NEW YORK
\nPresident Donald Trump hailed slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a \u201cmartyr for American freedom\u201d on Sunday and vowed at his memorial service to carry on his work, while again accusing what he called the \u201cradical left\u201d of Kirk\u2019s murder.
\n\u201cThe violence comes largely from the left,\u201d Trump said without citing any evidence, in remarks that downplayed political violence from the right and often turned starkly partisan in contrast to the more solemn tone that most other speakers adopted. Trump has been blaming the left for the deadly shooting before a suspect was even detained.
\nHis messaging reflected the dual nature of Kirk\u2019s memorial, which had the feel of a religious revival mixed with a \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d rally. The memorial, organised 11 days after Kirk was assassinated by his conservative youth advocacy organisation Turning Point USA, drew tens of thousands of mourners dressed in red, white and blue who filled State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
\nKirk\u2019s friends and fellow conservatives praised him as an inspirational Christian who founded a political movement they promised to nurture. His wife, Erika, who has taken the helm of Turning Point, delivered an emotional tribute to her late husband, looking up at the heavens and mouthing, \u201cI love you,\u201d before speaking about his devotion to Christianity, his family and his activism. The Kirks have two young children.
\n\u201cI want all of you to know, while Charlie died far too early, he was also ready to die,\u201d she said. \u201cHe left this world without regrets. He did 100% of what he could every day.\u201d She also offered forgiveness to the 22-year-old man who has been charged with Kirk\u2019s murder, citing the Bible\u2019s account that Jesus Christ urged his followers to forgive his tormentors while on the cross.
\n\u201cMy husband Charlie wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,\u201d she said, before adding tearfully, as the crowd applauded solemnly. Some political figures cast Kirk\u2019s death as a pivotal moment in the conservative movement, exhorting followers to finish the work he began in sometimes aggressive language.
\n\u201cWe will carry Charlie and Erika in our hearts every single day, and fight that much harder because of what you did to us,\u201d Stephen Miller, the powerful White House adviser, said in a fiery speech. \u201cYou have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilisation, to save the West, to save the republic.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK President Donald Trump hailed slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a \u201cmartyr for American freedom\u201d on Sunday and vowed at his memorial service to carry on his work, while again accusing what he called the \u201cradical left\u201d of Kirk\u2019s murder. \u201cThe violence comes largely from the left,\u201d Trump said without citing any evidence, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-504486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n