Erika

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday posthumously awarded America’s highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the slain activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation’s politics further to the right.

The ceremony coincided with what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. It came just over a month after the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University.

In a sign of Kirk’s close ties to the administration, he was the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Trump’s second term. The president also spoke at at Kirk’s funeral in September, calling him a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom, while Vice President JD Vance accompanied his body home to Arizona on Air Force Two along with Kirk’s widow, Erika.

“We’re here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I’ve ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber,” Trump said Tuesday afternoon.

Of Kirk’s killing, Trump said: “He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentless fighting for a better and stronger America.”

The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by President Kennedy in 1963 for individuals making exceptional contributions to the country’s security or national interests or to world peace, or being responsible for significant cultural endeavors or public and private initiatives.

Tuesday’s event followed Trump returning to the U.S. in the predawn hours after a whirlwind trip to Israel and Egypt to celebrate a ceasefire agreement in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that his administration was instrumental in brokering.

Trump joked that he almost requested to move the ceremony because of the trip.

“I raced back halfway around the globe,” Trump said. “I was going to call Erika and say, ‘Erika, could you maybe move it to Friday? And I didn’t have the courage to call. But you know why I didn’t call? Because I heard today was Charlie’s birthday.”

Argentine President Javier Milei, who had been visiting with the president at the White House earlier, stayed to attend the ceremony.

Trump has awarded a string of presidential medals going back to his first term, including to golf legend Tiger Woods, ex-football coach Lou Holtz and conservative economist Arthur Laffer, as well as to New York Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, the latter of which came during the 2020 State of the Union. He awarded posthumous medals to Babe Ruth and Elvis.

This term, Trump has also announced his intentions to award the medals to Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a close former advisor, and to Ben Carson, who served as Trump’s first-term secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012. Trump has praised Kirk as one of the key reasons he was reelected.

But Kirk’s politics were also often divisive. He sharply criticized gay and transgender rights while inflaming racial tensions. Kirk also repeated Trump’s false claims that former Vice President Kamala Harris was responsible for policies that encouraged immigrants to come to the U.S. illegally and called George Floyd, a Black man whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a national debate over racial injustice, a “scumbag.”

Trump wrote in a social media post hours before the event that he was moving the ceremony from the White House’s East Room to the Rose Garden to accommodate a crowd he said would be “so big and enthusiastic.”

Weissert writes for the Associated Press.

CHARLIE Kirk’s grieving widow has said she forgives the man who allegedly assassinated her husband in a heart-wrenching speech.

A distraught Erika Kirk broke down in tears as she took to the stage at her husband Charlie Kirk’s memorial in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday.

11

11

11

Erika was visibly emotional as she addressed 100,000 people who packed the stadium – including President Donald Trump.

She stunned mourners during her emotional speech saying she forgave her late husband’s killer.

“I forgive him,” she told the crowd, breaking down in tears.

“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.

“After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence, 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 [of Christian faith].”

Dressed in a white blazer and matching trousers, Erika thanked attendees for travelling from across the globe to celebrate her late husband.

She told mourners she was living through a “heartache I never knew existed” as she delivered her moving tribute.

Remembering the tragic day of her husband’s assassination, Erika said: “On the afternoon of September 10th, I arrived at a Utah hospital to do the unthinkable: To look directly at my husband’s murdered body.

“I saw the wound that ended his life.”

Erika added: “I will miss him so much.”

The heartbroken widow would end her emotional speech by speaking directly to her late husband in a touching moment.

She said: “I love you Charlie, baby. I will make you so proud.”

President Donald Trump, his Vice President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk were also at the huge memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona — home of the Arizona Cardinals American football team.

Musk told reporters: “Charlie was someone who believed in dialogue and open debate. He was a man of ideas. He spoke eloquently and basically never raised his voice. He was a man of peace and now he has been murdered in cold blood.

11

11

“He was killed because his voice made a difference.

“He was showing people the Light and he was killed by the Dark.”

Vice President JD Vance described Kirk as having built a movement that has “changed the course of American history”.

He told Mr Kirk’s sea of supporters: “They tried to silence my friend Charlie Kirk but we are spreading his message loudly.”

Mr Vance, whose Catholicism has been central to his own political rise and mission, added: “We must remember that he is a hero to the United States of America — and he is a martyr for the Christian faith.”

He noted that the Trump administration was at the memorial not just because of their relationship with Kirk, but because “we wouldn’t be here without him”.

11

11

11

Kirk was buried on Saturday at a private funeral in Arizona attended by friends and family.

Tearful fans queued up for 12 hours for the first-come, first-admitted service organised by Turning Point USA, the high school organisation set up by Kirk to help spread conservative politics on campuses.

Some wore black, others attended in flag-emblazoned T-shirts and Make America Great Again hats.

Sporting a Trump T-shirt, Aaron Knight, 28, from Houston, Texas, reckoned: “Charlie Kirk was a godly Christian man.

“He provided a sacrifice for this country and the fight for free speech. We are here in mourning but also celebration for the incredible man he was.”

Ashley January, 35, brought her seven-month-old baby Theodore from Kansas to “witness history”. She said she and husband Skylar “fell in love with Charlie after seeing him in Kansas.”

She added: “We want to raise our son to have the same morals as him. It’s going to be something Theo will read in his history books and he can say he was there.”

A man said he had camped out from 8pm the night before.
One woman even brought a buggy full of puppies with her.

The nearby Desert Diamond Arena served as overflow for an additional 19,000 people who watched the event on TV screens.

Kirk, 31, was shot dead while giving a speech at Utah Valley University earlier this month.

Tyler Robinson, 22, is charged with aggravated murder.
He is in custody and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Yesterday Mrs Kirk told the New York Times she could not say if he deserved to die as well.

She said: “I told our lawyer, I want the government to decide this. I do not want that man’s blood on my ledger.

“When I get to heaven, and Jesus is like, ‘Uh, eye for an eye? Is that how we do it?’.

“And that keeps me from being in heaven, from being with Charlie?”

Before the service started, photos of Kirk were projected on big screens accompanied by a playlist of praise and worship songs.

Among those paying respects and giving speeches were President Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr, right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson and homeland security adviser and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA — whose headquarters are in Phoenix — in 2012, at the age of 18.

Mrs Kirk has been unanimously elected to succeed her late husband as CEO of the organisation.

11

11

11