U.S. President Donald Trump and top officials from his administration are set to lead tributes to Charlie Kirk on Sunday at a stadium event in Arizona. The influential conservative activist was tragically shot and killed last week.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck on September 10 while giving a speech at a university in Utah as part of his popular public debate series. Following a 33-hour manhunt, authorities arrested a suspect, and prosecutors are now seeking the death penalty in the case.
The killing of the young conservative leader, who founded the right-wing youth campaign “Turning Point USA,” has further deepened the already bitter political divisions in the United States. Authorities have stated that the 22-year-old suspected gunman cited the “hatred” he believed was fueled by Kirk, a vocal critic of transgender people, Muslims, and other groups.
Kirk used his millions of social media followers, the massive audience of his podcast, and his university appearances to mobilize young voters for Trump and advocate for a nationalist, Christian-centric political ideology. Even before the alleged killer was identified or arrested, Trump called Kirk “a martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the killing on the rhetoric of the “radical left.” The president has previously praised Kirk’s efforts in helping him secure re-election last November.
In Phoenix, outside Turning Point USA’s headquarters, hundreds of people gathered on Saturday to leave tributes, including flowers, American flags, and red, white, and blue balloons. The sidewalk was covered in memorials to Kirk, with photos featuring the slogan “Faith, Family, Freedom.” “He was an amazing young man who was taken away from us much too soon,” said Patti Peteque, 53.
Crackdown on Liberal ‘Terrorism’
Sunday’s memorial will feature speeches from President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Other prominent officials and figures scheduled to speak include Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, who is taking over leadership of Turning Point USA, will also address the audience at the 63,000-seat State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
In the wake of the killing, the White House last week announced a new initiative to crack down on what it is calling “domestic terrorism” from the political left. Trump stated that he would designate “Antifa”—a term for “anti-fascist” that describes a range of far-left groups—as a “major terrorist organization,” a move he had also threatened during his first term.
These actions have drawn concern from Trump’s critics, who fear they are part of a broader effort to silence dissent against his divisive right-wing administration. The White House has faced criticism for rolling back social justice policies and implementing immigration crackdowns that have led to widespread complaints of rights abuses. “All over the world, Amnesty International has worked for decades to expose and document the silencing of dissent through a range of tactics, and we are deeply concerned such efforts are becoming normalized here,” said Paul O’Brien, the rights group’s Executive Director, on Friday.
However, many on the American right see these actions differently. “The left is just getting a taste of their own medicine. Who stood up when we felt censored, when we felt cancelled?” said Peteque, the mourner in Phoenix.
