More than 100,000 mourners converged at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., to pay their respects to conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a memorial service focused on Kirk’s religious faith and commitment to persuasion, free speech, and open discourse.
“If speech is violence, then some are bound to conclude that violence is justified to stop speech, and we’re not going to let that be justified,” President Donald Trump said in his keynote address. “The tradition of reason and open debate that Charlie practiced is a pillar of our democracy. In many ways, it’s the basis of our entire society. It’s the rights and inheritance of every free American, the greatest legacy of the Enlightenment, and among the most treasured achievements of a civilized nation. We will defend it at all costs, and we will carry forward the torch of liberty that Charlie Kirk held so proud and so high.”
Trump in his speech listed the myriad achievements Kirk reached in his 31 years of life.
“It was Charlie who stood up for persecuted Christians and Jews on college campuses,” he said. “It was Charlie who helped bring online censorship, free speech, and cancel culture to the fore of our political debate. He was right up there with me. It was Charlie who helped unite MAGA.”
The president’s remarks struck a different note from those of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who said Kirk’s assassination reminded him of his “favorite story ever”—the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
“It’s about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem and Jesus shows up, and he starts talking about the people in power, and he starts doing the worst thing that you can do: just telling the truth about people, and they hate it, and they just go bonkers,” Carlson said. “I can just sort of picture the scene in a lamp-lit room with a bunch of guys sitting around eating hummus, thinking about, ‘What do we do about this guy telling the truth about us? We must make him stop talking.'”
The most moving moment of the service came when Kirk’s widow, Erika, delivered an emotional recounting of the days since her husband’s murder.
“After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence,” she said. “We didn’t see rioting. We didn’t see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country: We saw revival. This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade. We saw people pray for the first time since they were children. We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives.”
Erika Kirk said to a standing ovation that the religious principles by which her late husband lived have led her to grant his killer forgiveness.
“My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life,” she continued. “That young man—that young man on the cross, our Savior, said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That man—that young man—I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did. And is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and those who persecute us.”
Other speakers, like Vice President J.D. Vance, spoke of faith as well.
“The evil murderer who took Charlie from us expected us to have a funeral today, and instead, my friends, we have had a revival and celebration of Charlie Kirk and his Lord, Jesus Christ,” Vance said. “They tried to silence my—our—friend, Charlie Kirk. Today, we speak for Charlie louder than ever.”
The speeches at Kirk’s memorial stood in stark contrast to responses from several elected officials like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), and the 56 other House Democrats who voted against a resolution condemning Kirk’s assassination. Ocasio-Cortez, preparing to run either for Senate or president in 2028, said the measure “brings great pain to the millions of Americans who endured segregation, Jim Crow, and the legacy of that bigotry today.”
Omar, speaking inside a church shortly after Kirk’s murder, said she believes “those of you who are interested in rewriting this hateful man’s history are full of shit.” The Minnesota congresswoman avoided a House censure after four Republicans voted against the measure.
Though most speakers used their time to praise Kirk and his mission, Trump addressed concrete action he plans to take to prevent another politically motivated killing like the one that took Kirk’s life.
“As you know, the depraved assassin who planned and executed Charlie’s killing has been arrested and charged with capital murder,” Trump said. “God willing, he will receive the full and ultimate punishment for his horrific crime. It’s a terrible thing, because you can’t let that happen. You can’t let that happen—can’t let it happen to a country. The Department of Justice is also investigating networks of radical left maniacs who fund, organize, fuel, and perpetrate political violence, and we think we know who many of them are. But law enforcement can only be the beginning of our response to Charlie’s murder.”
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