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.
Related: How Trump is seizing on Charlie Kirk’s killing for a campaign of vengeance
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.
