On Sunday, at Charlie Kirk’s funeral in Arizona, some called for forgiveness and unity. Others advocated for violence and retribution. The Republican leaders did, however, agree in their speeches that the activist’s assassination should be a watershed moment, the beginning of a revival for religious conservatives.
Tens of thousands of mourners gathered at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday afternoon. Leaders from the MAGA movement, including Kirk, 31, attended, as did President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, a number of Cabinet officials, and billionaire tech executive Elon Musk.
Many speakers used their time eulogizing Kirk to renew their arguments for American conservatism, which they saw as centered on Christianity, marriage, having children, and open debate.
Many speakers invoked the concept of a “revival” and spoke in explicitly religious terms, canonizing Kirk, a co-founder of the organization Turning Point USA, and describing Kirk as a fighter in “a spiritual war,” as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put it.
“The day Charlie died, the angels wept, but those tears have been turned into fire in our hearts,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller stated. “And that fire burns with a righteous fury that our enemies cannot comprehend or understand.”
Most, however, saw Kirk’s legacy as an opportunity to reintroduce and redefine the political right, possibly a new wave of MAGA.
“The evil murderer who took Charlie from us expected us to have a funeral today, and instead, my friends, we have had a revival in celebration of Charlie Kirk,” Vance told the audience.
Hegseth elaborated: “Charlie started a political movement but unleashed a spiritual revival.”
Trump compared the event to “an old-time revival.”
Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and other counts.
Kirk galvanized supporters and enraged critics with his sometimes inflammatory views on a variety of issues, including race, gender, and Islam, reaching millions of people across multiple platforms as his group grew nationwide to further his causes.
Leaders emphasized Sunday his efforts to convert young people to the conservative cause, his outreach on college campuses, his habit of holding open debates at such venues — which he was doing when he was killed — and his religious faith.
“Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the lost boys of the West, young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith and no reason to live,” Erika Kirk, the husband’s wife, said. “Charlie wanted to help the men who were wasting their lives with distractions and were consumed by resentment, anger, and hatred. He wanted them to feel at home at Turning Point USA, and when he arrived on campus, he hoped to show them a better path and a better life that was waiting for them. “He wanted to show them that.”
Kirk added that her husband “wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life.”
“That young man, I forgive him,” she explained. “I forgive him because that’s what Christ did and Charlie would do. The answer isn’t hate. The Gospel teaches us to love always, love our enemies, and love those who persecute us.”
In his speech, Trump took a different tone.
“He was a missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose,” Trump told reporters. “He did not despise his opponents; he wished the best for them.” This is where I disagree with Charlie. I despise my opponent. And I do not want the best for them. I apologize. I apologize, Erika. But now Erika can speak with me and the rest of the group, and they may be able to persuade me that this is not acceptable. But I cannot stand my opponent.”
Trump’s speech was more political than most of those who praised Kirk. Trump condemned “radical-left lunatics” and discussed upcoming administration policy initiatives, including announcing the administration’s “answer to autism” on Monday. He slammed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, suspended ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and “major losers” who he claimed welcomed Kirk’s death.
He also stated that his administration is investigating left-wing activists and groups in the wake of Kirk’s death.
“The Department of Justice is also investigating networks of radical-left maniacs who fund, organize, fuel and perpetrate political violence,” President Donald Trump stated. “We believe we know who many of them are. But law enforcement can only be the start of our response to Charlie’s murder.
“No side in American politics has a monopoly on disturbed or misguided people, but there’s one part of our political community which believes they have a monopoly on truth, goodness and virtue and concludes they have also a monopoly on power, thought and speech,” according to him. “That doesn’t happen anymore. We quickly turned that corner. Tragically, atrocities like this one, which we witnessed in Utah of all places, are the inevitable result of that kind of thinking.
In response to Kirk’s assassination, Trump and his allies have promised to target left-wing organizations that they believe fueled the anger that led to his death. So far, the federal investigation has found no link between Robinson, the suspect, and left-wing organizations, according to three people familiar with the case.
According to a Justice Department study released last year, the number of far-right attacks in the country continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism. The study was recently taken down from the department’s website, according to 404 Media.
Prosecutors claim Robinson targeted Kirk because of his “political expression,” while his mother told investigators “that over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to lean more to the left.”
Though authorities say the initial evidence suggests Robinson acted alone, speakers on Sunday shifted blame for Kirk’s death beyond Robinson. Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff, slammed “our enemies,” claiming they are “trying to foment hatred against us.”
“You have no idea the dragon you have awakened,” Miller continued. “You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization, the West, and this republic, because our children, grandchildren, and children’s children’s children will all be strong. What will you leave behind? Nothing. Nothing to our enemies. You’ve got nothing to give. You’ve got nothing to offer. You have nothing to offer except bitterness.”
Kirk had long been a close ally of Trump’s and a key player in the MAGA movement, but his rise was accelerated by a number of factors, including the Covid pandemic, Joe Biden’s presidency, and the growth of his own podcast, all of which occurred after 2020.
He also became a more powerful right-wing figure after taking a more explicitly religious stance, according to NBC News last year. After previously arguing that politics should be advanced through a “secular worldview,” Kirk began to more closely embrace Christian nationalism, saying on a 2022 episode of his podcast that “there is no separation of church and state.” In 2021, he co-founded TPUSA Faith. Turning Point USA’s fundraising increased dramatically, and its mission expanded at the same time.
Kirk’s religious beliefs were prominently featured in the speeches on Sunday. Vance referred to Kirk as a “hero to the United States of America” and a “martyr for the Christian faith.” Benny Johnson, a conservative personality, said he “is a martyr in the true Christian tradition” and asked the audience to “raise your hand if Charlie Kirk centered you a little closer to Christ.” Tucker Carlson, a well-known right-wing commentator and podcast host, described Kirk as a “Christian evangelist” who was “bringing the Gospel to the country” and “doing the thing that the people in charge hate the most, which is calling for them to repent.”
According to Hegseth, Kirk “realized, like so many of us, that this is not a political war, nor is it even a cultural war.” It’s a spiritual conflict involving faith and family.”
Others emphasized Kirk’s participation in college campus debates and his willingness to listen to those who disagreed with him. Kirk, according to Donald Trump Jr., “embodied something at the very core of our movement: When people disagree with us, we don’t silence them, we don’t destroy them, and we certainly don’t sink to violence.”
“Charlie delighted in his belief that people could be persuaded,” he told me. “He believed the way to win hearts was with truth, with courage and with conversation.”
Kirk’s detractors held a very different opinion of him, claiming that his positions alienated large segments of the population and were, at times, toxic and dangerous. Kirk once stated that Biden “should honestly be put in prison and/or given the death penalty for his crimes against America,” that “every gender-affirming clinic doctor” should face a “Nuremberg-style trial,” and that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a “awful” person who “said one good thing he actually didn’t believe,” among other things.
According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Kirk “understood that we were not created to isolate ourselves from one another, but to engage.”
“The irony in all this is that what our nation needs, one of the many things it needs,” said Mr. Trump, “is the ability to discuss our differences openly, honestly, peacefully, respectfully.”
