Key takeaways from Charlie Kirk’s memorial service

Tens of thousands of people packed State Farm Stadium in Arizona on Sunday to pay tribute to Charlie Kirk, who was hailed a “martyr” by President Donald Trump and other leading conservative figures.

“I know I speak for everyone here today when I say that none of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk, and neither now will history,” Trump said.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University for his The American Comeback Tour, which invited students on college campuses to debate on hot-button issues.

After founding Turning Point USA at age 18, Kirk rose to become one of the most prominent conservative voices in the country. But some of his comments on gun violence, LGBTQ issues, race and more often drew criticism from liberals and others.

At Sunday’s public memorial service, administration officials cast him as a “warrior” for the MAGA movement and his wife, Erika, said he died with “incomplete work but not with unfinished business.”

Here are the key takeaways.

Conservatives memorialize Kirk as ‘martyr’ and ‘warrior’

Kirk was lionized by several speakers as a modern-day martyr, many using the word in the context of his Christian faith.

“Charlie Kirk is now a martyr. His power will only grow,” conservative commentator Benny Johnson said in spirited remarks. “Evil thought there’d be a funeral today, God has created a revival right here in this house right now,” Johnson added.

Vice President JD Vance, a close friend of Kirk who escorted his casket back to Arizona on Air Force Two, said, “We must remember that he is a hero to the United States of America. And he is a martyr for the Christian faith.”

President Trump called Kirk a martyr for “American freedom.”

Others praised Kirk as a “MAGA warrior,” and Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna compared him to George Washington, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

The service mixed politics and religion, as the day started with hours of Christian music before the program began. Many in the crowd stood worshipping with their hands in the air.

Speakers pledge that Kirk’s movement will continue

White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, in some of the most heated remarks of the program, said Kirk’s death created a “fire in our hearts.”

Miller railed against an unnamed enemy, telling the crowd: “They cannot imagine what they have awakened. They cannot conceive of the army that they have arisen in all of us because we stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble.”

Trump praised Kirk’s organization as a “juggernaut of American politics” that he believed is “going to be bigger and better than ever before.”

Trump and several administration officials watched the program in a suite behind bulletproof glass, and nearly his entire Cabinet sat in the front row.

Vance noted, “Now our whole administration is here, but not just because we love Charlie as a friend, even though we did, but because we know we wouldn’t be here without him. Charlie built an organization that reshaped the balance of our politics.”

Erika Kirk says she forgives alleged shooter in emotional speech

 Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, in emotional remarks, revealed that she forgives the alleged shooter, who has been charged with his murder.

“That young man, I forgive him,” she said as she was holding back tears, with the crowd jumping to their feet in a standing ovation.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with a slew of offenses for allegedly killing Charlie Kirk, including aggravated murder. 

“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said at the memorial service. 

She also recounted the moments when she saw her husband’s body after he had been assassinated, saying she experienced “a level or heartache I didn’t even know existed.”

When she saw his body, she said she saw the “faintest smile” on his lips, telling her that he “didn’t suffer” and there was no “fear” or “agony” when he died.

“While Charlie died far too early, he was also ready to die. There was nothing that he was putting off,” she said. 

Erika Kirk said taking over Turning Point USA is not something she takes lightly, after recently being elected to replace her husband as CEO, but that she and her husband share the same mission. 

She said campus events will continue, stressing the need for debate and the importance of the First Amendment. “No assassin will ever stop us for standing up to defend those rights ever,” she said.

President Trump gave closing remarks, called Kirk ‘immortal’

 In closing remarks for the memorial service, President Donald Trump said Charlie Kirk, whom he described as “our greatest evangelist for American liberty,” is now “immortal.”

He emphasized that Kirk was someone who had a “good heart” and was a “great American hero” who had the “will to fight, fight, fight” — a phrase that has become a rallying cry for Trump supporters since the attempted assassination attempt on him in July 2024. 

The president said Kirk was a “missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose” but that he differed with the conservative activist on one point, specifically that Kirk “did not hate his opponents.”

“That’s where I disagree with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them,” Trump said. 

Trump also continued to predominantly blame “the left” for political violence in the U.S. He called the alleged shooter a “radicalized cold-blooded monster” and reiterated his direction to the Justice Department to investigate groups he claims contribute to political violence.

Throughout his speech, Trump strayed from talking about the conservative activist several times. His remarks on Kirk were briefly interrupted when he discussed a forthcoming announcement about autism, his tariff policy and his grievances about the 2020 election. He also added that “violence comes largely from the left.”

As Trump closed the program, he invited Erika Kirk back on stage and the two embraced.