Trump attends Kirk memorial as political anger intensifies

President Donald Trump is set to eulogize Charlie Kirk as a patriot and Christian martyr on Sunday as the political activist’s assassination continues to galvanize conservative support for the president.

Already, from statehouses to the nation’s capital, Kirk’s shooting death on Sept. 10 has united Republicans behind an array of political priorities, including investigating liberal groups they say foment violence, clamping down on negative coverage and driving state redistricting efforts aimed at securing more GOP seats in Congress.

Supporters of Kirk vow his legacy will galvanize even more of the political activism and youth engagement he championed as a conservative leader and founder of Turning Point USA, helping to sustain the MAGA movement.

That prediction bore fruit Sunday as tens of thousands of mourners who’d heeded Turning Point’s dress code of “Sunday best - Red, White or Blue,” streamed toward the stadium before dawn.

Inside, praise and worship music blared, with some attendees swaying and praying along to Christian singers, including Phil Wickham and Kari Jobe, while a voter registration effort was underway amid the crowds. The event is expected to last about six hours.

“The country needs to heal,” said attendee Roger Norman, a Reno, Nevada-based real estate developer who said he’s been active in GOP politics for four decades. “I can’t imagine the amount of hours that have been consumed by Charlie over the last 10 days. It’s a message that the whole world needed.”

The event was both political and religious, with references to Kirk as an agent of Christianity.

Megan Hill, a local resident who brought her 15-year-old daughter Emilieigh Hill, said she could have watched the service at home, but it was “important” to be present in person. “The country and the nation — and the world — is seeing a revival right now, and I’m just here for it,” she said. “People are coming to Christ.”

Turning Point, which Kirk founded, has reported tens of thousands of inquiries from people interested in starting new high school and college chapters since the killing. Kirk, who had a vast following among young conservatives, is credited with boosting MAGA’s popularity and had a vast following among young Republicans.

“Focused anger, righteous anger, directed for a just cause is one of the most important agents of change in human history,” Vice President JD Vance said Monday on what had been Kirk’s podcast. “And we are going to channel all of the anger that we have over the organized campaign that led to this assassination to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks.”

There is no evidence that Kirk’s suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, was connected to any terrorist networks or organized political activity. The criminal charges filed against Robinson depict him as a lone assassin with left-leaning, pro-LGBTQ views. In texts with his roommate, Robinson said of Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Vance, who has credited Kirk for his own political rise, has played a prominent role in the aftermath of the activist’s death, escorting his remains to Arizona and guest-hosting Kirk’s podcast. Vance is set to speak at the memorial Sunday alongside Trump and a long list of administration officials and conservative leaders, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

Tens of thousands of mourners are expected to attend the “Building a Legacy” memorial in the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona — the state where Turning Point is based and where Kirk spent most of his adult life with his wife, Erika, and two children.

Erika Kirk, who vowed her husband’s movement will “become stronger, bolder, louder and greater than ever,” was named chief executive of Turning Point and is set to figure prominently in the memorial.

In recent days he has paid tribute to Kirk and connected without evidence the shooting and “radical-left political violence.”

“Charlie Kirk was a legend whose faith, dedication, fearlessness, and patriotism changed the course of American history,” said White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers. “The historic MAGA movement that Charlie grew and helped lead will only grow bigger and stronger in the wake of his heinous assassination because people want to live like Charlie Kirk did and courageously carry on his noble mission.”

Investigations begin

Trump administration officials are setting the stage for moves against left-wing groups, from criminal racketeering probes to investigations into groups’ tax-exempt status. Trump said he planned to designate Antifa a terrorist organization. It’s unclear under what legal framework the US government would take action as Antifa is a domestic group and doesn’t have a defined leadership or political organization. Similar designations will follow, Trump told reporters on Friday.

“We’re going to look at the people that funded Antifa, see who they are, where they came from and what they did,” Trump said.

While the president and congressional Republicans have focused on left-leaning groups, recent attacks have been directed at public figures across the political spectrum.

Congressional Democrats have accused the Trump administration of exploiting Kirk’s death for political gain.

“We all know the murder of Charlie Kirk was abhorrent and evil, plain and simple, but it is repulsive that the Trump administration is exploiting this tragic death as an excuse to go after anyone they don’t like politically, including by silencing free speech,” Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said Friday.

Conservatives’ outrage over remarks by late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel led ABC’s parent company Disney to pull his show indefinitely after Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr suggested the network could lose its license.

Carr has used the episode to suggest local station owners should push back against controversial content and vow to enforce the commission’s “public interest” standard, with airwaves used for programming responsive to local communities. And Trump, in turn, has suggested broadcast networks should be scrutinized if their content is too critical of him.

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