Some 200,000 people turned out to honor Charlie Kirk on Sunday, including President Trump, who called the slain Turning Point USA founder “a patriot whose heart still had so much to give”
State Farm Stadium, which has a max capacity of 73,000 people, filled up within hours of doors opening at 8 a.m. local time, and organizers began turning away pilgrims who had traveled from across the country to honor the slain MAGA icon.
The Arizona Cardinals home stadium was packed to the rafters, giving the space the enthusiasm and fervor of a religious revival, where much of Trump’s cabinet and key White House staff joined Kirk’s grieving widow, Erika, for impassioned remarks in reverent reflection of his life and work.
“It is better to face a gunman than live your life afraid to face the truth,” he added.
Just before Trump took the stage, Erika Kirk, who was recently named the new CEO of Turning Point USA, stunned the crowd when she offered mercy and forgiveness to her late husband’s accused k!ller, Tyler Robinson.
“That young man. That young man. On the cross our savior said, ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’ — that man, that young man, I forgive him,” she said as the audience rose in a standing ovation, many of them in tears.
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did. And what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”
The headliner was Trump, who called Kirk “a Great American hero,” who drew huge crowds both in life and death.
“Charlie Kirk loved America with everything he had. And as we can see so clearly today, America loved Charlie Kirk,” Trump said.
“A great American hero, that’s what he is.”
Calling Kirk, “a martyr now for America,” the president said of his friend that his message will resonate even louder in death than it had in his short life.
“On that terrible day, September 10, 2025, our greatest evangelist for American liberty became immortal,” he said.
“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.”
Additional attendees were sent to the adjacent Desert Diamond Arena, home to the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes with a capacity crowd of 20,000.
Turning Point USA, Kirk’s organization, said 200,000 people registered for the event and cops on scene said they were estimating at least that many people turned out for the service — which features President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Kirk’s widow Erika.
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