{"id":439775,"date":"2025-09-21T01:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T01:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/439775\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T01:00:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T01:00:39","slug":"charlie-kirks-memorial-draws-fans-and-a-vengeful-mourner-in-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/439775\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Kirk\u2019s memorial draws fans and a vengeful mourner in chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dustin and Maddie Fleming drove 13 hours through the Texas desert with their two young children to reach Glendale, Arizona, for the memorial of one of their heroes. Here, in State Farm Stadium, a venue that usually hosts football games, the Flemings will join an expected crowd of more than 60,000 at dawn on Sunday to remember Charlie Kirk, the conservative political activist who was murdered earlier this month.<\/p>\n

They will be joined by President Trump, the vice-president JD Vance and almost the entire senior echelon of the administration. Many of them were personal friends of Kirk. Security is expected to be at \u201cpresidential level\u201d, meaning the Secret Service will search people coming into the stadium and attempt to secure the area around it.<\/p>\n

For the Maga movement, the funeral<\/a> will be the biggest event since Trump\u2019s inauguration \u2014 an extraordinary moment at a time when the country is facing a deepening ideological rift, and fears of escalating repression and violence are rising.<\/p>\n

For Kirk\u2019s supporters, many of whom saw him as a religious as well as a political leader, it is a chance to honour his life. Steve Bannon<\/a>, Trump\u2019s former chief strategist, told The Sunday Times the memorial would be a \u201cMaga state funeral\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Mourners<\/p>\n

Republicans and Christians have mourned for days at the Arizona headquarters of Kirk\u2019s organisation, Turning Point<\/p>\n

CASSIDY ARAIZA FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

\"Memorial<\/p>\n

CASSIDY ARAIZA FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

Last week as mourners arrived in Glendale ahead of the memorial they congregated outside the headquarters of Kirk\u2019s organisation, Turning Point, where his followers have left candles, flowers and balloons. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is an important stage in history in America,\u201d Dustin Fleming, 46, said outside Turning Point. \u201cNot only that but a religious point in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Faith and family in Charlie Kirk\u2019s town: \u2018Biblical truth got him killed\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Among the mourners was Preston Henry, 18, a student at Arizona State University, who said Kirk had become a \u201cmartyr\u201d on campus. \u201cHonestly, I think it worked sort of against the people that killed him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Preston<\/p>\n

Preston Henry is a student at Arizona State<\/p>\n

CASSIDY ARAIZA FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

\"Mourners<\/p>\n

Balloons and flowers outside the Turning Point building<\/p>\n

CASSIDY ARAIZA FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

Kirk\u2019s memorial service<\/a> will start at 8am local time. The morning will begin with three hours of sermons and prayer. Kirk\u2019s wife, Erika<\/a>, and her family, who are from Arizona, are devout Catholics, but the day will have a distinctly evangelical Protestant flavour because of Kirk\u2019s own denomination, with music and exultant worship.<\/p>\n

While the prayers are ongoing, Trump and a group of senior officials including Vance, the secretary of state Marco Rubio and Donald Trump Jr, the president\u2019s eldest son and a close friend of Kirk\u2019s, will fly from the White House to Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, a 20-minute drive from the stadium.<\/p>\n

At 11am, a \u201ccelebration of Charlie Kirk\u2019s life\u201d will begin, with speeches from his wife and key friends in the White House. The president is set to be among the first to speak, and will leave soon after.<\/p>\n

The service is about more than one man\u2019s killing. Ten days after Kirk was targeted by a sniper while speaking at a university in Utah, shock has turned to fury as the Trump administration seeks to take action not only against a friend\u2019s alleged killer, but also the \u201cradical left\u201d they say drove him to murder. Law enforcement believes the shooter was at least partly influenced by leftist ideology. In a message to his partner, who was transgender, the man accused of the shooting, Tyler Robinson, wrote: \u201cI had enough of his hatred<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2022 Tyler Robinson: what we know about Charlie Kirk\u2019s suspected killer<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

To the White House, the murder was part of a continuum of violence against conservatives that included the attempted assassination of Trump in July last year<\/a>. Those around the president see Kirk\u2019s killing as a direct threat \u2014 a message that they could be next.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a \u2018both sides\u2019 problem,\u201d said Vance, while hosting an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show<\/a> podcast recorded in the White House last week. \u201cPeople on the left are much more likely to defend and celebrate political violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is not borne out by the many studies \u2014 rubbished by conservatives \u2014 that show in the US attacks by far-right groups outnumber those committed by any others.<\/p>\n

\"Vice<\/p>\n

JD Vance on The Charlie Kirk Show<\/p>\n

DOUG MILLS<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s spot on the podcast was partly a battle cry \u2014 he urged Americans to \u201cput on the full armour of God\u201d. Appearing alongside Vance was Trump\u2019s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who is leading the charge against \u201cradical left\u201d ideology. <\/p>\n

What does Miller mean by radical left? He and other conservatives point to the fact that some of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests descended into violence and riots instigated by radical left-wing agitators. These networks, they believe, then distilled into the pro-Palestinian movement on university campuses<\/a>, and now protest against immigration enforcement actions.<\/p>\n

Miller said that the day before his death, Kirk had told him the government needed an \u201corganised strategy to go after the left-wing organisations that are promoting violence in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will write those words onto my heart and I will carry them out,\u201d Miller said on the podcast. \u201cThe people ask me what emotions I\u2019m feeling right now \u2026 there\u2019s incredible sadness, but there\u2019s incredible anger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Stephen<\/p>\n

Many on the left view this as a dangerous power grab. Madeline Peltz, a journalist and author of a forthcoming book on the conservative youth movement, said: \u201cYou have the right trying to turn Kirk into this white Martin Luther King character, you have witch hunts against people who have criticised him, and it\u2019s just incredibly frightening. This gives them the permission structure to move forward with an illiberal agenda they were already working on, but on an accelerated timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

America\u2019s divisions have rarely been more stark. Political leaders were last week united only in their understanding of the importance of this moment. Barack Obama<\/a> described it as an \u201cinflection point\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bannon, who has spent the week calling for \u201cwar\u201d against the radical left, said the former president was right. \u201cWe think we\u2019re winning because we\u2019re going up the escalatory ladder the quickest,\u201d he said. \u201cI think you start seeing bank accounts frozen. I think you start seeing raids. I think you start turfing people out \u2014 bankers, financiers, NGOs, politicians, media types.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both sides feel under attack: the right by Kirk\u2019s shooter, who murdered one of their own for holding the same beliefs they do, and by those celebrating his death. And the left, by the administration\u2019s promised crackdown.<\/p>\n

Some leading conservatives have attempted to calm the situation. Karl Rove, deputy chief of staff for former president George W Bush, issued a warning in the Wall Street Journal last week that using Kirk\u2019s murder to justify retaliation against political rivals \u201cwill further divide and embitter our country\u201d.<\/p>\n

But appeals for de-escalation have no support within Trump\u2019s circles. Vance last week encouraged listeners to call the employers of anyone who celebrated Kirk\u2019s murder and report them. In recent days, teachers, soldiers and professors have been fired or disciplined for posting on social media about his death. Some of them had praised the shooter. Others had made jokes or flippant comments.<\/p>\n

\"Selfie<\/p>\n

Kirk with his wife, Erika, at Trump\u2019s inauguration<\/p>\n

The right has attempted to rebrand this as \u201cconsequences culture\u201d to distinguish it from the \u201ccancel culture\u201d of the left they have spent years deriding.<\/p>\n

After the late-night talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended<\/a> for insinuating that Kirk\u2019s shooter was part of the Maga movement, Trump told reporters that networks who broadcast criticism of him could lose their licences. The next day, Kimmel\u2019s show was taken off-air. <\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2018Terrifying\u2019: comedy writers blast Trump and FCC after Jimmy Kimmel suspension<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe domination of all these institutions by the left is coming to an end,\u201d said one conservative media executive.<\/p>\n

His views reflect those of the administration and much of the conservative movement: when Democrats were in charge, law enforcement agencies launched investigations against far-right groups, and social media companies banned Trump from their platforms. Now it is their turn to wield that power.<\/p>\n

One key part of the administration\u2019s strategy to crush the \u201cradical left\u201d is the designation of Antifa<\/a>, a highly decentralised anti-fascist movement at times associated with violence, as a terrorist organisation. On Truth Social, Trump called Antifa a \u201csick, dangerous, radical-left disaster\u201d.<\/p>\n

Adon Bermudez-Bay, a self-described \u201cradical left\u201d activist in North Carolina who is a member of the Black Panthers and has links to Antifa, told me that Kirk\u2019s death was being used as an excuse by the White House to launch a long-planned crackdown on left-wing organisations.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe were seen as a threat anyways. This is just adding fuel to that fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Arizona, Kirk\u2019s memorial is expected to serve as a major recruitment drive for Maga youth. His death has become a rallying cry. Outside Turning Point, Marlo Vasta, 18, says she did not really listen to Kirk before last week but after his death, she started seeing the late activist\u2019s social media content appearing on her feed.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Marlo Vasta<\/p>\n

CASSIDY ARAIZA FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother and my dad listened to Charlie Kirk a lot \u2014 I didn\u2019t really,\u201d said Vasta. \u201cBut I ended up getting his reels after his death, and I feel like I should have listened to him sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dustin and Maddie Fleming drove 13 hours through the Texas desert with their two young children to reach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-439775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115239585588189623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}