It feels like just yesterday that America lost Charlie Kirk.

I remember every detail vividly.

Charlie and I were in daily contact that week, as he prepared for his next national campus speaking tour.

I was part of an intimate Zoom meeting he had organized the night prior to its first stop at Utah Valley University.

Less than 24 hours later, it was the site of his murder.

Everything about the assassination was astonishing: the unconscionable security failure from the campus police and Charlie's detail, the fact that he was killed while modeling robust and respectful debate, the utterly depraved nature of the act, and the apparent transgender-related motive of the accused killer.

I broke down in tears when I heard the news. One year later, it still feels like a bad dream.

Charlie died as a martyr for free speech, a bedrock ideal of the country he loved so much.

He was a thought leader, an institution builder and a grassroots-mobilization visionary.

The cranks and kooks overrunning the online Right today are a sad testament to the void he left behind: Charlie, the guardian of the floodgates, was the conservative coalition's indispensable man.

I feel Charlie's glaring absence every day.

And one year........

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