, he founded Turning Point Action, which led the get-out-the-vote efforts that delivered the first Republican popular vote victory in twenty years. In his spare time, Charlie published five books, hosted a national talk show, married a lovely wife, and fathered two beautiful children. All of that by 31.

Charlie’s appearance inspired as much confidence as his accomplishments. At a towering six-foot-five slouching, he joked that he had descended from the Nephilim—the giant “fallen ones” of the Old Testament. He might have been born with such a nature, as are we all, but he was not content to remain so. Charlie loved his Savior. The zeal with which he debated politics paled in comparison to the excitement with which he discussed religion. And his religious life bore fruit.

Turning Point launched a Faith division to focus specifically on his followers’ souls. There too, Charlie’s enthusiasm for open debate set the tone, as he invited atheists and even Catholics to take part. But he didn’t need a specific religious conference to convey his faith. Charlie Kirk’s religion bore fruit in everything he did.

Discerning observers believed in Charlie Kirk, not chiefly for his accolades or his appearance, but for his manifest virtue. Charlie’s prudence, the principal virtue in politics, built a generational coalition that helped to transform the American government. His temperance distinguished him as one of the few on the Right to eschew whisky, cigars, and every other delight that might have distracted him from his purpose, for which he had so little time. His sense of justice produced clarity in moral vision and grace for his opponents. His fortitude impelled him to enter the public square without a hint of servile fear.

Charlie’s only fear was the holy sort—awe and wonder, the beginning of wisdom—and his clearest virtues were theological: faith, hope, and charity. We mourn his death, we take up his cause, and we entrust him, as he confidently entrusted himself, to God’s care.

[Lomez @L0m3z]

Nothing is off the table. This is how I feel. This is how I feel right now. Nothing is off the table.

We can't have a country like this. We can't tolerate the people who create the conditions for this.

[Paige Bronitsky (Esterkin) @PaigeBronitsky]

The housing crisis isn’t “market failure.” It’s a hoax manufactured by DEI tyranny—bureaucrats picking winners and losers and crushing the American Dream.

@RealDanHuff and I expose the rot, writing at @FoxNews ✒️

https://t.co/wVazXRE36H

[Secretary Linda McMahon @EDSecMcMahon]

Today’s @NAEP_NCES 12th grade math and reading and 8th grade science scores confirm a devastating trend: American students are testing at historic lows. 

Nearly HALF of America’s high school seniors are testing at below basic levels in math and reading. The status quo is failing our students.

[Secretary Linda McMahon @EDSecMcMahon]

In an unsurprising turn of events, the same Obama-appointed judge that ruled in favor of Harvard’s illegal race-based admissions practices – which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court – just ruled against the Trump Administration’s efforts to hold Harvard accountable for rampant discrimination on campus.

The Trump Administration is fully committed to appealing this erroneous decision and will ensure that new taxpayer funding is not invested at any university that steadfastly refuses to uphold civil rights for all students.

Cleaning up our nation’s universities will be a long road, but worth it.

[Dr. Ben Braddock @GraduatedBen]

This is the most saintlike thing an American president has ever said

[Max Eden @maxeden99]

@JeremyTate41 I like it a lot!

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

This paper is so absurd I don't even know where to begin. It's all ideological fantasy. All of it.

For something like this to get published, every step in the process must be captured. The authors, the journal editors, the peer reviewers. Everyone. True Believers.

At no point did a skeptical eye touch this paper.

That's a serious problem not easily remedied.

[Max Eden @maxeden99]

@marcportermagee @iambenaustin @MichaelPetrilli Bush was once in favor of teaching kids to read good. Phonics and whatnot. Then everyone in "Ed reform" ran away from it until there was a podcast and then some people were like "oh wait, yeah, this seems like maybe someone should do it somewhere."

[Max Eden @maxeden99]

@marcportermagee @iambenaustin @MichaelPetrilli It seems structural. Either you are against the teachers' unions, or you are for sterilizing children. "Trans" ... bad. I don't know how anyone could be a Democrat given how obvious this is.

[𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 @visualsofearth1]

Iceland's Basalt Rock Formations

[Erika Sanzi @esanzi]

We tried to tell you nicely. We offered up documents and evidence. You said it wasn't happening. Then you said it was good that it was happening. And you called us names.

Welp...