Conservative star Charlie Kirk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a packed ceremony in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, a month after he was assassinated while speaking on a Utah college campus.
President Trump, who credits Kirk with helping him win the 2024 election by boosting turnout among young voters, awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor to his wife, Erika, on what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. The ceremony was moved outside to accommodate the crowd.
“We’re entering his name forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes. He’s a true American hero, an amazing person, way, way beyond his years,” Mr. Trump said. “He loved this country.”
Kirk was one of the most influential young stars of the MAGA movement when he was gunned down on Sept. 10 as he engaged in a Q&A-style debate with students on the campus green of Utah Valley University.
His death provoked outrage and led to a surge in enthusiasm for Kirk’s cause.
Kirk’s Turning Point USA, which he co-founded in 2012 to promote conservative viewpoints, particularly free speech, has experienced a significant surge in donations and participation in the past month, organization officials said.
Spokesman Andrew Kolvet said tens of thousands of new chapter requests and high-dollar donations from high schools and colleges have poured in. The organization has carried on Kirk’s campus tour schedule with more than three dozen guest hosts, among them Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and conservative media stars Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson.
“There’s nobody that had that relationship with young people,” Mr. Trump said in the Rose Garden.
Turning Point will sponsor “The All-American Halftime Show” during the Super Bowl to counter the NFL-sanctioned performance by music artist Bad Bunny, a staunch Trump critic.
“It’s become bigger in the last few weeks than Charlie ever thought,” Mr. Trump told the Rose Garden crowd. “He put America first, he really put it first.”
Mrs. Kirk has taken over her husband’s role leading Turning Point.
In a poignant social post Friday, she described her adjustment to life after Kirk’s death. The couple shared two children, ages 3 and 1.
“I carry my Charlie in every breath, in every ache, and in every quiet act of day-to-day living as I attempt to relearn what that rhythm will be.
“And what I’ve realized through these past 30 days is the greater the suffering, the purer the love. And I have never loved him more than I do now,” she posted on X.
At the podium in the Rose Garden, Mrs. Kirk wiped away tears and thanked Mr. Trump.
She called the Medal of Freedom “the best birthday gift” for Kirk.
“It’s such an honor for a life lived defending freedom, and that is what Charlie fought for until his last breath,” she said.
Mrs. Kirk addressed the thousands of young people involved in TPUSA chapters.
“You are the heartbeat of this future and of this movement, everything that Charlie built, you guys are the legacy holders of that. You are living proof that his mission did not die with him,” she said.
Kirk was 18 when he founded TPUSA. He subsequently founded Turning Point Action in 2019, the grassroots political advocacy arm of TPUSA, to help elect conservatives. Mr. Trump said Kirk “made it happen” in the 2024 presidential election, and without him, “who knows what might have happened. Maybe you would have Kamala standing here.”
In 2021, Kirk founded Turning Point Faith, calling on Christians nationwide to “boldly stand for truth, liberty, and The Kingdom.”
His movement expanded into a global enterprise. Just days before his assassination, he spoke out in South Korea about political and religious freedom amid a crackdown.
“Do you know what the best way to fight totalitarianism and dictators is? It’s for good people to rise up together,” Kirk told the gathering of conservatives at the Build Up Korea 2025 conference. “I will never forget South Korea, and I will return if you need me. Your fight is our fight. So, let’s stand together. Let’s fight for South Korea.”
Mr. Trump called Kirk a visionary, wise beyond his years, who knew the “fight to preserve our heritage” included the hearts of young people.
“That is where Charlie rode the strongest,” Mr. Trump said.
The man charged with killing Kirk faces the death penalty in Utah if convicted.
Prosecutors said they have a mountain of evidence tying Tyler Robinson, 22, to the shooting. Mr. Robinson confessed to the crime to his family and his boyfriend and said he shot Kirk because he believed he was “spreading hate.”
The left frequently attacked Kirk for views he expressed in viral videos of his college campus debates with students, with whom he engaged during his “Prove Me Wrong” sessions. Kirk debated students on diversity, equity and inclusion, abortion, transgenderism and other hot-button issues.
Mr. Trump reflected on the string of violent incidents involving left-wing culprits.
The president received a round of applause when he said his administration was digging into the financing of left-wing protests that have turned violent.
He attacked Jay Jones, Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general, who called for the shooting deaths of his political opponents and their children. The president also recalled his near-assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, when a bullet fired by a young gunman grazed his ear and came within an inch of likely killing him as he turned his head at the last second.
“They seem to become very violent, on the left. They’ve rammed vehicles into federal law enforcement, fired sniper rifles and ICE agents,” Mr. Trump said. “And me, you know, but I made a turn at a good time. I turned to the right.”
Kirk was on the first stop of his 2025-2026 tour when he was assassinated while answering a question about an uptick in mass murders committed by transgender people.
“He was assassinated in the prime of his life, for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America,” Mr. Trump said. “He lived for this country.”
