A memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk was held in Arizona on Sunday, 21 September, following his death at the Utah campus on 10 September.
Delivering a tearful speech to tens of thousands of mourners, Kirk’s wife, Erika, spoke of forgiveness for Tyler Robinson, 22, who has been charged with the murder, as “it is what Christ did.”
War secretary Pete Hegseth described Kirk’s mission to revitalise the conservative movement with his organisation Turning Point USA a “spiritual war.”
US President Donald Trump also addressed the memorial, using the event to criticise his opponents.
Trump disagreed with Kirk’s view of “wanting the best” for his opponents: “I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them,” he said, to laughter from the crowd.
American international students at the University of Edinburgh expressed concerns of an increasingly ‘dis-United States’ on display during the memorial.
As one student told us: “I wasn’t a big fan of Turning Point USA, but celebrating someone’s death shows just how divided American politics has become.”
They further remarked that “Kirk’s death, like Trump’s assassination attempt, will only strengthen the Republican Party and attract more moderates to the conservative movement.”
Another political science student, following an exchange year in the US, similarly noted that this will only increase the influence of Kirk’s views among students, given his already large presence on US campuses.
Turning Point UK organised a vigil for Kirk in London last Sunday, but none have yet been organised in Scotland.
“Charlie Kirk” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.