President presented award to Kirk’s widow, Erika, on what would have been the far-right commentator’s 32nd birthday
Donald Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, to the assassinated far-right commentator Charlie Kirk at the White House on Tuesday.
Kirk, who was shot at an event at Utah Valley University in September, was among the most significant rightwing activists in the modern political era, galvanizing a younger generation of conservatives to engage in politics and support Trump’s candidacy ahead of the 2024 election.
But Kirk was also polarizing through his rhetoric, which often criticized gay and transgender rights. He made suggestions that the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a “mistake”. Some critics have argued tributes to him elevated extremist views that stoked division.
“So one month after Charlie’s death, we still feel the terrible shock and the pain of his loss like just about nobody I can think of. Charlie Kirk was one of a kind, and he was unstoppable,“ Trump said from the Rose Garden, where Kirk’s widow, Erika, accepted the award on her late husband’s behalf.
