The Daily Populous Monday September 22nd, 2025 evening edition
Authored by inews.co.uk and submitted by theipaper

Evangelical Christian nationalism is now centre-stage

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WASHINGTON DC – If any lingering doubts existed about where the Republican Party’s centre of gravity now resides, Charlie Kirk’s memorial service on Sunday provided a moment of clarity.

As more than 100,000 people gathered at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, to pay tribute to the conservative activist who was killed on a Utah university campus on 10 September, seemingly the entire pantheon of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement was present to honour Kirk’s memory. The event also seemed to place Kirk’s Christian nationalist ideological message at the very heart of Republican politics.

The memorial was a place for true believers to express their agony over the killing of the Turning Point USA founder. The slogan “I Am Charlie” was emblazoned on signs, shirts, bumper stickers and vehicles as thousands queued from dawn for a chance to attend the memorial event.

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As he left Washington to attend the ceremony, Trump told reporters that Kirk “had a tremendous influence. He had a hold on youth because they loved him, they respected him”.

Trump, who likely would not have secured the keys to the Oval Office without the support of Kirk’s followers, argued that his fallen friend had changed politics in America by taking uncompromising conservative messages to university campuses, which were previously considered no-go areas by the right.

“Our whole administration is here, but not just because we loved Charlie as a friend-… but because we know we wouldn’t be here without him,” Vice President JD Vance said.

Those in attendance included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, and scores of other prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Donald Trump speaks during the public memorial service for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP)

The event reflected the fusion of right-wing ideology with the evangelical Christian faith that Kirk epitomised. Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson told Fox News – which provided live coverage all day from Glendale – that Kirk was a “true martyr in the true Christian sense”. Johnson also said that Kirk’s critics “wanted a funeral… and what they got was a spiritual awakening and a revival”.

Trump equated the memorial with “an old-time revival”.

As the service got under way, Elon Musk – also in attendance – posted on X that “Charlie was murdered by the Dark for showing people the Light”. Speaker after speaker embraced that imagery, arguing that Kirk was in the vanguard of a battle between good and evil, with nothing less than the fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff, warned Republicans’ opponents that “you have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save our civilisation, to save the West, to save this republic”.

Hegseth described Kirk as “a citizen who wore the biblical armour of a soldier”.

Erika Kirk wipes away tears as she speaks about her slain husband (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP)

Kirk’s widow, Erika, seemed to shift the event’s tone by saying she is ready to forgive Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of murdering her husband. “I forgive him because it is what Christ did,” she said. “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from gospel, is love and always love. Love for our enemies and those who persecute us”.

But moments later, Trump branded Kirk’s killer a “radicalised, cold-blooded monster”. He said he disagreed with Kirk’s philosophy of loving even your opponent. “He did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them,” Trump said. “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them,” he said, while apologising to Mrs Kirk and indicating he was open to efforts to change his mind.

Some speakers amplified Kirk’s call for an America in which the separation of church and state should be over-ridden in order to allow Christianity to influence law-making.

Kirk envisioned Christian nationalism at the centre of American life, with the church instructing the public on who to marry, how to manage their finances, and who to vote for.

Erika Kirk may now be poised to become a significant political figure in her own right. The White House views Kirk’s assassination as a crossroads in America, with the President pledging to root out the “radical left Democrat lunatics” that he blames for funding and supporting political violence against the right.

Trump and Vance are also trying to galvanise Republican voters, urging them to deliver the party a massive win in next year’s mid-term elections in honour of Kirk’s memory.

For moderate Republicans – the Bushes, the Romneys, the Cheneys – Sunday’s memorial likely served as final notice that their days in the party’s firmament are over. It is now Trump’s party, with Kirk assisting him first in life, now in death.

From Arizona, the word went out on Sunday that even more radical faith-based change is needed in America, and Kirk’s followers fervently believe that his legacy will be the deliverance of it.

Imaginary_Builder_56 on September 22nd, 2025 at 11:26 UTC »

Here We Go Again....

Horst Wessel: A local SA leader in Berlin, Wessel was killed in 1930. After his death, Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels turned him into a martyr for the Nazi cause, with Hitler attended and speaking at Wessel's widely publicized memorial. In Hitlers address, he called Wessel a martyr and that the radical left was to blame, his speech was not one of unity but was filled with martyrdom with patriotism. Hitler turned Wessels funeral event into one of his campaign rallies, draped in NAZI regalia where he used a mix of both mournful and defiant ideas combined with a Christian faith-based threat to left-wing ideology, which Hitler vowed to defeat. Wessels mother (Bertha) called for the attendees to extend forgiveness at his memorial but Hitler in his follow-up speech called for retribution, payback and punishment.

Charlie Kirk: A Trump ally and leader of the Christian faith based Turning Point was killed. After his death, Steven Miller help organize his eulogy with Trump in attendance. Trump eulogized Charlie Kirk as a “martyr,” and decried his killing as a threat to the entire country. "Trump was the final speech in an hours long celebration of Kirk’s life that blended Christian themes of martyrdom with patriotism. Billed as a memorial service for Kirk, the event swapped common funerary ornamentation for a neon lighted rock concert with a MAGA America atmosphere, blending the feeling of one of Trump's campaign rallies with one of Turning Point’s own events and an evangelical megachurch worship service. Kirk's wife asked those in attendance to love their enemies and for forgiveness. Speaking after her, Trump said: “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them,” then added: “Sorry Erika.

Anyone else hear the echoes of history?

Less_Dimension_1019 on September 22nd, 2025 at 09:58 UTC »

Donald Trump is the archetype for everything that’s wrong with America. Callous, careless, cruel, ignorant, lazy, arrogant, narcissistic, devious, crude, selfish, paranoid, greedy, power hungry, cowardly, irresponsible, sexually deviant, destructive, manipulative, violent, and delusional.

cugeltheclever2 on September 22nd, 2025 at 09:18 UTC »

Just once I would like a major media outlet to call it and say "This is batshit insane." So much has been normalised.