Charlie
Kirk memorial: Trump says he ‘hates’ his opponents at event attended by tens of
thousands
President
delivers mix of eulogy and campaign speech while JD Vance calls Kirk ‘martyr
for the Christian faith’
Lauren
Gambino in Glendale, Arizona, Sam Levine in New York and Robert Mackey
Mon 22
Sep 2025 00.49 BST
Donald
Trump told a crowd of thousands that he “hates” his opponents at a public
memorial to honor the rightwing youth organizer Charlie Kirk, even after Kirk’s
widow said she forgives the man charged with fatally shooting her husband
during an event at a Utah college.
Tens of
thousands gathered at the event in Arizona on Sunday, with the president giving
the last of more than two dozen speeches, after emotional remarks from Kirk’s
widow, Erika, and eulogies from the vice-president, JD Vance, four cabinet
members and other senior White House officials, a reflection of the murdered
activist’s deep imprint on the president’s Make America Great Again (Maga)
movement.
At one
point, Trump mentioned that, shortly before he died, Kirk told a staff member
he was not afraid of students who disagreed with him in the crowd at Utah
Valley University. “I’m not here to fight them – I want them to know them and
love them,” Trump quoted Kirk as saying. “In that private moment on his dying
day, we find everything we need to know about who Charlie Kirk truly was.”
“He did
not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them,” Trump said, before
breaking from his prepared remarks to add: “That’s where I disagreed with
Charlie. I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them, I’m sorry.”
Trump’s
speech was an awkward mix of eulogy and campaign speech, during which he
frequently veered away from reading somber remarks about Kirk’s life and
violent death to make offhand comments and jokes.
He
mentioned his use of federal forces to police cities and took a moment to
promote an announcement at the White House on Monday. “I think we found an
answer to autism. How about that? Autism: tomorrow we are going to be talking
in the Oval Office in the White House about autism,” the president said.
Trump
also claimed Kirk had urged him to dispatch federal troops to Chicago. “One of
the last things he said to me was ‘Please sir, save Chicago’. And we’re going
to do that, we’re going to save Chicago, from horrible crime.”
At the
end of his remarks, after calling Erika Kirk back on stage, Trump acted more
like he was at a rally than a memorial, mouthing the words to America the
Beautiful in a comic manner and swaying side to side.
Earlier,
Vance eulogized Kirk in explicitly religious terms, calling him “a martyr for
the Christian faith”, despite a lack of evidence that his religion played any
role in the killing.
“They
tried to silence my friend Charlie Kirk, but today we speak with Charlie and
for Charlie louder than ever,” the vice-president said. “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 of his Lord
Jesus Christ.”
Vance
also argued that Kirk, known for engaging with students, combined the
traditions of Socrates and Christianity. “He was Athens and Jerusalem; the city
of reason and the city of God in one person”, Vance said.
Erika
Kirk also stressed what she called the inspiration Kirk’s murder had given to
his supporters to embrace Christianity. “After Charlie’s assassination, we
didn’t see violence, we didn’t see rioting,” Kirk said, as applause swelled
from the crowd, welcoming the implied contrast to the upheaval following the
murders of George Floyd or Martin Luther King Jr. “We saw revival,” she said.
“This
past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade,” Kirk
said. “We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire
lives.”
“The
answer to hate is not hate,” she added. “The answer we know from the Gospel is
love, and always love, love for our enemies and love for those who persecute
us.”
Donald
Trump Jr also described Kirk as a martyr. “Charlie joined a long line of
courageous men and women who were murdered for what they believe,” he said.
Trump Jr
recounted traveling with Kirk on college campuses and receiving threats to
their safety. “We went out there anyway, without fear. Charlie led the way. His
message was clear then, and his message is clear now, we won’t back down,” he
said.
Stephen
Miller, a top White House adviser, pledged to finish Kirk’s life’s work.
“You
thought you could kill Charlie Kirk,” Miller said. “You have made him immortal.
You have immortalized Charlie Kirk, and now millions will carry on his legacy.”
“To our
enemies. You have nothing to give. You have nothing to offer. You have nothing
to share but bitterness. We have beauty. We have light. We have goodness. We
have determination. We have vision. We have strength.”
The
memorial service was being held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, a
63,000-seat home of the Arizona Cardinals football team and the venue where
Taylor Swift launched her Eras tour.
The event
mixed political rhetoric with Christian evangelism. Thousands of people wearing
red, white and blue poured into the stadium and lines snaked several blocks
before sunrise Sunday.
Jeffrey
Barke, a physician with a large online following, went to the stadium with a
group of friends from Orange county, California, on what he called a
“pilgrimage of sorts” to honor Kirk’s life and legacy. He pledged to use own
platform to aid in spreading “Charlie’s message”.
Christina
Sawick, wearing a “Trump was right about everything” hat, said she had been
watching and listening to Kirk since 2016. On Sunday, she left her home in Mesa
at 3am to attend his memorial service.
She said
she appreciated Kirk’s willingness to debate anyone regardless of their
politics or background. “He didn’t sugarcoat anything,” she said. “He just
wanted to be heard and he wanted everybody to be heard.”
US
secretary of state Marco Rubio praised Kirk’s impact on young men. “He sought
to engage those he disagreed with, because he understood that we were not
created to isolate ourselves from one another, but to engage,” Rubio said.
A massive
security presence, led by the US Secret Service, was in place, with the event
expected to receive security on par with the Super Bowl. A man armed with a gun
and a knife, with inactive law enforcement credentials and amid claims he was
providing private security, was detained on Saturday at the venue.
A
spokesperson for Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization said the man was doing
“advance security for a known guest” but it was not properly coordinated with
the Secret Service or Turning Point. The spokesperson also said it was not
believed the man was “attempting anything nefarious”.
Americans
are grappling with the killing and complicated legacy of the 31-year-old
conservative “youth whisperer”, Trump ally and podcasting provocateur, who was
shot and killed on 10 September in what prosecutors have labeled political
violence – and which has deepened fears about the trajectory of a profoundly
divided nation.
Kirk was
struck by a single bullet as he spoke before a crowd of 3,000 mostly college
students at Utah Valley University, the first stop on his national “American
Comeback” campus tour. Utah prosecutors have charged Tyler Robinson, 22, with
capital murder in Kirk’s killing and said they will seek the death penalty.
In the
wake of Kirk’s death, Trump and his advisers have sought to cast blame on
Democrats, even though elected leaders and party officials have uniformly
condemned the killing. Officials have said they believe the suspect acted
alone.
Prosecutors
have said they suspect Robinson killed Kirk because he personally had become
sick of what he perceived to be Kirk’s “hatred”. But, citing three sources
familiar with the investigation into Kirk’s killing, NBC reported Saturday that
federal authorities have not found any link between Robinson and leftwing
groups, on which the Trump administration has threatened to crack down after
the deadly shooting.
Fueled by
an outpouring of grief and rage on the right, conservatives are demanding
punishment for those who have mocked or disparaged Kirk – a campaign of
retribution critics say mirrors the very cancel culture he railed against.
Since his death, teachers, students, journalists and the late-night show host
Jimmy Kimmel have been fired, suspended or disciplined over comments related to
Kirk or his death, in a clampdown that free-speech advocates, democracy
scholars and others say amounts to government censorship.
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