Trump to posthumously honor ally Charlie Kirk with Presidential Medal of Freedom

U.S. President Donald Trump has taken the death of the ultra-conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a personal matter. He considered him family. Not only that: politically, Kirk — who was shot dead on Wednesday while participating in a debate at Utah Valley University in Orem — was one of his closest allies and played a key role in the youth mobilization that fueled the MAGA movement and Trump’s own return to the White House last November.

On Thursday, Trump canceled almost all of his plans to extensively commemorate the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Melania Trump, and the vice president and second lady, J.D. and Usha Vance, to meet with Kirk’s family and offer support to his widow and two children.

The U.S. president did attend an event at the Pentagon, where he announced that Kirk will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “We miss him greatly,” he said at the start of his remarks, at a podium placed at the site where the terrorists’ plane struck the Pentagon on 9/11, killing 184 people. “I have no doubt that Charlie’s voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people, especially young people, will live on. I’m pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk posthumously the Medal of Freedom,” said Trump. “I can only guarantee you one thing - that we will have a very big crowd. Very, very big.”

Recorded message

Trump had reacted strongly to Kirk’s death on Wednesday, which he confirmed on his social media. He described it as “a dark moment for America” in a message just over four minutes long, recorded in the Oval Office. In it, he placed full blame on the “radical left” for the circumstances that led to Kirk’s assassination, perhaps overlooking the fact that political violence — an epidemic on the rise — claims victims on both sides of the political spectrum in an extremely polarized country.

“It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” Trump added.

His administration, he promised, “will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence.” “Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many live,” said Trump.

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