The Trump Administration Honors Charlie Kirk + Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr.

Please welcome to the stage Sergio Gore.

Good afternoon.

Charlie Kirk was one of my best friends.

The world of politics can be full of transactional people.

Charlie wasn't one of them.

He was the polar opposite.

He loved life and he loved the people in his life.

Charlie led with his faith and fought with his heart.

One of the things I will miss the most is receiving a text every morning from Charlie with a daily Bible verse.

Charlie would help set the tone of the day for so many of us.

He loved Jesus Christ.

The other side was terrified of Charlie because Charlie embodied the spirit of MAGA.

Always fighting for America, never backing down.

He dared to debate.

Charlie didn't just step into the fight.

He ran towards it.

And he always did it with a smile.

Charlie knew this fight was bigger than politics.

Charlie was more than an activist.

Charlie was a modern-day disciple who preached about the greatness of America, not just across our land, but around the globe.

Charlie knew that we are in a spiritual war for the heart, soul, and future of America.

And he was ultimately killed because of it.

I want to share with you the personal side of Charlie.

Charlie was funny.

Charlie cared deeply about others.

Charlie looked forward to the next adventure.

For over a decade, we created countless memories, from hunting alligators in Louisiana to eating seal in Greenland, to countless nights on the Patio Mar-a-Lago as President Trump played Phantom of the Opera.

When President Trump started talking about the importance of Greenland to our national security, Charlie was one of the first people who thought it would be a great idea to visit.

He was also one of the first to fall in the snow upon arrival.

But without a beat, Charlie got up and continued onwards with a smile.

No matter what, Charlie always marched forward.

He embodied the mega warrior, never backing down.

Charlie was all Trump.

When the president had an idea, No matter how big it was, Charlie was always willing to make it happen.

One time on a trip to Louisiana, Charlie forced the group to leave early and fly to New York City.

He had to rush and get to Fox News for an interview with Judge Janine.

When we arrived in New York, it turned out Janine wasn't even in New York.

She was filming remotely.

The real reason Charlie was in a hurry, he had dinner plans with the woman who would become the love of his life and the mother of his two beautiful children.

Erica, we love you, we support you, and we will always be here for you.

After we won the last election, the presidential transition kicked into high gear.

Charlie knew the importance of hiring loyal patriots for this administration.

And Charlie worked every single day to ensure we got the very best of them in the door.

Countless individuals are currently in key roles across our government because of Charlie Kirk.

Today, I want to ask every person in this arena and the millions more watching around the world, will you make sure that we continue to build upon what Charlie Kirk started?

I want to ask each and every one of you today: if you believe in America, stand up.

If you believe Charlie Kirk represented the best of us, stand up.

If you believe in the power of Charlie Kirk, his mission, his courage, his conviction, stand up.

Charlie, we miss you.

We love you.

We wish you were here with us today.

We will never forget you.

Rest in peace, my brother.

Please welcome to the stage with Stephen Miller.

Hello, Turning Point.

Hello, Patriots.

Hello, to our

fearless president, Donald J.

Trump.

And hello to millions of Americans all across this land who are gathered

in sadness and sorrow

to mourn Charlie Kirk, but also

to dedicate ourselves to finishing his mission and achieving victory in his name.

The day that Charlie died,

the angels wept, but those tears have been turned into fire in our hearts.

And that fire burns

With a righteous fury that our enemies cannot comprehend or understand.

When I see Erica and her strength and her courage,

I'm reminded of a famous expression.

The storm whispers to the warrior

that you cannot withstand my strength.

And the warrior whispers back, I am the storm.

Erica is the storm.

We are the storm.

And our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion.

Our lineage and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello.

Our ancestors built the cities.

They produced the art and architecture.

They built the industry.

Erica stands on the shoulders of thousands of years of warriors, of women who raised up families, raised up city, raised up industry, raised up civilization, who pulled us out of the caves and the darkness into the light.

The light will defeat the dark.

We will prevail.

over the forces of wickedness and evil.

They cannot imagine what they have awakened.

They cannot conceive of the army that they have arisen in all of us.

Because we stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble.

And to those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us, what do you have?

You have nothing.

You are nothing.

You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred.

You are nothing.

You can build nothing.

You can produce nothing.

You can create nothing.

We are the ones who build.

We are the ones who create.

We are the ones who lift up humanity.

You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk?

You have made him immortal.

You have immortalized Charlie Kirk.

And now millions will carry on his legacy.

And we will devote the rest of our lives

to finishing the causes for which Charlie gave his last measure of devotion.

You cannot defeat us, you cannot slow us, you cannot stop us, you cannot deter us.

We will carry Charlie and Erica in our heart every single day and fight that much harder.

because of what you did to us.

You have no idea, the dragon you have awakened.

You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization, to save the West, to save this republic.

Because our children are strong and our grandchildren will be strong and our children's children's children will be strong.

And what will you leave behind?

Nothing, nothing.

To our enemies, you have nothing to give, you have nothing to offer, you have nothing to share but bitterness.

We have beauty, we have light, we have goodness, we have determination, we have vision, we have strength.

We built the world that we inhabit now, generation by generation,

and we will defend this world, we will defend goodness, we will defend light, we will defend virtue.

You cannot terrify us,

you cannot frighten us, you cannot threaten us because we are on the side of goodness, we are on the side of God.

And to my friend Charlie, to my brother Charlie,

I know you are looking at us right now.

I know you're watching Erica right now.

I know you're watching your children right now.

And I promise you, my friend, I promise you, my brother,

we will prove worthy of your sacrifice.

We will prove worthy.

of your time on earth.

We will make you proud.

We will finish the the job.

We will defeat the forces of darkness and evil.

And we will stand every day for what is true, what is beautiful, what is good.

And we will achieve victory for our children, for our families, for our civilization, and for every patriot who stands with us.

God bless you.

God bless Turning Point.

God bless Erica.

God bless the Kirk family.

God bless our heroes.

and God bless the United States of America.

Thank you.

Please welcome to the stage Susie Wiles.

Good afternoon and what an honor to be here with all of you, those of you who loved Charlie and love Erica.

I was blessed to work with Charlie these past few years

and I know he is looking down now rejoicing because his life, his words, his courage to speak the truth about God, family, and country built the most powerful youth movement in our time.

Many of you knew Charlie better than I did, and if you did, you experienced the gift of being lifted by his conviction and his joy.

For Charlie, making America great again meant bringing young people to this movement and making sure they knew they belonged.

Like our president says, it's a movement of common sense and it makes sense.

Love your God,

love your family, love your country, and help the next generation live into those values

boldly.

Through Turning Point, Charlie gave us countless young Americans who had their first turning point, the moment they decided to stand up, speak out, and make America all that she could be.

When the President's 2024 campaign partnered with Turning Point, Charlie did not just promise.

He delivered.

Charlie and his team embraced the assigned mission completely, and they didn't meet expectations.

They

shattered them and blew them out of the water.

President Trump's victory, winning the popular vote in every swing state, was powered by young people, most brand new to politics.

That was Charlie's army, and he made sure they understood the stakes.

They outworked, they out-hustled, and outperformed everyone else.

Charlie just didn't help.

He made the winning difference.

I promise you that.

And I believe Charlie is still urging us on, urging us not to sit back, not to be quiet, but to carry on his mission forward, loudly, proudly, and with the same conviction he showed.

So I ask you, Let us honor Charlie in the best way possible by continuing his work, by building on the foundation he laid,

and by making sure this generation knows that this movement is their home.

May God bless Erica and their beautiful children, and may He hold them in the palm of His hands always.

Ladies and gentlemen, Tucker Carlson.

Oh, that made me emotional.

Made me emotional to see that.

Susie Wiles had tears in her eyes,

which you don't often see in politics, but it's real.

This is the most unbelievable thing I think I've ever seen.

And I don't.

Whatever happens next in America, I hope it's in this direction because God is here and you can feel it.

And Charlie would have loved this, not just because he loved large groups of people, but because ultimately he was a Christian evangelist.

And it actually reminds me of my favorite story ever.

So it's about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem and Jesus shows up and he starts talking about the people in power

and he starts doing the worst thing that you can do, which is telling the truth about people, and they hate it, and they just go go bonkers they hate it and they become obsessed with making him stop this guy's got to stop talking we've got to shut this guy up and I can just sort of picture the scene in a lamplit room with a bunch of guys sitting around eating hummus thinking about what do we do about this guy telling the truth about us we must make him stop talking

And there's always one guy with the bright idea and I could just hear him say, I've got an idea.

Why don't we just kill him?

That'll shut him up.

That'll fix the problem.

It doesn't work that way.

It doesn't work that way.

Everything is inverted and the Beatitudes tell it, I think, the most crisply.

Everything is sort of the opposite of what you think it's going to be.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

That is true, and you can feel it here.

The thing about Charlie's message, I've thought a lot about it, and I'm trying not to be emotional because in addition to everything else, he was a wonderful man and a decent man and one of those rare people you meet who you just groove with in conversation and have these very intense conversations that you don't stop thinking about which is my experience with him but the main thing about Charlie and his message he was bringing the gospel to the country he was doing the thing that the people in charge hate most which is calling for them to repent

So how is Charlie's message different?

And Charlie was a political person

who was deeply interested in coalition building and in getting the right people in office because he knew that vast improvements are possible politically.

But he also knew that politics is not the final answer.

It can't answer the deepest questions, actually.

That the only real solution is Jesus.

And the reason,

it's really simple.

Politics, at its core is a process of critiquing other people and getting them to change.

Christianity, the gospel message, the message of Jesus, begins with repentance.

Christianity calls upon you to change.

Our core prayer given to us by Jesus, the Lord's prayer,

demands that we forgive other people, but preceding that

is a request for our forgiveness.

In other words, forgive us, our sins, meditate on what we've done wrong, how we've fallen short, and then it becomes possible to forgive other people.

That is a call to change our hearts from Jesus, and that is the only way forward in this country.

That is the only solution to where we all know we're going.

And Charlie knew where we were going.

without that.

And that is not a call for being politically passive.

Of course not.

I stood in many stages with Charlie calling for various people to be elected, particularly Donald Trump.

And I'm proud of that.

It's only an acknowledgement that what Charlie was really saying is that change begins, the only change that matters when we repent of our sins.

We, me.

A recognition that the real problem is me.

and how fallen I am.

And that

was the reason that Charlie was fearless at all times, truly fearless, to his last moment.

He was unafraid.

He was not defensive.

And there was no hate in his heart.

I know that because I've got a little hate compartment in my heart.

And I would often express that to Charlie about various people.

And he would always say, always say,

that's a sad person.

That's a broken person.

That's a person who needs help.

That's a person who needs Jesus.

He said that in private

because he meant it.

So I guess I would just say this gathering and God's presence, God's very obvious presence in this room, the presence of Jesus, is a reminder of what we've known for 2,000 years,

which is any attempt to extinguish the light causes it to burn brighter every single time.

So

as we proceed into whatever comes next, and clearly something's coming next,

remember this moment.

Remember being in a room with the Holy Spirit humming like a tuning fork.

This is the way.

Right here.

This is the way.

And that is what Charlie Kirk was saying underneath it all.

Thank you, and God bless.

Please welcome to the stage Director Tulsi Gabbard.

Charlie lived his life as a warrior for truth and for freedom, every single day choosing to step into the arena armed with the Constitution, sparring through debate on the battlefield of ideas, fighting for the heart of our democratic republic and the unalienable rights endowed upon every one of us by our Creator.

Charlie lived what our founders envisioned.

Freedom.

The right to speak even when we disagree.

Freedom.

I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to defend to the death with my very life

your right to speak.

Free speech is the foundation of our democratic republic.

We must protect it at all costs because without it, we'll be lost.

Charlie knew this.

He lived it.

Charlie stood in the arena armed with superior arguments, with truth, reason,

propelled and motivated by his love for God, his love for others, his love for our great nation.

His words were his weapons.

He slayed ignorance.

He cut through lies and

He woke people's minds, inspired people's hearts, and imparted wisdom every day.

Now, for those of us who knew Charlie and even those of you who may never have had the chance to meet him in person, we all know and experienced how Charlie spoke with a calm courage, not asking, what will God do for me,

but instead praying, God,

use me for your will.

He showed respect and compassion for everyone,

even those who opposed him, and I think especially for those who opposed him, he invited them to his table or on his show, saying,

Let's talk.

Sitting with Charlie here in Arizona at ASU last year, seeing and experiencing him in action was truly a sight to behold.

Because in Charlie, he sincerely wanted people to know the truth.

Because it's the truth that sets us free,

it is the truth that keeps us free.

Now, Charlie,

he chose our schools as his arena because he knows that they are meant to teach, to train our young people to think critically, to debate ideas, to test their strength through a clash of reason.

But too often, these schools silence debate,

saying words are violence, and dissenting voices are hushed.

And those who speak of God, those who speak the truth, simple objective truths, like there are only two genders in these schools, they are told you have no voice.

Charlie chose this arena to take these people head-on, to challenge these institutions, these students and faculty, encouraging them to come, to speak honestly, bring your ideas, debate loudly and think critically.

And Charlie did this so well.

He was winning, so much winning,

so much so

that the forces of darkness, hate, and evil were threatened by him.

and tried to silence him.

History shows this dark pattern that when ideas cannot withstand scrutiny, whether it's the ideology of so-called religious fanatics or political fanatics, their defenders, terrified that their weak ideas will be exposed for what they are, turn to intimidation, censorship, and violence.

They kill and terrorize their opponents, hoping to silence them.

But in this evil that we have experienced, that Charlie face, their flawed ideology is exposed.

Because by trying to silence Charlie,

his voice is now louder than ever.

His message

is more powerful and impactful than ever.

The truths that he spoke have spread hundredfold.

Charlie was fearless.

But where did his fearlessness come from?

The answer lies in Corinthians.

Therefore, be always of good courage and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.

We are of good courage, I say, and prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.

Therefore, we have as our ambition,

whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him.

So our call to action is now.

Every one of us needs to be a warrior like Charlie, To take shelter in God, to draw strength and fearlessness from the Lord who sits within every one of our hearts.

To stand together, continue the mission that Charlie dedicated his life to, to sharpen our weapons of truth, common sense, and reason.

To train, to study, learn, and to speak, exercise our God-given right to speak, and carry that torch that shines brightly because of God's love.

So right now

if you feel

afraid or lost, confused, not sure exactly what to do,

don't be.

God says don't be afraid.

I am with you.

I will strengthen you and help you.

And he is with us.

He sits within every one of our hearts, just waiting for us to to choose him.

To say as Charlie did, God,

use me for your will.

To say, God, my life is yours.

I am yours.

My heart is yours.

Let me serve you.

Now is the time for us to step into the arena.

and to stand as warriors for freedom and truth and fight.

May God bless you all.

We love you, Charlie.

May God bless this great nation.

Thank you.

Please welcome to the stage Secretary Marco Rubio.

About

maybe 10 or 12 years ago, a person I knew very well, had been very helpful to me in my campaigns when I was in the Senate, came to me and said she had met this very impressive young man.

And he was going to start this group to go on college campuses

and try to convince young Americans that ours is the greatest country in the history of the world and that Marxism was bad.

And I remember thinking back then, I'm going to admit to you guys, I was a little skeptical.

I said, college campuses, you're going to do that?

Why don't you start somewhere easier, like for example, communist Cuba?

You know?

But my skepticism was proven wrong

and place after place over the last 12 14 16 years We've seen this renaissance understand where we were at that time in our history

Understand where we are still today in many places where young Americans are actively told that everything that they were taught That all the foundations that made our society and our civilization so grand, they were all wrong, they were all evil, that marriage is oppressive, that children are a burden, that America is a source of evil, not of good in the world.

And here was this voice that inspired a movement in which young Americans were told that is not true.

The highest calling we are called to is to be in a successful marriage and to raise productive children.

And a movement that taught them that ours was not a great country, But the greatest, most exceptional nation that has ever existed in the history of all of mankind.

And that it's worth fighting for, it's worth defending, it's worth preserving, and it's worth passing on to the next generation.

This was the mission and the work of Charlie Kirk.

And a couple things that stand out about him, he led this movement, but he did so with incredible knowledge.

It's unbelievable how much he knew.

He came to me very recently.

He said some quote.

He said, I said, who said that?

He said, Marcus Aurelius.

I said, what district does he represent?

I kind of knew who it was, but he said back, no, it's a Roman, you know, philosopher king or emperor.

His incredible knowledge.

Let me tell you that one of the last messages I had with him was just a few days before his passing, where he wrote me from overseas.

I'm in South Korea.

I have many concerns I want to share with you when I get back.

He was constantly expanding his horizons, but he just didn't have knowledge.

He had wisdom.

An uncanny amount of wisdom for a man as young as he was.

Wisdom that sometimes it takes a lifetime to accumulate.

He had it in just 31 years.

He was also bold.

It is so easy.

And listen, I've been guilty of it.

I think many of us have been guilty of this.

You hide behind the walls and you surround yourself with people that agree with you.

We do it as a society all the time.

Increasingly, people are moving into neighborhoods with other people that agree with them politically and isolate themselves from people that do not agree with them.

But Charlie Kirk was bold.

He actively sought out to engage peacefully, respectfully, those who he disagreed with.

As recently as two days ago, we learned of one of the hosts on CNN

who said that one of the messages he had gotten just a few days before Charlie's passing was from him.

inviting him to dialogue.

And he did this on campuses.

He did this on podcasts.

He did this on radio shows, he did this on television shows.

Time and again, he sought to engage those he disagreed with because he understood that we were not created to isolate ourselves from one another, but to engage.

The irony in all this is that what our nation needs, one of the many things it needs, is the ability to discuss our differences openly, honestly, peacefully, respectfully.

And Charlie Kirk did that more than anyone alive in America today is doing.

And Charlie Kirk was impactful.

Impactful because of all the things I've said.

But look around this place.

There's a hundred-something thousand people here.

The President of the United States is here.

His entire cabinet is here.

Television outlets and media outlets from all over the world are covering this.

I just came from overseas in every country I stopped.

They gave us their condolences for his passing.

Impactful.

In just 31 years of life.

He made a difference.

He mattered, and he will matter now more than he ever has before.

And let me close with this.

How do you remember?

This is a memorial service.

It's to honor him.

How do you best remember it?

I'll take the liberty of saying what I think we can best do.

Look, I think he had a tremendous impact on young Americans in general.

I think he had a very special and direct impact on young men in this country.

That's one of the greatest developments I've seen.

It's been very positive.

I think we remember him for that

I think we remember him for constantly saying you want to live a productive life get married start a family love your country these are empowerful messages

but I hope many who are watching I imagine there are people watching here tonight that didn't know much about Charlie Kirk until 11 days ago Maybe they were disengaged from politics.

Maybe they were partially engaged.

I hope one of the things they take from this is that the movement Charlie Kirk led and started and gave fuel to was about politics, but not only about politics.

It was deeper.

It was broader.

And I would say that taking the liberty, but I'm confident he would agree, one of the things he wants us to take away from this, from all of this, is the following.

His deep belief

that we were all created, every single one of us, before the beginning of time, by the hands of the God of the universe, an all-powerful God, who loved us and created us for the purpose of living with Him in eternity.

But then sin entered the world and separated us from our Creator.

And so God took on the form of a man and came down and lived among us.

And He suffered like men.

And He died like a man.

But on the third day, He rose unlike any mortal man.

And then,

And to prove any doubters wrong, He ate with His disciples so they could see and they touched his wounds.

He didn't rise as a ghost or as a spirit, but his flesh.

And then he rose to the heaven, but he promised he would return.

And he will.

And when he returns,

because he took on that death, because he carried that cross, we were freed from the sin that separated us from him.

And when he returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will all be together and we are going to have a great reunion there again with Charlie and all the people we love.

Thank you, and God bless you.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Secretary Pete Hagseth.

Charlie Kirk,

a patriot, a conservative, a leader, a builder, an advocate, an author, a lover of freedom, a husband, a father, a Christian,

and a warrior.

You see, Charlie Kirk was a true believer for the cause of freedom, for the power of young people, belief in our republic and our founding principles, in America first, and make America great again.

But more importantly,

he was a true believer.

Only Christ is King, our Lord and Savior.

Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus.

Fear God and fear no man.

That was Charlie Kirk.

You see, Charlie Kirk started Turning Point USA to change our politics.

That's when I first met him over a decade ago.

He was building a movement, and nobody worked harder at it.

Bringing people to political small T truth.

I still have the sticker.

Big government sucks.

And he pursued that truth with more vigor than anyone I've ever met.

But over time, he realized, like so many of us have, that this is not a political war.

It's not even a cultural war.

It's a spiritual war.

Faith and family first.

There is a God, and as Charlie would say, it is not us.

We're sinners saved only by grace in need of the gospel.

You see, we always did need less government, but what Charlie understood and infused into his movement is we also needed a lot more God.

Charlie

had big plans,

but God had even bigger plans.

You know, Marco mentioned this arena and the millions watching.

A couple days ago, I learned that Kirk,

actually

in German, the German language,

means church.

So on this Sunday morning, I'd like to think we're all in Charlie's church.

Charlie started a political movement but unleashed a spiritual revival.

My pastor texted me the day after that horrific event and said, Pete, the devil overplayed his hand.

Charlie started with liberty, but ended up lighting our country on fire for Christ.

He started Turning Point USA, but this moment is the turning point for the USA.

Right now,

he died the way he lived,

speaking the truth.

Charlie waged war not with a weapon, but with a tent, a microphone, his mind, and the truth.

And the gates of hell could not prevail against him.

He went into the darkest of places like Paul in the book of Acts.

We went into college campuses where they said we couldn't go.

And he was the light.

He was bold.

He was brave.

He was a hero.

You know, at the War Department, we know a little bit about heroism.

I've seen it personally on the battlefront field from Americans wearing camouflage.

And I'm surrounded by men and women today who have the chance to witness the same.

Most people don't know this

but Charlie Kirk wanted to go to West Point.

It never happened obviously.

His personal loss at that moment was our nation's great gain.

Charlie Kirk was a citizen who had the biblical heart of a soldier of the faith, who put on every single day the full armor of God with a smile,

as the scriptures tell all Christ followers to do.

Charlie Kirk,

a warrior for country, a warrior for Christ.

He ran the race.

He finished the fight.

Now, it's our turn.

My charge to all of you,

live worthy of Charlie Kirk's sacrifice and put Christ at the center of your life as he advocated for giving his.

Charlie has heard the words

echoing now in heaven.

Well done,

good

and faithful servant.

Charlie, we'll take it from here.

God bless.

Great

glory,

see.

Please welcome to the stage Secretary Robert F.

Kennedy, Jr.

Charlie's overarching passion was his Christianity and his devotion to his God.

He believed what St.

Francis taught us almost a thousand years ago, that we should strive to live our lives in perfect imitation of Christ.

That we should turn every day and every moment and every interaction into a prayer.

And Charlie understood the great paradox that it's only by surrender to God that God's power can flow into our lives and make us effective human beings.

Charlie,

Christ died at 33 years old.

But he changed the trajectory of history.

Charlie died at 31 years old, but because he had surrendered, he also now has changed the trajectory of history.

Charlie's other passion was free speech.

He understood that the free flow of information was the soil, the water, the sunlight for democracy.

He understood democracy's great advantage was

that our policies were formed by ideas that had triumphed in a marketplace of debate and conversation.

He thought that

conversation was the only way to heal our country.

And this was particularly important during a technological age.

when we are all hooked into social rhythms, social algorithms that are hacked into the reptilian cores of our brain and amplify our impulses for tribalism and for division.

He felt that the only way to overcome that biological impulse was with a spiritual fire and with developing community.

And the only way to develop community was through conversation.

And so he always gave the biggest microphone to the people who were most passionately aligned against him because he believed that we need to talk talk to each other and that we needed to be able to say what we mean without saying it mean

a few years ago my brother david died and i asked my mother

does the hole that they leave in you when they die does it ever get any smaller

and she said to me it never gets any smaller But our job is to grow ourselves bigger around the hole.

And we do that by taking the best qualities, the best, most admirable character traits of the person that died and integrate them with restraint, with discipline, with practice, into our own character.

And in doing that, we make ourselves larger and the whole gets proportionally smaller.

We also give a kind of immortality.

to the person who left us because their work continues through us.

A couple of days ago, my niece or my granddaughter left for college in Europe.

Her mother noticed that she packed a Bible.

When her mother asked her why she made that choice, she said, I want to live more like Charlie.

And it's...

In one of my first conversations with Charlie in July of 2021, we were talking about the risk that all of us take when we challenge entrenched interests, the physical risk.

And he asked me if I was scared of dying.

And I said to him, There's a lot worse things than death.

And one of those things is if we lost our constitutional rights in this country and that our children were raised as slaves.

And

I said to Charlie, Charlie, I said, sometimes the best consolation we can hope for is that we get to die with our boots on.

Well, Charlie died with his boots on, and he died

to make sure that we didn't have to undergo those fates that are worse than death.

Oh, let's remember Charlie.

He was, for those of us who were friends with Charlie,

we don't need any more evidence of the love of God

because

the evidence of friendship is the best evidence that God loves us all.

Thank you, and God bless you.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Donald Trump Jr.

Welcome everyone.

I'm not widely known for being a sentimental guy.

Anyone who's seen me on social media knows I'm far more likely to crack a joke or get myself in trouble for posting some grossly inappropriate memes.

than I am to shed a tear.

I know this because I've even gotten the call from that guy a couple times.

You know, Don,

Don,

you're getting a little aggressive on social media, Don.

Relax.

But last week, when I received word that Charlie,

who was like a little brother to me, had been assassinated, I was truly devastated.

We all were.

And we're here today to celebrate the way he lived his life

and to remember the way he changed so many of ours.

So, I want to start where I know Charlie would want me to,

with what was most important to him, and that was his relationship with Christ.

To say Charlie knew more about the Bible than me is an understatement, folks.

It's like saying Donald Trump knows more about being president than Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris.

No kidding!

But when Charlie was asked in an interview how he'd want to be remembered, he said, I want to be remembered for my courage, for my faith.

And let me tell you guys, those were not empty words.

Last week, Charlie joined a long line of courageous men and women who were martyred for what they believe.

According to the book of Acts,

the first martyr in the early Christian church was Stephen, who was stoned to death.

And as Stephen was being killed, he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing.

Standing at the right hand of God.

Now, there are many times in the Bible where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, but this is the only time he's seen standing.

And while the Bible Bible isn't explicit about this, I like to think Jesus was standing to welcome Stephen, the courageous martyr, into heaven.

And today,

today that gives me great comfort.

Because 11 days ago,

As a cowardly assassin crawled on his stomach to end Charlie's life on earth,

I'm betting Charlie saw the Son of God standing tall to welcome him home.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the greatest treasures of Charlie's heart, his beautiful wife Erica, and his two precious children.

To watch Charlie with his family, the joy on his face, the devotion in his eyes, was to see the gospel lived out.

And for me,

for me it was inspiring.

And now, in the face of unthinkable loss, Erica has shown extraordinary courage.

Not only as a mother, but in stepping forward to carry carry on Charlie's mission as the CEO of Turning Point USA.

Charlie always brought out the best in all of us.

When Charlie first said to me during the 2016 campaign, hey, let's start doing events on college campuses, I was like, whoa, seriously?

Come on, man.

We've given up on that.

We're going to let those kids grow up and we'll get them when they start paying taxes.

But he convinced me to give it a shot.

And there were a couple events that showed just how brave and courageous Charlie was, even as a very young man.

At Michigan State University, Five minutes before we were supposed to go on stage, the state police told us, and I quote, we can no longer guarantee your safety.

Because the left-wing activists, they were going crazy.

It was rough.

That sounded like a great reason to pack it up and head out.

But it was one of the many times that I would agree with Charlie, who said, No way, we're going out there anyway.

At one of the last events of the 2024 campaign at Arizona State, some lunatic called it a threat to try to keep us from going on the stage.

Again, we went out there anyway, without fear.

Charlie led the way.

His message was clear then, and his message is clear now.

We won't back down.

we won't be intimidated.

The Bible says over a hundred times in the pages of Scripture, do not be afraid.

And the hundred thousand people here today are a signal to the world: our message of faith, family, and country will not be silenced.

It always amazes me how Charlie chose to use his platform.

He had one of the largest microphones in the entire conservative movement.

And what did he do with it?

Day after day, week after week, he handed it to the very people who opposed him most.

The media tried to smear him

as some sort of dangerous radical.

But Charlie embodied something at the very core of our movement.

When people disagree with us, we don't silence them.

We don't destroy them.

And we certainly don't sink to violence.

We don't burn down their businesses.

We don't scream at their children at Disneyland.

No.

We debate.

We stand tall.

And we win with our ideas.

The true extremists are those who would justify and celebrate taking an innocent life.

over nothing more than disagreement.

That is the real radicalism, and we reject it completely.

Charlie delighted in his belief that people could be persuaded.

He believed the way to win hearts was with truth, with courage, and with conversation.

He would always be the first to say, you are welcome here.

And that's what I want to leave you with today.

If we're truly going to honor Charlie properly, his loss cannot be the end of the story.

His legacy must be that when they took his life, a million more Charlies stepped up to fill the void.

We are all Charlie.

So let's send a message here today, guys.

I want to make sure the world hears us loud and clear.

Will you surrender?

Will you back down?

Will you give up in fear?

Good.

if you're among the millions of people watching today

please see this and know you are not alone

Charlie's message like Christ's was an invitation

If this resonates with you and you believe American values are worth defending, welcome.

If you believe in faith, family, and freedom, then you are with us.

No matter your past,

no matter how you've voted,

no matter where you come from,

this movement is your home.

if you're not already seated at this table we have a seat prepared for you if you believe in God and family and country you are one of us

if you believe our government should put the interests of our citizens first welcome

If you believe American workers deserve dignity and American families should be able to afford a good life on one salary, welcome.

If you reject the propaganda of the fake news media, welcome.

If you want to eradicate the criminal cartels and get drugs out of our communities, welcome.

If you believe our best days are ahead and are willing to stand up to make America great again for your children and for generations to come, welcome.

Charlie loved this country, its people, and the work of persuading others to believe in something greater than themselves.

And if we live with that same courage, our legacy, like Charlie's, will live forever.

Charlie, my brother,

we love you,

we miss you, and we will not let you down.

And as the scripture promises,

well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of your Lord.

God bless and thank you so much.