If you’ve spent more than five minutes on the "weird" side of social media lately—the part where folk singers with scratchy voices and acoustic guitars tell you everything that’s wrong with the world—you’ve probably seen Jesse Welles. He’s the guy who looks like he just crawled out of a 1930s dust bowl, but he's actually singing about modern-day problems like Fentanyl and healthcare CEOs.
Then there’s Charlie Kirk.
Everyone knows Charlie. Or they think they do. The founder of Turning Point USA is basically a lightning rod for political discourse. You either think he’s a hero for the "silent majority" or a "foul trumpet of hate," as some of his critics on Reddit love to say. But something weird happened in late 2025. Something that nobody really saw coming.
The Day Everything Changed for Jesse Welles and Charlie Kirk
In September 2025, a shocking event rocked the political world: Charlie Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University. It wasn’t just another news cycle. It was a moment that seemed to snap the country's tension wire. While half the internet was arguing and the other half was, frankly, being pretty gross about it, Jesse Welles did what he does best.
He wrote a song.
He didn't wait weeks. He didn't wait days. In less than 24 hours, Welles dropped a track simply titled "Charlie."
It wasn’t a tribute. It wasn’t a celebration. Honestly, it was a plea for humanity that somehow managed to make everyone on both sides of the aisle extremely uncomfortable.
What was the song "Charlie" actually about?
Most people hear a folk singer and assume they’re getting a left-wing protest anthem. With Welles, that’s a dangerous assumption. He’s been called the "Woody Guthrie of the TikTok age," but he doesn't play the binary game.
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The lyrics to the Jesse Welles Charlie Kirk song were blunt:
"For all of the bile, the bold talk, the venom, the hate and the lies, no one should be killed, no blood should be spilled, Charlie shouldn't have died."
He literally looked at the most divisive figure in modern conservative politics and said, "Yeah, I don't like what he says either, but you can’t murder people over words."
Bold move.
The song goes deeper into the hypocrisy of the modern political machine. He sings, "Well you can't hate the gun and love the gun that shot yer rival." That line specifically started a firestorm. It’s a direct hit on the "peace-loving" crowd who suddenly found themselves cheering for a political assassination.
Why this connection actually matters
The Jesse Welles Charlie Kirk intersection is fascinating because it highlights a massive shift in how we process news. We don't wait for the 6 o'clock news anymore. We wait for the "singing the news" guy to tell us how to feel.
Welles is a master of this. He’s written about:
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- The Fentanyl crisis: Calling it the "atom bomb of drugs."
- United Health: Ripping into the insurance industry after the Luigi Mangione incident.
- ICE: A satirical take on minority hunting that went viral on Colbert.
But "Charlie" was different. It wasn't satire. It was a mournful ballad about the death of discourse.
The Joe Rogan factor
Jesse Welles isn't just a social media ghost. He’s appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience, where he actually cried while discussing the state of the country. That appearance solidified him as a "truth-teller" for a specific demographic—the people who are tired of being lied to by both the "Marxists and the Fascists," a line he uses in his song "Red."
Charlie Kirk, on the other hand, was the king of "owning the libs" on college campuses. On the surface, they had nothing in common. But if you dig into the subculture, both men represented a desire for "raw" conversation.
Kirk wanted to debate. Welles wants to observe. When Kirk was silenced by violence, it felt like the end of a certain kind of American friction that Welles felt was necessary for the country to function.
Breaking down the lyrics of "Charlie"
If you listen closely to the track, it’s not just about one man. It’s about the "permanent bruises" that political violence leaves on the soul of a country.
- The hypocrisy check: Welles calls out the "glee" he heard in the wake of the tragedy. He warns that "it coulda been you, it coulda been me."
- The "Firebrand of Resent": He talks about the children left behind, wondering who took their father, and how that creates a "destiny of revenge."
- The Freedom to be a "Freak": He argues that the freedom to speak includes the freedom to say things that people absolutely hate.
It’s a classic First Amendment argument wrapped in a bluesy, Americana package. Some fans were pissed. They wanted him to stay in the "protest singer" lane and bash the right-wingers. Instead, he chose to humanize a man many of his followers considered a villain.
The fallout: Did Jesse Welles go "Right-Wing"?
Kinda. Sorta. Not really.
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The internet loves a label. After the Charlie Kirk song, some people accused Welles of being a "grifter" or using ChatGPT to write his songs because they came out so fast.
But if you look at his catalog—songs like "Join ICE" or "The Poor"—it’s clear he’s not a Republican. He’s just anti-establishment. He hates the "Great Caucasian God" and he hates the way corporations treat people.
He’s a populist in the truest sense of the word. He’s on the side of the "common man," and in his eyes, the common man is being played by both sides.
A quick look at Jesse Welles' recent hits:
- "War Isn’t Murder": A biting critique of how we justify state-sanctioned killing.
- "United Health": A song that basically became the anthem for everyone who’s ever had a claim denied.
- "Red": A song about how the "pills are all the same" and the choice between political sides is an illusion.
What this means for you
If you’re looking for a takeaway from the whole Jesse Welles Charlie Kirk saga, it’s probably this: we are living in a time where art is the only thing fast enough to keep up with the chaos.
Welles isn't telling you who to vote for. He’s telling you that the moment we start celebrating the death of our "rivals," we’ve already lost the plot.
It’s okay to be conflicted. It’s okay to like a song about a guy you didn't like.
Actionable Next Steps
- Listen to the full catalog: Don't just stick to the viral clips. Check out "Domestic Error" or "Wild Onions" to get a better sense of his range.
- Watch the Rogan interview: If you want to see the "real" Jesse Welles, his conversation with Joe Rogan is the most vulnerable he’s ever been.
- Read the lyrics twice: Folk music is meant to be digested. Pay attention to the wordplay in "Charlie"—it’s more about the listener than it is about Kirk.
- Ignore the "AI" accusations: People who think his lyrics are AI-generated usually haven't tried to use AI to write poetry. It’s not that good. Welles' speed comes from his obsession with "singing the news" as it happens.
The story of Jesse Welles and Charlie Kirk isn't a political alliance. It's a snapshot of a country that is hurting, angry, and looking for a melody to make sense of the noise.