Erika Kirk joins U.S. President Donald Trump onstage during the memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona.
Credits: Reuters photo
GLENDALE: Part Christian prayer service, part supersize political rally, the memorial on Sunday for slain conservative kingmaker Charlie Kirk drew tens of thousands of supporters to fill a football stadium and cheer speech after speech calling him a martyr and praising the tireless missionary to America's right-leaning youth.
"Our greatest evangelist for American liberty became immortal," President Donald Trump said. "He's a martyr now for American freedom."
But before long the president shifted to attacks on "radical left lunatics" and unnamed groups that he said cheered Kirk's death.
"Some of the same people who call you a hater for using the wrong pronoun were filled with glee at the killing of a father with two beautiful young children," Trump said.
The more than five-hour tableau was a remarkable fusion of God and country, church and state. Vice President JD Vance, whose Catholic faith has been central to his own political rise and mission, praised his friend's openness about his religious beliefs.
"We must remember that he is a hero to the United States of America. And he is a martyr for the Christian faith," Vance said.
One after another, leaders in the Trump administration quoted passages from the Bible and spoke with passion about the importance of God in today's world. Many speakers invoked Kirk's faith, and the belief that he is a modern-day Christian martyr was infused through the service. The packed stadium at times resembled an evangelical megachurch.
Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, spoke of the man accused of killing her husband.
"That young man," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I forgive him." She broke down in tears as the audience members, many also weeping, leaped to their feet.
Kirk, who co-founded the conservative group Turning Point USA, drew waves upon waves of new, young followers with his straightforward delivery at college campuses across the country, where he welcomed face-to-face debate. But his unfiltered statements and positions on race, gender, immigration and other live-wire topics clouded that charismatic portrait for many who branded him offensive.
That divisive side of Kirk was not in evidence Sunday.
Several speakers praised Kirk's bravery for speaking before adversarial audiences and the importance of free speech, while attacking those who they said celebrated the killing. Trump's attacks on those who have spoken against Kirk or himself have brought turmoil from late-night television to the Pentagon, the media and statehouses around the country.