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Trump Participates in the Memorial Service for Charlie Kirk, Sep. 21, 2025

September 21, 2025 · The White House · 1:39:35

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump addressed the memorial service for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21, 2025, in a service carried in full on the White House channel. Vice President JD Vance, who spoke earlier in the program, called Kirk “a hero to the United States of America and… the martyr for the Christian faith,” saying: “For Charlie, we will remember that it is better to stand on our feet defending the United States of America and defending the truth than it is to die on our knees.”

Erika Kirk, in the service’s central moment, forgave the man who killed her husband: “On the cross, our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That man — I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love.”

The President, closing the service, gently parted from that line: “He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent. And I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika.” He surveyed the worldwide vigils — “in Calgary, Canada… in Seoul, South Korea… Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna, Sydney, Madrid, London, Tel Aviv” — and concluded: “Charlie Kirk started with only an idea to change minds on college campuses. And instead, he ended up with a far greater achievement: changing history.” He pledged that Turning Point USA under Erika Kirk “will become bigger and better and stronger than ever before.”

Why it matters

The memorial is the administration’s defining public moment of the Kirk assassination’s aftermath — the whole senior team in one arena, the widow’s forgiveness as the headline, and the President’s pledge to carry the movement forward. The Presidential Medal of Freedom for Kirk, referenced across this period’s record, was framed against this day.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in the Memorial Service for Charlie Kirk” (official upload, embedded above; the upload’s description places the service in Glendale, AZ). All characterizations as stated by the speakers in the broadcast.