Michael Knowles has waded into the feud between Candace Owens and Erika Kirk, saying he will not publicly condemn his friend and former Daily Wire colleague while insisting that Kirk is 'a national hero.' The remarks, made in an interview published on 14 May 2026, have sharpened an already bitter split on the American right.
The row sits in the shadow of Charlie Kirk's assassination in September 2025 and the fallout that followed inside conservative media. Erica, his widow, took over as chief executive of Turning Point USA, while Owens, who left the Daily Wire in 2024 and has built a large audience on her own platform, began criticising both Erika and the organisation.
WOW 😮
— Cinema Shogun (@CinemaShogun) May 15, 2026
Candace Owens is taking her dehumanization of Erika Kirk campaign to an entirely new level‼️
She’s now telling her fans that Erika Kirk is a piece of military technology and not really human.
She says she’s not really a grieving widow she’s just a piece of Israeli… pic.twitter.com/J9F1mM5pUi
I'm godfather to Candace Owens' daughter and Charlie Kirk was my friend... so I know the real reason she's attacking Erika - and I'll never condemn it https://t.co/PpHFmnHo5h
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) May 14, 2026
Knowles is unusually close to both sides. He was a friend of Charlie, is godfather to one of Owens' children, and attends the same Nashville church as Owens and her husband, George Farmer, after Owens converted to Catholicism in April 2024. That proximity explains why his comments matter to a faction that tends to treat every public disagreement as a test of loyalty.
Knowles Defends Kirk
Knowles did not try to split the difference. He told the Daily Mail that 'Erika is a national hero, not just a wonderful person, but a national hero who deserves all of our sympathy and support.' He added that she has 'suffered and demonstrated grace in a way that I'm not sure I've really seen anyone do in my lifetime.'
At the same time, he made clear he disagrees with Owens' attacks. 'People, and obviously Candace, have gone after Erika quite a lot on her podcast,' he said. 'The reasoning for that, I obviously don't agree with, and I very much wish she would not do that.' It is a blunt rebuke, but not the theatrical kind some of his peers seem to crave.
Knowles also argued that shouting down a podcaster rarely changes anything. 'You're not going to get a podcaster to stop talking about something, stop stating an opinion, or a desire, or whatever by yelling at them all the time on your own podcast,' he said, adding that the attention economy rewards escalation rather than restraint. That is probably the most modern sentence in the whole affair, and the bleakest.
Knowles, Kirk and the Right
The news came after weeks of further infighting among prominent conservatives, with Owens continuing to press her claims about Erika Kirk and Turning Point USA. Knowles said his instinct was shaped by Charlie himself, whom he described as a hands-on operator who would call and text people behind the scenes to keep the coalition together. In his telling, Kirk understood that public feuds were usually less useful than private persuasion.
Knowles also rejected the idea that he should join the chorus against friends he still respects. He reportedly told Ben Shapiro in an earlier argument that he was not going to 'dance like a puppet for the podcast wars.'
Knowles, a Yale graduate who moved into political podcasting at the Daily Wire in 2017, has built a reputation for sounding urgent without tipping fully into the apocalyptic tone that has become standard in parts of conservative media. He has been appearing at Turning Point USA events and, in October, testified at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on political violence. In March, he was invited to speak at CPAC, where younger attendees reportedly praised his more serious style.
Knowles seems to understand that better than most. He wants the argument to stop, but not by performing outrage for the crowd. On current evidence, Candace Owens is not inclined to oblige, and the war of words shows no sign of cooling.
