From Hymns to Hatred: MAGA Leaders Turn Kirk Tribute Into Megachurch Spectacle

GLENDALE — For most of Sunday’s Charlie Kirk memorial, mourners spoke in hushed tones about faith, family, and the need for conservatives to carry Kirk’s mission forward. Kirk’s widow forgave his assassin, JD Vance invoked revival, and for a fleeting moment the event resembled an actual service of healing.

Then Trump and Stephen Miller took the stage.

Breaking from the choir of unity, Trump announced that unlike Kirk he “hates his opponents” and has no interest in wishing them well. “That’s just not in my DNA,” he said, before drifting into Chicago crime statistics and his usual campaign banter.

Miller, meanwhile, skipped the pretense altogether. “We will honor Charlie by doubling down on hate,” he proclaimed, promising to channel grief into “righteous retribution.”

Observers noted the whiplash between Erika Kirk’s quiet forgiveness of her husband’s assassin and the administration’s vow to keep the flames of resentment burning. “It was touching,” one attendee said, “to go from ‘Father forgive them’ straight into ‘Father smite them.’”

The contrast left some attendees with emotional whiplash. “One minute we were forgiving like Christ, the next minute we were chanting for blood,” said one memorial-goer, still clutching a commemorative candle. “I’m heartbroken Charlie’s gone, but honestly I don’t know—are we supposed to love people more, or just hate them harder? I’m really confused.”