On Sept. 21, a service was held in Glendale, Arizona gathering thousands of mourners to honor late conservative Charlie Kirk. The question is, was this so-called “memorial” a tribute to the political activist, or a form of political propaganda?
While I do not condone political violence and will advocate for stricter gun regulations, I was certainly no fan of Kirk’s. Kirk was a prominent conservative political activist. He preached Christian nationalism — advocating against abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights and often making racist and hateful remarks. Kirk was also a known advocate for the Second Amendment claiming that, “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” according to The Guardian.
Photos capturing the event depict a sea of red hats for as far as the eye can see, with the majority of attendees draped in Make America Great Again (MAGA) merchandise. An article published by BBC compared the crowds to “a raucous political rally” with upwards of 90,000 of Kirk’s supporters in attendance.
Much of the service was spent eulogizing Kirk and discussing the work he conducted alongside Turning Point USA, the right wing nonprofit association which he co-founded. However, many speakers took the service as an opportunity to preach topics such as religion, marriage and conservative traditional ideals.
It became a trend amongst President Donald Trump and right-wing speakers, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to refer to the service as “a revival,” suggesting that Kirk’s death provided opportunity for political uprising. On several occurrences throughout the service, Kirk was referred to as a hero and a martyr for the MAGA agenda.
“Most, though, focused on Kirk’s legacy as an avenue to usher in a way to reintroduce and redefine the political right, perhaps a new wave of MAGA,” recounted an article published by NCB.
At the memorial, Charlie Kirk’s wife Erika Kirk spoke on his behalf, saying how she forgave his assassin and claiming that, “It was what Christ did and what Charlie would do. The answer is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love, love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”
Contrary to Erika’s words, when Trump took to the stage, he began on a hateful tangent criticising the left and how he “can’t stand his opponent,” referring to the Democratic party. He then proceeded to discuss his upcoming administrative policy initiatives, making comments about Jimmy Kimmel and his alleged lack of talent and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s “incompetencies.”
Videos circulating the internet capture Erika, as she delivers a speech memorializing her husband. This part of the service was especially frustrating to me. I watched 2012’s Miss Arizona dab her “tears” repeatedly staring up at the ceiling trying to stop them.
I cannot begin to imagine the extreme grief she and her two children are feeling in response to Charlie’s passing. The pain of losing somebody so near and dear to your heart is not one I would wish on anybody, that goes for all of his supporters in mourning. However, I know I’m not alone in saying that her speech felt performative.
An image later captured Trump embracing Erica as she sobs into his chest. He then kisses her on the head and the two link hands and momentarily stand before the crowd. Charlie was a very close ally of Trump’s. He used his affiliation with Turning Point USA to gain the support of young conservative voters and advocated for him at universities across the U.S. While this remains true, the interaction between the two almost resembled that of a father and daughter.
This “memorial” was a blatant attempt to preach the MAGA agenda. Instead of honoring a man who was brutally killed by gun violence, speakers and attendees took it as an opportunity to rally against Democrats. As much as I disliked Kirk, his memory deserved better.
