Dave Rubin released a direct-message clip this week in which Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski publicly thanked Charlie Kirk for playing a concrete role in the platform’s early growth, including acting as an early investor and adviser. The clip, which Rubin shared with his audience, confirms what many of us in the conservative movement have long known: Charlie didn’t just talk about supporting free speech, he put his money and his time where his mouth was.
Pavlovski even recounted a vivid moment driving the Gulf Coast with Kirk, stopping in a room that overlooked the water, and being told by Kirk, “This is Rumble’s headquarters. It’s got to be.” That anecdote helps explain why Rumble ultimately planted its flag in Longboat Key, Florida, a move driven by both practical opportunity and an embrace of free-speech-friendly policy.
This isn’t small change or a casual endorsement; Kirk was an early backer who helped steer real decisions for a company that has become a lifeline for millions of Americans tossed off Big Tech platforms. Rumble’s rise as an alternative to the censorious tech giants has been fed by conservative investors and creators who refused to surrender the marketplace of ideas to corporate gatekeepers.
We should be crystal clear about what this means: patriots like Charlie Kirk built institutions that defended speech when the media and Silicon Valley chose their left-wing narratives. That sacrifice now reads in company memos and boardroom stories, and it’s no accident that conservative platforms have clustered in states that fight for free speech and entrepreneurship.
The poignancy of Pavlovski’s gratitude is even more acute given the violence that has targeted our movement recently; Charlie was shot while speaking at a college event on September 10, 2025, an attack that shocked the nation and underscored the perilous climate of political hatred on campuses. Conservatives grieving his wounding and the threats against our speakers now watch as the mainstream media struggles to reconcile its reflexive hostility toward conservative voices with the reality that those voices often build and sustain alternatives to the lie machines of the left.
Let’s not let that kind of cowardice win. The story of Kirk pointing out Rumble’s headquarters and backing the company is a reminder that conservative action—not just rhetoric—builds institutions that protect liberty. We should honor that legacy by continuing to invest our time, attention, and dollars in companies that put Americans’ rights ahead of fashionable censorship.
If you care about free speech and the future of a free America, learn from this moment: support the platforms and people who stood with us when Big Tech turned its back. Charlie Kirk’s practical, boots-on-the-ground assistance to Rumble is the kind of patriotism that moves the needle, and conservatives would do well to emulate his example by building and defending real institutions rather than begging permission from the gatekeepers.
