Kari Lake Urges Mothers Not to Send Kids to College, Claims Accused Kirk Shooter Was ‘Brainwashed’

Kari Lake spoke at a vigil for Charlie Kirk held at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night, and claimed the college the accused shooter attended for one semester had “brainwashed him,” urging parents to not send their children to these “indoctrination camps” that were part of “the most horrific brainwashing campaign in the history of mankind.”

Kirk, 31, was the founder of Turning Point USA and, like Lake, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump. He was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University last Wednesday when he was fatally shot.

On Friday, Utah authorities announced that the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, 22, had confessed to his father and was convinced to allow himself to be taken into custody. Robinson is currently being held without bail in a Utah jail on initial charges that include aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, and obstruction of justice. He is expected to be formally charged at a hearing on Tuesday. He has no known prior criminal record.

Lake, appointed by Trump to serve as the senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, was among the speakers during the vigil for Kirk Sunday evening, and devoted part of her remarks to speculating about how the accused killer had “become so filled with hate.”

According to Lake, the problem was higher education, claiming Robinson’s parents “did a good job raising him until he was sent off to be brainwashed.”

“I am making a plea to mothers,” said Lake. “Do not send your children into these indoctrination camps.”

She described college as “the most horrific brainwashing campaign in the history of mankind” and urged the audience to not “compromise with evil.”

After a mention of her past failed political campaigns and how Kirk was there when she first got Trump’s endorsement, Lake mentioned that Kirk “did not go to college” (he briefly attended a community college before dropping out without earning a degree) and added proudly that her daughter did not attend either, and “instead went and worked for Charlie Kirk.”

In 2021, Robinson attended Utah State University for one semester as a pre-engineering major, according to NBC News. He is currently enrolled in the third year of an electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St. George, Utah. A 2024 ranking by College Rover listed Utah State as the eighth most conservative college in the U.S., writing that it was “considered among the most conservative nonreligion-affiliated universities in America,” specifically because the “location in Utah attracts local Latter-day Saints (LDS) students, which adds to the conservative atmosphere.”

A transcript of Lake’s remarks:

We have got to stop this, folks. We cannot let this go on. This violence has got to stop. It’s got to stop. And I’m not going to say our side is perfect, but dammit, this is coming from the other side!

How does a 22-year-old become so filled with hate? Five years earlier, I was told, he was a Trump supporter. And we send our kids off to college and they brainwash them. I am making a plea to mothers out there, do not send your children into these indoctrination camps. Don’t do it. Do not do it. How one moment that 22-year-old who shot Charlie was a baby in his mother’s arms, and by all accounts those parents did a good job raising him, until he was sent off to be brainwashed.

We have lived through the most horrific brainwashing campaign in the history of mankind. And the very fact that we’re all here, means we have somehow survived it. We survived it. But too many youngsters are not surviving it. And we’ve got to stand up. Because some things are nonnegotiable. Our children’s minds and futures are nonnegotiable.

Charlie Kirk came to my house several years ago…and it happened to be the day, by the grace of God, the day that President Trump gave me my first endorsement, from President Donald J. Trump, which is pretty special. Which, by the way, thank you, Charlie, for helping us make sure President Trump won this time, we’ve got to give you some thanks for that.

Charlie’s 25 years younger than me — I’m not going to have you do the math. Please do not do the math. If I catch one of you with a calculator on your phone right now, I’m going to have the security guards take your phone. Twenty-five years younger than me and I was so excited through dinner, I kept saying, “I got the endorsement, Charlie.” And he finally said, “Stop. Enough celebrating. Let’s make the next plan. What’s the next step?” and for two-and-a-half hours, Charlie gave me the best political advice of anybody in the world, better political advice than you could get from anybody who had 60 years on him. And then when he left — and I thought this was great — he said, “From now on your name is not Kari. Your first name is ‘Trump-endorsed’ and your last name is ‘Kari Lake.'” He said, “Use that everywhere you go.”

I know we don’t have a lot of time. There are so many good speakers tonight. This is a battle between good and evil. I wish we could compromise but you can’t compromise with evil. You can’t compromise with evil. Charlie didn’t go to college. My daughter did not go to college and instead she went and worked for Charlie Kirk. She quit about a year ago, and he said “I heard she quit,” and I said, “Well, she’s taking your advice. She wants to get married and start a family.” He said, “That’s a pretty good reason to quit.”

Watch the video above, via C-SPAN (relevant section begins around the 1:25:00 mark).