After a week filled with tears, anger, bomb threats, and retaliation, Charlie Kirk will be celebrated one more time today in Arizona. The Cardinals' State Farm Stadium in Glendale is the venue, and overflow crowds are expected as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, as well as other prominent conservative voices, have promised to attend.
Kirk's creation, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), is hosting an event like no other to bring meaning to a brutal political assassination and a promise that there is a future without its enigmatic founder. In honoring the young leader, TPUSA sent out a public invitation to join "in celebrating the remarkable life and enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk, an American legend," whose "life was a testament to faith, courage, and conviction." It's expected to be a grand event, with more than 100,000 attendees.
The excitement - and maybe a bit of confusion - got started a day early, after Joshua Runkles was arrested Saturday for exhibiting suspicious behavior inside the venue. Runkles was found with multiple firearms, knives, and fake law enforcement badges. It seems he was impersonating the local police, but that's where the confusion then comes in. TPUSA later released a statement saying Runkles had been "doing advance security for a known guest planning to attend the memorial service," and that they didn't believe he was there for "anything nefarious." The advance wasn't done through the proper channels, however, and the Secret Service said they couldn't simply ignore his felonious police impersonation. Runkles was booked and then released on bond.
The Charlie Kirk Effect
Although Kirk claimed his parents were modern conservatives and faith-based, even as a teenager, he had more intense ideas and an innate understanding of branding. In 2010, Kirk hitched that energy onto a candidate for the US Senate in Illinois – a daunting task in the deep blue state. His candidate won, and Charlie was hit with the political bug. At 17, he wrote an op-ed piece for Breitbart alleging liberal bias in high-school textbooks. That led to a Fox News interview, and Charlie was on his way to gaining the conservative prominence sorely needed in the youth movement.
When Kirk was 18, he gave a speech at St. Benedictine University, where he met Bill Montgomery. Thirty days later, Montgomery and Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA as a "grass-roots organization to rival progressive groups such as MoveOn.org." It was due to his presence at the 2012 Republican National Convention that Charlie met wealthy Republican donor Foster Friess and, during the weeklong event, persuaded the man to make the first grant of $10K to the newly inked non-profit.
Under Kirk's leadership, branding, and Trump-like events on college campuses, Turning Point transformed into one of the country's largest political organizations. He wrote books, hosted a popular podcast, and by 2025, TPUSA had chapters at more than 2,000 college and high school campuses. After Charlie's passing, his youth-inspired organization received over 32,000 inquiries about forming a chapter in high schools and colleges nationwide.
Donald Trump and JD Vance adopted Kirk as a de facto son and brother. The president spoke on Fox News: "Don [Donald Trump Jr] said to me, 'He's sort of like a son to you.' He started this really during what would normally be college. And it's become a movement. I've never seen young people, or any group, go to one person like they did to Charlie."
Kirk's charismatic personality and keen political sense helped sway the 18–25 voter demographic ten points toward Republicans – a target achieved in the 2024 election. It was an impact of epic proportions.
Vance attributes Charlie for his selection as Trump's running mate: "Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives." Between Charlie and Eric Trump, Donald Trump was convinced of the advantage of Vance as a running mate.
"He introduced me to some of the people who would run my campaign and also to Donald Trump Jr.," Trump's eldest son, who "took a call from me because Charlie asked."
"When I became the VP nominee – something Charlie advocated for both in public and private – Charlie was there for me."
The Movement Will Continue
If 2024 is any indication, the youth movement in conservative voting is not ending anytime soon. As Charlie's widow, Erika Kirk has taken the reins as CEO of TPUSA. Grief will propel the organization into uncharted waters, without the young man who changed a nation. Erika has already announced that the fall tours of colleges will continue, and TPUSA will keep spreading the mission her husband had begun.
"They have no idea what they just ignited within this wife. If they thought my husband's mission was big now," she added in a caption. "You have no idea."
It will be an emotional journey for conservatives as they officially say goodbye to the best, the brightest, and the most critical thinker of the MAGA movement. Mourners will have stadium access at 8 a.m. local time, with the program scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. The venue, the largest in the state, advises that although there are more than 63,000 seats, admission is first-come, first-served.
Erika will speak, and her message is said to be inspirational and a call for becoming better Americans.
"The world is evil," she wrote on social media. "The sound of this widow weeping echoes throughout this world like a battle cry. I have no idea what any of this means. But baby, I know you do, and so does our Lord."
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