Kirk Energized Conservative Youth, Paving Way for Trump’s Rise

In the weeks after his election victory last year, Donald Trump held court with future cabinet nominees at Mar-a-Lago, flew to Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame, met the Prince of Wales and visited the New York Stock Exchange.

But amid the mad dash to organize his second term, Trump also made a pilgrimage to Arizona. It was, he said, a favor to a political leader whose organizational skills and resonance among the burgeoning conservative youth movement proved essential to returning him to the White House. That leader was Charlie Kirk.

“I had to do it for Charlie,” ...