The Charlie Kirk Memorial Was a MAGA Rally

“My friends, for Charlie, we must remember that he is a hero to the United States of America and he is a martyr for the Christian faith,” Vance said at the event. “He would tell me to pray, I’m certain of it. He would tell me to pray for my friends, but also for my enemies. He would tell me to put on the full armor of God and get back to work.”

Assuming the vice airhead is quoting the book of Ephesians, to put on the “armor of God” involves—among other things—a “belt of truth” and a “breastplate of righteousness.” Ironic coming from the man who’s admitted to being a serial liar for the sake of demonizing immigrants.

But religion and irony were a central theme in Sunday’s events, where speakers verged on messianic delusion in their eulogies. Donald Trump called Kirk the “greatest evangelist for American liberty”; Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked about the resurrection of Jesus; and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared the start of a “spiritual war.” Kirk’s friends remembered him as a “prophet and a martyr” and his widow (and the new CEO of Turning Point USA), Erika Kirk, took a slightly different approach, saying of her husband’s shooter: “I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do.”

Vance has been front and center of MAGA mourning; aside from his eulogy on Sunday, last week he personally escorted Kirk’s casket from Utah to Arizona on Air Force 2, and guest-hosted The Charlie Kirk Show from the literal White House. While the two had reportedly been friends for eight years, it’s not a stretch to speculate that Vance could be capitalizing on a pivotal moment in his political career. Vance has not yet explicitly said that he’ll seek the presidency in 2028, but he has been in what the Guardian dubbed “soft-launch mode.”

“You know, I can’t help but think that they tried to silence my friend, Charlie Kirk,” Vance said on Sunday. “Now, we speak with Charlie and for Charlie louder than ever… For Charlie, we will remember that it is better to stand on our feet defending the United States of America and defending the truth than it is to die on our knees.”

• At the Kirk event, Trump a) announced, “I think we found an answer to autism,” and b) cozied up to Elon Musk, months after their public Twitter feud. (Washington Post, New Yorker)
• During his Kirk eulogy, Steve Bannon called teachers “terrorists.” [Daily Beast]
• The Trump administration canned the annual hunger survey. [Wall Street Journal]
• Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, reportedly accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents, but the Department of Justice shut the investigation down. [MSNBC]
• Trump chastised Attorney General Pam Bondi on Truth Social, demanding criminal charges against Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), James Comey, and New York AG Letitia James. [Politico]
• Trump alluded to Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch being a part of the U.S.-China TikTok deal. [Guardian]
• Markwayne Mullin made some bad estimations. [Twitter/Aaron Rupar]