The Charlie Kirk Show - "A Martyr for American Freedom" — President Trump Honors Charlie Kirk

00:00:24.000 Please welcome to the stage the 45th and 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

00:00:30.000 I want to thank you very much, Lee.

00:00:50.000 You've been there from the beginning with us, Lee, and we appreciate it.

00:00:54.000 Nobody can sing that song like Lee Gwyn would.

00:00:58.000 Thank you very much, Lee, very much for being here.

00:01:03.000 And his voice has not changed, you know?

00:01:06.000 Pretty amazing.

00:01:08.000 And a special thank you to Erica, because today America is a nation in grief, a nation in shock, and a nation in mourning.

00:01:21.000 Less than two weeks ago, our country was robbed of one of the brightest lights of our times.

00:01:28.000 A giant of his generation and above all, a devoted husband, father, son, Christian, and patriot.

00:01:37.000 Charles James Kirk was heinously murdered by a radicalized, cold-blooded monster for speaking the truth that was in his heart.

00:01:51.000 He was violently killed because he spoke for freedom and justice, for God, country, for reason, and for common sense.

00:02:01.000 He was assassinated because he lived bravely.

00:02:05.000 He led boldly, and he argued brilliantly without apology.

00:02:12.000 He did what was right for our nation.

00:02:16.000 And so on that terrible day, September 10, 2025, our greatest evangelist for American liberty became immortal.

00:02:27.000 He's a martyr now for American freedom.

00:02:32.000 I know I speak for everyone here today when I say that none of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk, and neither now will history.

00:02:52.000 Because while Charlie has been reunited with his creator in heaven, his voice on earth will echo through the generations and his name will live forever in the eternal chronicle of America's greatest patriots.

00:03:09.000 He will live forever.

00:03:12.000 To Charlie's incredible and beautiful widow, Erica, we know the weight of this monumental loss is almost unbearable.

00:03:23.000 But even in the midst of heartache and pain too great to even fathom, you have somehow found the strength and deep faith to be a comfort to millions and millions of people.

00:03:37.000 And thank you very much, Erica.

00:03:39.000 Thank you very much.

00:03:49.000 Today, an entire nation wraps its loving arms around you and your beautiful children.

00:03:54.000 We share in your immense and overwhelming sorrow and we vow that we will do everything we can to ensure that your children grow up in a land where their father is honored and revered as a great American hero.

00:04:09.000 That's what he is to Charlie's parents who lost their beloved son and to the entire Kirk family.

00:04:23.000 We know that no words could ever be enough to fill the void he leaves behind.

00:04:28.000 That's a void that just can't be filled.

00:04:31.000 But I hope the extraordinary outpouring of emotion over these past 11 days has comforted you with the knowledge that your son brought more good and love into this world in his 31 short years than most people, even very, very successful people, can bring in a lifetime.

00:04:56.000 Charlie Kirk loved America with everything he had.

00:05:00.000 And as we can see so clearly today, America loved Charlie Kirk.

00:05:14.000 And he could always draw a big crowd.

00:05:18.000 Look at this today.

00:05:19.000 Look at what's gone on.

00:05:21.000 This is a big crowd.

00:05:28.000 Here today we have the Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance.

00:05:34.000 We have the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson.

00:05:39.000 We have countless members of the United States Senate, and I'm sorry I'm not going to introduce you, but I'll be up here.

00:05:45.000 They're all over the place.

00:05:47.000 And likewise, the House of Representatives.

00:05:50.000 They're all over this big stadium.

00:05:53.000 This is not an arena.

00:05:55.000 This is a stadium.

00:05:57.000 Our great cabinet and this stadium packed with rafters of people, not to mention the one across the street that also has tens of thousands of people.

00:06:12.000 And they're watching us on screen right now.

00:06:19.000 And I'm sorry we couldn't get you in.

00:06:22.000 If anybody would like to give up your seat, please walk across this track.

00:06:28.000 But this is like an old-time revival, isn't it?

00:06:31.000 An old-time revival.

00:06:38.000 For millions of Americans, especially young people, it is agonizing and unthinkable to say goodbye to a patriot whose heart still had so much to give.

00:06:49.000 It's so much.

00:06:51.000 Raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Charlie was filled with the patriotic spirit from his youth, and he was an all-American in everything he did.

00:07:01.000 And one of the last things he said to me is, please, sir, save Chicago.

00:07:07.000 We're going to do that.

00:07:08.000 We're going to save Chicago from horrible crime.

00:07:17.000 In high school, he was the quarterback of the football team and the captain of the basketball team.

00:07:23.000 He was a good athlete.

00:07:24.000 A lot of people don't know that about Charlie.

00:07:27.000 He was an Eagle Scout who spent his school lunch breaks listening to another champion for liberty, somebody that he greatly admired, Rush Limbaugh.

00:07:45.000 But what was even more important to Charlie than politics and service was the choice he made in the fifth grade, which he called the most important decision of his life to become a Christian and a follower of his Savior, Jesus Christ.

00:08:09.000 Inspired by faith and his love of freedom, Charlie did something remarkable when he was just 18 years old on the advice of a mentor who told him to put off going to college because he was doing so well.

00:08:24.000 He devoted his life to converting young people to the conservative cause.

00:08:30.000 How did he do?

00:08:31.000 Take a look.

00:08:31.000 How did he do?

00:08:37.000 In 2012, two days after graduating high school, and with just $1,800 in his pocket, the young man from Illinois, who no one had ever heard of, started an organization whose grand ambitions were captured in its name.

00:08:56.000 Turning Point USA.

00:08:58.000 Great name.

00:09:03.000 And I have a feeling it's going to be bigger and better than ever before.

00:09:07.000 Does that make sense?

00:09:08.000 It's going to be bigger and better than ever before.

00:09:12.000 Look at what's happening.

00:09:17.000 Twelve years ago, Charlie walked onto his first college campus, the very liberal University of Wisconsin at Madison. 0.94

00:09:26.000 He set up a card table and put up a sign with three words, big government sucks. 0.89

00:09:33.000 Could you believe that? 0.99

00:09:34.000 That's Charlie.

00:09:36.000 That day, Charlie talked to every student who approached him, most of whom were probably quite a bit older than he was.

00:09:45.000 Finally, after many hours, he found the first ever turning point chapter leader.

00:09:51.000 His first year out of high school, Charlie traveled 300 days raising money and taking his message to campuses all over the country.

00:10:01.000 He lived out of his parents' basement, and they actually loved having him there.

00:10:07.000 They loved Charlie.

00:10:08.000 Everybody loved Charlie.

00:10:11.000 And on the couches of friends and supporters, he lived off couches for two years, three years, then life started getting a little bit different.

00:10:23.000 But he was always the same.

00:10:24.000 For five years he refused to take a paycheck, but day after day he worked from 5 a.m. in the morning till 11 p.m. in the evening, always.

00:10:36.000 His staff remembers that he wore Walmart jeans and t-shirts from the Goodwill store.

00:10:43.000 Remember the Goodwill store.

00:10:46.000 It wasn't easy, but Charlie wasn't in it for money at all, never has been.

00:10:51.000 Money was never his thing.

00:10:53.000 He was always in it for the mission.

00:10:57.000 As he liked to say even back then, we have a country to save.

00:11:02.000 Just what he did.

00:11:04.000 He'd call me all the time, sir, we have a country to save.

00:11:08.000 I said, Charlie, thanks very much for telling me that.

00:11:10.000 I appreciate it.

00:11:13.000 Charlie volunteered for my 2016 campaign and traveled the nation with my son Don and Eric.

00:11:23.000 I got to know him very well and saw immediately that Charlie was actually a master builder, master builder of people.

00:11:33.000 It was Charlie who first started organizing young black conservatives hungry for support and leadership.

00:11:40.000 It was Charlie who stood up for persecuted Christians and Jews on college campuses.

00:11:46.000 It was Charlie who helped bring online censorship, free speech, and cancel culture to the fore of our political debate.

00:11:55.000 He was right up there with me.

00:11:58.000 It was Charlie who helped unite MAGA.

00:12:02.000 And you know what M-A-H-A is?

00:12:05.000 That's right, make America healthy again.

00:12:09.000 And tomorrow we're going to have one of the biggest announcements, really medically, I think, in the history of our country.

00:12:17.000 We're going to be doing it with Bobby and Oz and all of the professionals.

00:12:23.000 I think you're going to find it to be amazing.

00:12:27.000 I think we found an answer to autism.

00:12:30.000 How about that?

00:12:31.000 Autism tomorrow.

00:12:33.000 We're going to be talking in the Oval Office in the White House about autism, how it happens, so we won't let it happen anymore, and how to get at least somewhat better when you have it, so that parents can help their child, their beautiful child.

00:12:57.000 That's a big one.

00:12:59.000 I've been bugging everybody over there, get the answer to that.

00:13:07.000 You know, 20 years ago, one in 10,000 were born with autism.

00:13:17.000 20 years ago, the most recent survey says one in 12.

00:13:24.000 How bad is that?

00:13:27.000 That's for young boys, baby boys, but also girls, a little bit better.

00:13:34.000 It's about one in 20.

00:13:36.000 But we can't, because obviously there was something really wrong, and we think we know what that is.

00:13:42.000 It's going to be, I think it's going to be one of the most important news conferences I'll ever have.

00:13:47.000 And I look so forward to it.

00:13:56.000 And you know who else looks forward to it?

00:13:58.000 Because he knew, I'd tell him a little bit about what was going on.

00:14:01.000 Charlie, he would have been front row center, believe me.

00:14:04.000 We'll be missing him tomorrow.

00:14:06.000 It was such a big deal for him, too.

00:14:09.000 He brought together Donald Trump, Bobby Kennedy, right here in the great state of Arizona one year ago.

00:14:19.000 Remember that?

00:14:20.000 What a night, what a day that was.

00:14:26.000 And it was Charlie who was among the first to speak to me about a man from Ohio by the name of J. Devence.

00:14:34.000 Have you ever heard of him?

00:14:36.000 He's doing a good job.

00:14:42.000 But Charlie would often call me sometimes the night before a big event, the other side of the country, and he'd ask me, he'd say, do you think you could come and speak at the event the following day, right?

00:14:59.000 I'd say, Charlie, give me a break.

00:15:01.000 I'm the president of the United States.

00:15:04.000 You want me to travel four hours by plane?

00:15:07.000 And you know, sometimes I did it.

00:15:10.000 He was a very good guy.

00:15:11.000 He was a very convincing guy.

00:15:13.000 He didn't stop, but he would ask for things like that.

00:15:16.000 Sir, could you be tomorrow in California?

00:15:19.000 I said, Charlie, give me a break, please.

00:15:23.000 He just wouldn't stop.

00:15:24.000 And he succeeded.

00:15:26.000 But I almost always went because you never wanted to let Charlie down.

00:15:32.000 He worked so hard, you just didn't want to let him down.

00:15:35.000 I felt guilty.

00:15:36.000 He'd make me feel very guilty.

00:15:39.000 As president, many people asked me for things, but Charlie was one of the few who always gave more than he took.

00:15:46.000 He was a giver, much more than a taker.

00:15:55.000 And no matter how big Charlie became, no one was too small for him to notice.

00:16:01.000 He was good to everybody.

00:16:03.000 Didn't matter.

00:16:04.000 Several years ago, a fourth grader asked Charlie to appear on his podcast, which was probably only watched by the parents of that fourth grader.

00:16:14.000 And Charlie, who was actually pretty hot at the time, to be honest, he agreed and the boy asked for advice.

00:16:23.000 Charlie replied, the left, the left, I call it the radical left. 0.93

00:16:28.000 I call it sometimes the radical left lunatics. 0.95

00:16:32.000 But Charlie didn't say that. 0.94

00:16:34.000 He called it the left.

00:16:37.000 He was probably right, but I can't help.

00:16:41.000 I can't help. 0.88

00:16:46.000 So he said, the left, radical left lunatics, may have all the money in the world, but they can never outwork me. 0.87

00:16:54.000 I will wake up as early as I need to about himself. 0.75

00:16:58.000 I will stay up as late as I need to, and I will never stop fighting for our country.

00:17:03.000 And he did this until his dying breath.

00:17:06.000 That's what he was doing.

00:17:09.000 That's what he was doing.

00:17:10.000 Think of it.

00:17:12.000 Wow.

00:17:15.000 What a horrible moment.

00:17:16.000 I was in the Oval Office when I heard they came in, and it was like a surreal experience, a terrible, terrible.

00:17:23.000 I had some very big people in the Oval Office.

00:17:27.000 And I was in the midst of a very important conversation for our country, big people, the biggest.

00:17:34.000 And I said, you have to leave now.

00:17:36.000 When they told me that, they told me in front of a group of very powerful people.

00:17:41.000 I said, you have to leave now, right now, please.

00:17:43.000 Right now.

00:17:45.000 You have to leave.

00:17:47.000 Go.

00:17:49.000 By his own determination and skill, Charlie Kirk built turning point from his humble beginnings, the beginnings that nobody believed could ever end up something like this, into a great movement and a juggernaut of American politics.

00:18:04.000 And you know, we have a massive stadium loaded up with people, but he got tremendous crowds before he had this kind of horrible news and before we had to hear what happened so terribly.

00:18:17.000 He delivered more than 250 speeches a year at over 200 colleges and universities.

00:18:25.000 And that was at a time when it was not really vogue to go to colleges and universities if you were a conservative.

00:18:35.000 It really took great courage.

00:18:38.000 And we used to talk, and I said, you know, I think they're much more conservative than we know.

00:18:42.000 And he agreed, but it just wasn't something that was happening because the radical left would do very bad things, very dangerous things.

00:18:50.000 But Charlie set up chapters on 2,200 campuses and spoke at more than 1,000 churches.

00:19:00.000 He launched a podcast and radio show that grew to an audience of 1 million Americans a day, one of the bigger shows on radio.

00:19:11.000 And Charlie didn't just bring young people into the movement.

00:19:16.000 All of a sudden it started to grow by leaps and bounds by 2024.

00:19:20.000 We won more young people than any Republican candidate in the history of our country, including for the first time a majority of males under 30.

00:19:30.000 Can you believe it?

00:19:35.000 Remember when Republican presidential candidates would get 4%?

00:19:40.000 No, we did unbelievably with young people, and he was a big, big factor.

00:19:46.000 Unbelievable.

00:19:48.000 But he made me work for it.

00:19:49.000 Sir, you have to make a speech here.

00:19:50.000 You have to make a speech there.

00:19:53.000 But we did it, and we won, and our country is doing unbelievably well now.

00:19:59.000 We had a country that was dead one year ago, and now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.

00:20:07.000 And Charlie helped us make it that.

00:20:12.000 One of the great people.

00:20:16.000 But through it all, the core of Charlie's message and his basic method never changed.

00:20:22.000 It never really changed.

00:20:23.000 He stayed the same person also.

00:20:25.000 At every campus event, Charlie asked the people who disagreed with him to come forward, and instead of silencing them, he handed them a microphone and let them speak.

00:20:37.000 And he'd convinced so many of them.

00:20:38.000 It was a pretty amazing thing to watch, actually.

00:20:41.000 Shortly before Charlie arrived on campus, the day he was assassinated, a staff member texted him that there were many critics and students who were opposed to his views and rather strenuously in the crowd.

00:20:54.000 And that actually made him feel good because he wanted to convince them.

00:21:00.000 He understood.

00:21:00.000 He really did.

00:21:01.000 He understood what was right.

00:21:02.000 And he was right about that.

00:21:04.000 A lot of it was based on common sense, by the way.

00:21:08.000 Charlie wrote back to the staff member saying, I'm not here to fight them.

00:21:14.000 I want to know them and love them.

00:21:17.000 And I want to reach them and try and lead them into a great way of life in our country.

00:21:24.000 In that private moment on his dying day, we find everything we need to know about who Charlie Kirk truly was.

00:21:32.000 He was a missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose.

00:21:38.000 He did not hate his opponents.

00:21:40.000 He wanted the best for them.

00:21:43.000 That's where I disagreed with Charlie.

00:21:46.000 I hate my opponent.

00:21:48.000 And I don't want the best for them.

00:21:50.000 I'm sorry.

00:21:51.000 I am sorry, Erica.

00:21:53.000 But now Erica can talk to me and the whole group, and maybe they can convince me that that's not right, but I can't stand my opponent.

00:22:04.000 Charlie's angry.

00:22:05.000 Looking down, he's angry at me now.

00:22:08.000 He wasn't interested in demonizing anyone.

00:22:10.000 He was interested in persuading everyone to the ideas and principles he believed were good, right, and true.

00:22:20.000 Before each appearance, he prayed these words, God used me for your will.

00:22:26.000 Always said the same thing.

00:22:28.000 Use me for your will.

00:22:34.000 And that is exactly what God did.

00:22:37.000 When you think, that's exactly what he did.

00:22:40.000 The more success Charlie had, and he was getting more and more successful, the more dangerous his mission became.

00:22:48.000 On campuses all over the country, his quest for open dialogue was met with menacing hate.

00:22:56.000 There were bomb threats, pulled fire alarms, and countless rage-filled radicals who tried to shout him down.

00:23:04.000 It was nasty.

00:23:05.000 I used to say, Charlie, this is nasty stuff you're doing.

00:23:09.000 At one event, police had to build barricades to protect students from an angry mob of thugs.

00:23:17.000 Many of these people, by the way, are paid a lot of money to do this.

00:23:20.000 They're agitators.

00:23:21.000 They're paid agitators.

00:23:22.000 Remember that?

00:23:23.000 When you see they all have the same beautifully printed sign, every sign is identical, comes out of a top-level print shop.

00:23:32.000 That's not the signs that are made in somebody's basement.

00:23:35.000 Those are paid for by very bad people, and hopefully we're going to be finding out through the DOJ who those people are at another college.

00:23:50.000 Antifa terrorists shattered windows, threw rocks, and tried to storm the building where Charlie was speaking.

00:23:57.000 It was a really bad one.

00:23:59.000 Often dozens of police officers were needed to prevent left-wing violence.

00:24:04.000 And the violence comes largely from the left.

00:24:08.000 You don't hear that from too many people, do you?

00:24:11.000 And virtually every day for years before he was murdered, Charlie received these horrible death threats.

00:24:19.000 People don't know.

00:24:20.000 I used to talk to him about it.

00:24:21.000 He said, I got some threats.

00:24:23.000 He always felt that when they actually made the threat, they were not the ones to worry about.

00:24:29.000 The ones to worry about were the ones that don't make the threats.

00:24:33.000 I think you know what I mean.

00:24:35.000 He knew the risk, but he and I shared a certain motto, never back down and never ever surrender.

00:24:41.000 Just don't surrender, never back down.

00:24:43.000 He believed in it so strongly.

00:24:46.000 So strongly.

00:24:47.000 And he's right.

00:24:48.000 He's totally, he's totally right.

00:24:51.000 The radicals and their allies in the media, sometimes referred to, as my son said, the fake news media, tried to silence Charlie for a simple reason.

00:25:05.000 Because he was winning and he was winning big.

00:25:07.000 He was taking over college campuses.

00:25:10.000 Colleges that had, in theory, only very liberal, or as they like to say, progressive.

00:25:16.000 I call them liberal, but they like to call themselves, because it's such a beautiful word, progressive.

00:25:20.000 They're the opposite of progressive, if you think about it.

00:25:24.000 But they were really nasty, and he would go into these colleges.

00:25:28.000 All of a sudden, within two years, three years, they turned into bastions of conservatism.

00:25:33.000 It was really quite amazing to see.

00:25:36.000 They lied about him because they did not want you to listen to him or to learn from him because what he was talking about and even preaching made so much sense.

00:25:46.000 Everywhere he went, he won the debates.

00:25:49.000 He won the hearts.

00:25:50.000 He won the minds.

00:25:51.000 And yes, he won the elections for people.

00:25:53.000 He helped us.

00:25:53.000 He helped other people.

00:25:55.000 We won the biggest election in the history of our country, I believe.

00:26:05.000 Charlie Kirk was without a doubt among the most influential figures in the most important election in the history of our country.

00:26:13.000 The election of, oh, that beautiful day, November 5th, 2024.

00:26:18.000 Do you remember that day?

00:26:20.000 It was nine months ago.

00:26:23.000 What a day that was.

00:26:28.000 I mean, we had a pretty good day in the first one.

00:26:32.000 And I must tell you, on the second one, we had a phenomenal day.

00:26:36.000 But a lot of bad things happened.

00:26:39.000 And now that's not even questioned.

00:26:41.000 They cheated like dogs, but we got them back, didn't we?

00:26:46.000 Got him back.

00:26:50.000 But we owe Charlie a profound and eternal debt of gratitude now.

00:26:56.000 Just like Charlie and Erica made Turning Point Hot.

00:27:00.000 We are looking at a country that has the chance to attain a level like never before.

00:27:08.000 Tariffs are making us rich again, richer than anybody ever thought was possible.

00:27:15.000 And the only one challenging them are people that hate our country or foreign countries that are paying a price because they did the same thing to us for years.

00:27:24.000 They took advantage of us, but we're making money.

00:27:29.000 We're becoming richer and richer.

00:27:33.000 And we're taking care of our people better and better when we do that.

00:27:36.000 And we can take care of other countries better and better.

00:27:39.000 But we're doing unbelievably well.

00:27:41.000 The tariffs have really been a hold.

00:27:43.000 The election was big, but the tariffs because of the election came in.

00:27:47.000 And remember, other nations do that to us.

00:27:50.000 And Charlie understood that.

00:27:52.000 He saw the money.

00:27:53.000 He saw what was coming into our country.

00:27:55.000 And we can use that for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, all of these things that we fight so hard for.

00:28:02.000 And that's exactly what's happening.

00:28:04.000 The numbers are incredible.

00:28:06.000 When the news finally came out on election night last November that the race was officially won, came out pretty early in the night.

00:28:16.000 Charlie was live on camera.

00:28:19.000 In that moment, he was overcome with emotion.

00:28:21.000 I've never seen him like this.

00:28:22.000 He was so happy.

00:28:24.000 For a long while, he said nothing.

00:28:26.000 His eyes were filled with tears.

00:28:28.000 And then he buried his face in his hands and he started crying.

00:28:33.000 That wasn't the Charlie I knew, but in thinking about it, it actually was the Charlie I knew because he had a tremendous heart.

00:28:40.000 He just wanted what was good for our country and he saw us going in such a horrible direction.

00:28:45.000 Lovingly, Eric, and this was so beautiful, Erica put a MAGA hat on to cover his bowed head.

00:28:54.000 like that very much, MAGA, we love.

00:28:56.000 Does everybody love MAGA?

00:28:58.000 America great again when Joe Biden used to get up remember the speeches We will stop MAGA.

00:29:10.000 We will stop MAGA.

00:29:12.000 You know, he could barely get the words out.

00:29:14.000 We will stop.

00:29:15.000 I said, can somebody inform him the MAGA means make America great again?

00:29:20.000 How do you say you're going to stop it?

00:29:23.000 And Charlie understood that.

00:29:25.000 When Charlie finally looked up and spoke, he smiled through the watery eyes and simply said, I am humbled by God's grace.

00:29:33.000 That was his statement that night.

00:29:35.000 I was watching him.

00:29:37.000 I was very impressed, actually.

00:29:40.000 It showed he had a big heart. 0.98

00:29:42.000 Every single American should take a long, hard look at the twisted soul and dark spirit of anyone who would want to kill a young man as good as Charlie, to kill anybody, but to kill a man like this. 0.95

00:29:56.000 He didn't deserve this. 0.96

00:29:58.000 He didn't deserve this.

00:29:59.000 Our country didn't deserve this.

00:30:00.000 And anyone who would make excuses for it are just out of their mind.

00:30:08.000 Charlie's murder was not just an attack on one man or one movement.

00:30:13.000 It was an attack on our entire nation.

00:30:17.000 That was a horrible attack on the United States of America.

00:30:22.000 It was an assault on our most sacred liberties and God-given rights.

00:30:26.000 The gun was pointed at him, but the bullet was aimed at all of us.

00:30:30.000 That bullet was aimed at every one of us.

00:30:33.000 Indeed, Charlie was killed for expressing the very ideas that virtually everyone in this arena and most other places throughout our country deeply believed in.

00:30:44.000 But the assassin failed in his quest because Charlie's message has not been silenced.

00:30:49.000 It now is bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and it's not even close.

00:31:01.000 And it's rare that such a thing happens, but Charlie is bigger today than he was.

00:31:06.000 Think about it, just two weeks ago.

00:31:09.000 He's bigger today than he was two weeks ago.

00:31:11.000 Now, that may not help his friends and loved ones, of which there are so many.

00:31:17.000 It may not help Erica and those beautiful children who have to suffer so horribly through this moment, but they know it's true.

00:31:26.000 He's bigger now than ever before, and he's eternal.

00:31:30.000 He's eternal.

00:31:32.000 And I just want to say we love him.

00:31:34.000 And he's looking down at us right now, and he's saying, wow, that's a great crowd.

00:31:40.000 He's saying, that's a great crowd.

00:31:47.000 And it's a great crowd of patriots.

00:31:51.000 But that's why I will soon award Charlie the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

00:31:59.000 It's the highest civilian honor.

00:32:14.000 And we will do the ceremony at our beautiful White House in a very safe Washington, D.C., a place that Charlie truly revered.

00:32:25.000 You know, we stopped the crime in Washington.

00:32:27.000 It took 12 days.

00:32:30.000 Now you can go to restaurants.

00:32:31.000 You can walk down the middle of the street with your wife. 0.95

00:32:35.000 You can have your wife walk alone down the middle of the street. 1.00

00:32:38.000 She's going to be in good shape.

00:32:40.000 What a difference.

00:32:41.000 What a difference good management really makes.

00:32:45.000 I'm so proud of that.

00:32:46.000 Washington, D.C., you know, is one of the worst in the nation, in the world.

00:32:51.000 And now it's considered a very safe city.

00:32:54.000 And it's also, I passed it yesterday, I went through it, and the lawns are good.

00:33:00.000 It's like a different place.

00:33:02.000 It's like the tents are gone.

00:33:04.000 The threats are gone.

00:33:05.000 The gangs aren't there.

00:33:08.000 We got rid of, you know, we took out 1,500 career criminals, 1,500.

00:33:13.000 If you have three career criminals, that can make a big difference.

00:33:18.000 But I'm so proud of Washington, D.C., and now we're going into Memphis, and we'll get that one straightened out fast.

00:33:24.000 And then we're going into some others, but we're going to go to Chicago, and we're going to have Charlie very much in mind when we go into Chicago.

00:33:33.000 And we'll get that one straightened out.

00:33:34.000 You have an incompetent governor who he thinks it's okay when 11 people get murdered over the weekend.

00:33:42.000 He thinks you don't have any crime when 11 people get murdered and 28 people get shot. 0.59

00:33:48.000 He says he's got crime.

00:33:49.000 No, they don't have it under control, but we'll have it under control very quickly.

00:33:54.000 So we're going to be doing that.

00:33:56.000 And Charlie loved what we were doing.

00:33:58.000 He was so proud of what happened.

00:33:59.000 He was there to see it.

00:34:00.000 He's so proud of what happened in Washington, D.C. As you know, the depraved assassin who planned and executed Charlie's killing has been arrested and charged with capital murder.

00:34:14.000 God willing, he will receive the full and ultimate punishment for his horrific crime.

00:34:19.000 It's a terrible thing.

00:34:23.000 Because you can't let that happen.

00:34:25.000 You can't let that happen.

00:34:27.000 You can't let it happen to a country.

00:34:30.000 The Department of Justice is also investigating networks of radical left maniacs who fund organized fuel and perpetrate political violence.

00:34:40.000 And we think we know who many of them are.

00:34:44.000 But law enforcement can only be the beginning of our response to Charlie's murder.

00:34:51.000 Over the last 11 days, we have heard stories of commentators, influencers, and others in our society who greeted his assassination with sick approval, excuses, or even jubilation.

00:35:05.000 You've heard that.

00:35:06.000 So have I. Couldn't believe it.

00:35:08.000 Some of the very same people who spent the last eight years trying to sit in moral judgment of anyone who disagreed with them about politics suddenly started cheering for a murder.

00:35:20.000 Incredible.

00:35:22.000 You know the names. 0.99

00:35:23.000 They're major losers, by the way. 0.98

00:35:27.000 That will be proven out in a short period of time. 0.96

00:35:31.000 Some of the very 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.

00:35:42.000 And the same commentators who this week are screaming fascism over a canceled late-night TV show where the anchor had no talent and no ratings, last week were implying that Charlie Kirk deserved what happened to him.

00:36:02.000 No side in American politics has a monopoly undisturbed or misguided people.

00:36:08.000 But there's one part of our political community which believes they have a monopoly on truth, goodness, and virtue and concludes they have also a monopoly on power, thought, and speech.

00:36:19.000 Well, that's not happening anymore.

00:36:21.000 We've turned that corner very quickly.

00:36:23.000 Tragically, atrocities of this kind, and the kind that we saw in Utah of all places, are the eventual consequence of that kind of thinking.

00:36:34.000 If speech is violence, then some are bound to conclude that violence is justified to stop speech.

00:36:41.000 And we're not going to let that be justified.

00:36:43.000 The tradition of reason and open debate that Charlie practiced is not a pillar of our democracy.

00:36:50.000 In many ways, it's the basis of our entire society.

00:36:56.000 It's the right and inheritance of every free American, the greatest legacy of the Enlightenment, and among the most treasured achievements of civilization.

00:37:07.000 We will defend it at all costs, and we will carry forward the torch of liberty that Charlie Kirk held so proud and so high.

00:37:14.000 He was so proud, and he did hold that torch high.

00:37:19.000 We will never ever let it fail.

00:37:22.000 We will never let it fail.

00:37:24.000 But we're going to raise it higher than ever before.

00:37:28.000 It's going to be raised, and this is the beginning.

00:37:30.000 Perhaps it should be no surprise that Charlie, who spent his life speaking with the critics of these traditions, ultimately became convinced that we needed not just a political realignment, but also a spiritual reawakening.

00:37:44.000 We did.

00:37:45.000 And we have to bring back religion to America because without borders, law and order, and religion, you really don't have a country anymore. 0.90

00:37:54.000 We want religion brought back to America. 0.99

00:37:58.000 We want to bring God back into our beautiful USA like never before.

00:38:03.000 We want God back.

00:38:09.000 Charlie would have been so pleased to hear his friends and colleagues today giving testimony and giving glory to God.

00:38:18.000 Within minutes of the gunshot in Utah, millions of Americans, young and old, heard the news and dropped to their knees and started praying.

00:38:28.000 Even many who rarely prayed ask God for a miracle.

00:38:31.000 Please, God, save Charlie.

00:38:33.000 But although Charlie's time with us on earth has ended, those prayers for a miracle have already been answered.

00:38:41.000 Look at what's happening.

00:38:43.000 Look at what's happening.

00:38:45.000 In the days since Charlie's death, we have seen how his legacy has touched so many millions around the world.

00:38:53.000 In Calgary, Canada, thousands gathered at City Hall to sing the American national anthem and raise up posters with the name Charlie Kirk.

00:39:05.000 In Seoul, South Korea, crowds gathered to wave American flags and shout, we are for Charlie Kirk.

00:39:14.000 His memory has been honored in the streets of Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna, Sydney, Madrid, London, Tel Aviv, and all over the world.

00:39:25.000 So beautiful to watch.

00:39:30.000 A man as far away as rural Australia texted a pastor, I'm going to come to church tomorrow for the first time ever.

00:39:39.000 The pastor is, why is that?

00:39:41.000 The man replied, because of Charlie Kirk.

00:39:43.000 Can you imagine?

00:39:45.000 The lesson of Charlie's life is that you should never underestimate what one person can do with a good heart, a righteous cause, a cheerful spirit, and the will to fight, fight, fight.

00:40:00.000 Have to fight.

00:40:05.000 They're saving our country.

00:40:08.000 And Charlie's a big factor, such a big factor.

00:40:11.000 Charlie Kirk started with only an idea to change minds on college campuses.

00:40:17.000 And instead, he ended up with a far greater achievement, changing history.

00:40:22.000 He changed history.

00:40:24.000 Today, Charlie Kirk rests in glory in heaven for all eternity.

00:40:30.000 He has gone from speaking on campuses in Wisconsin to kneeling at the throne of God where he is right now.

00:40:42.000 We grieve for the friend and leader that we have lost, but we go forward strengthened by his faith and bolstered by his courage and inspired by his example to defend the country he lived for, for the freedoms he died for and the values in which he so deeply believed.

00:41:03.000 He believed in values that we should all believe in.

00:41:08.000 Charlie created something very special.

00:41:10.000 It's called Turning Point USA.

00:41:12.000 And under the leadership and love of Erica, it will become bigger and better and stronger than ever before.

00:41:26.000 So, Charlie, we all want to thank you.

00:41:30.000 We want to say a very loud God bless you, Charlie.

00:41:33.000 God bless you for what you've done.

00:41:35.000 It's incredible.

00:41:38.000 And God bless Erica and the children.

00:41:40.000 God bless the United States of America.

00:41:43.000 And could I ask Erica, please come out.

00:41:46.000 Erica, please come out.

00:41:48.000 Thank you.

00:42:50.000 Thank you very much, everybody.

00:42:52.000 Thank you very much, and good luck.

00:42:54.000 God be with you.

00:42:56.000 Thank you.

The Charlie Kirk Show - September 23, 2025

"A Martyr for American Freedom" — President Trump Honors Charlie Kirk

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