At what was meant to be a solemn farewell for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump managed to show the service right into a spectacle, dancing, smiling, and awkwardly embracing Kirk’s widow in scenes many stated appeared extra like a marketing campaign rally than a funeral.
Observers famous that as an alternative of showing visibly shaken or grief-stricken, Trump closed the ceremony swaying to “America the Lovely,” grinning for cameras, and gesturing like he was onstage at one in every of his rallies. At one level, he pulled Erika Kirk beside him as he sang alongside and waved, the pair framed by flashing lights and roaring applause.
The optics fueled widespread criticism.
Commenters on-line referred to as the second “unusual,” “low cost,” and “grotesque,” saying it stripped the occasion of gravity and turned grief into pageantry.
“That wasn’t mourning—it was mobilizing,” one individual wrote. Others argued the show confirmed that Trump was extra invested within the highlight and movement-building than in honoring a life minimize quick.
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Supporters countered that Kirk’s life’s work was political and that his funeral mirrored his mission of registering younger conservatives to vote. However even some on the fitting conceded that Trump’s smiling send-off, full with rally-style vibes, jarred in opposition to expectations of a conventional memorial.
Clips of Trump singing and dancing whereas embracing Kirk’s widow had been reshared on an Instagram political satire web page, sainthoax, the place Trump was mercilessly mocked. In simply two hours, it had already garnered 61,000 likes.
“This nation is next-level unhinged,” one individual wrote. “Oh, they positively did it,” one viewer wrote, adopted by a laughing emoji.
“Appears extra like a celebration fairly than a funeral mourning somebody who was killed,” one other viewer wrote on Instagram.
Many in attendance and watching on-line additionally famous Trump appeared to go to sleep throughout elements of the service, a second critics rapidly tied to different public lapses.
On the U.S. Open finals earlier this month, Trump was seen nodding off, and cameras caught him struggling to remain awake throughout White Home occasions over the summer season. On the time, Charlamagne Tha God even referred to as Trump out throughout an look on “The Each day Present,” the place he pulled up an inventory of dementia signs from the Mayo Clinic — then rolled footage of Trump over the previous yr displaying indicators of every one.
Psychologist John Gartner, a former assistant professor at Johns Hopkins College Medical Faculty, has additionally steered that Trump reveals indicators of “early dementia,” in keeping with reviews.
Nonetheless, many on-line commenters described the service as a political manufacturing.
“They referred to as it a funeral for Charlie Kirk, however inside State Farm Stadium it was a Trump rally—voter cubicles, indicators screaming ‘Charlie desires you to register to vote,’” one critic wrote on Threads.
Conservative voices pushed again.
“It was a funeral for Kirk and Kirk was outspokenly in help of getting folks registered to vote,” one wrote. “Simply because Trump was there doesn’t make it a ‘Trump rally.’ … Don’t rejoice loss of life and allow us to mourn, it’s that straightforward.”
The divides underscored Kirk’s polarizing legacy and the tensions surrounding his loss of life.
Some progressives accused Trump of exploiting the killing, whereas others on the fitting accused Democrats of celebrating it.
One commenter went so far as to name the assassination a “false flag.”
“Right this moment’s phrase is dropped at you by the White Home. False Flag: An act dedicated with the intent of disguising the precise supply of duty and pinning blame on one other celebration,” the individual wrote.
Trump’s look highlighted his uneven responses to political violence. After Kirk’s loss of life, he swiftly lowered flags to half workers and referred to as it “a darkish second for America,” saying plans to award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But in June, when Minnesota Home Speaker Melissa Hortman was assassinated alongside her husband, Trump didn’t attend the funeral and later disregarded questions on decreasing flags.
Critics have accused Trump of displaying sympathy solely when conservatives are focused. At Kirk’s service, he once more framed political violence as a one-sided phenomenon.
Kirk’s assassination has rattled conservatives, with MAGA figures like Elon Musk and Steve Bannon vowing retaliation and civil battle. Trump, in the meantime, used the Arizona memorial to each eulogize an ally and reinforce his MAGA motion.
