JD Vance Delivers Powerful Tribute at Charlie Kirk Memorial: A Movement Leader's Legacy

[00:00] [Applause]

[00:04] [Music]

[00:16] Thank you. Thank you all so much. You

[00:19] know

[00:50] You know, I can't help but think

[00:53] that they tried tried to silence my

[00:56] friend Charlie Kirk. They tried to

[00:58] silence our dear friend Charlie Kirk.

[01:02] And today, tonight, we speak with

[01:05] Charlie and for Charlie louder than

[01:08] ever.

[01:17] The evil murderer who took Charlie from

[01:20] us expected us to have a funeral today.

[01:24] And instead, my friends, we have had a

[01:27] revival in celebration of Charlie Kirk

[01:30] and of his Lord Jesus Christ.

[01:39] We gather here in this stadium

[01:43] in the hot Arizona sun shielded

[01:46] in a great shining city our fathers

[01:49] raised out of the desert. And from this

[01:53] desert, Charlie Kirk built a movement.

[01:57] He transformed the face of conservatism

[02:00] in our own time. And in doing so, he

[02:03] changed the course of American history.

[02:07] To rising generations across this

[02:09] country,

[02:11] Charlie exemplified kindness, courage,

[02:14] and a commitment to open debate. And he

[02:17] was a great debater and we loved him for

[02:19] it. But Charlie loved debate not because

[02:23] he excelled at it, but because it was

[02:25] the vehicle for bringing the light of

[02:27] truth to dark places. And Charlie Kirk

[02:31] brought many truths in his life.

[02:39] Charlie brought the truth that young

[02:41] people deserved a stake in the future

[02:44] and that they deserved to have a voice.

[02:48] He brought the truth that marriage and

[02:50] family were the highest callings, far

[02:53] more important than any job or

[02:55] educational credential. He brought the

[02:59] truth

[03:00] that our nation would fade unless it

[03:03] brought order to its neighborhoods and

[03:06] prosperity to its people. He brought the

[03:09] truth that life was precious and we must

[03:13] fight to protect it at all stages and at

[03:16] all times.

[03:24] But most of all, Charlie brought the

[03:27] truth that Jesus Christ was the King of

[03:30] Kings and that all truth flowed from

[03:32] this first and most important one.

[03:42] But Charlie, he did so much more than

[03:44] tell the truth. He lived it. Charlie

[03:47] understood that the best evangelization

[03:49] was not in what you said, but in how you

[03:52] lived your life. And in this city, he

[03:55] lived his life well. He raised a

[03:57] wonderful family. He had a beautiful

[04:00] wife, two beloved children, and a loving

[04:03] and godly home. In this, he showed us

[04:06] the importance of family. He lived three

[04:09] decades. He had on this earth with a

[04:12] sense of Christian virtue that would

[04:14] make any man, any person proud. And in

[04:17] this, he showed the importance of

[04:19] following God.

[04:21] He was a kind-hearted man, a

[04:23] hard-working person, and any parent

[04:26] would be proud to have him as a son. In

[04:29] this, he showed the virtue of

[04:31] industriousness.

[04:33] He was present and loving, as any child

[04:36] would hope, of his or her father. And in

[04:39] this, he showed the importance of strong

[04:42] Christian fatherhood.

[04:52] He was fearless and he was bold as any

[04:55] follower would hope would be true of a

[04:57] leader. And in this he showed all of us

[05:00] how to carry on after his death. You

[05:04] know, Charlie Kirky loved history. He

[05:06] devoured the ideas that formed the

[05:09] foundation of our civilization. He stood

[05:12] for a tradition that Socrates

[05:14] established 2500 years ago to question,

[05:19] to search, and to teach. He was Athens

[05:23] and Jerusalem, the city of reason and

[05:27] the city of God in one person. But if he

[05:30] loved those places,

[05:33] they were not his home. America was his

[05:36] home, and he was willing to die for it.

[05:47] You know, Charlie, he loved this country

[05:49] with a contagious intensity. Anybody who

[05:52] talked to him knew it and felt it. He

[05:55] knew that America was a beautiful place

[05:57] and we had these incredible ideas. But

[06:00] he also knew that our country was a

[06:02] covenant between the generations past,

[06:05] present, and future. He believed this

[06:08] country's best days were not behind us,

[06:10] but ahead of us. But he knew those

[06:12] better days would have to be earned.

[06:14] They would have to be worked for. We

[06:16] would have to sacrifice and work and

[06:19] tell the truth. He knew that America

[06:22] wouldn't be saved just by pulling

[06:23] together seminars or talking about the

[06:26] right kind of books in front of the

[06:27] right kind of people. The movement which

[06:31] he created demanded more. It demanded

[06:34] courage. It demanded hard work. It

[06:37] demanded building. And it demanded

[06:39] leaders. And my friends in Charlie Kirk,

[06:42] we found a great American leader.

[06:53] Now, our whole administration is here,

[06:55] but not just because we love Charlie as

[06:57] a friend, even though we did, but

[06:59] because we know we wouldn't be here

[07:02] without him. Charlie built an

[07:05] organization

[07:07] that reshaped the balance of our

[07:10] politics.

[07:11] Turning Point brought millions of young

[07:14] people into conversation with one

[07:16] another, brought millions of people into

[07:18] advocacy. He asked of us not just that

[07:21] we talk about saving our country, but

[07:23] that we actually go and do it and we do

[07:26] it together.

[07:36] But even as Charlie built on a grand

[07:38] scale, his greatness was e never only in

[07:41] his ambition. It was measured in the

[07:44] everyday moments as well, in the way

[07:46] that he treated ordinary people each and

[07:49] every single day. You know, you learn a

[07:52] lot about someone by how they treat

[07:55] others when the cameras aren't on.

[07:59] Charlie treated staffers as well as he

[08:01] treated the president of the United

[08:03] States. When I was just a guy polling at

[08:06] nothing in my Senate race back in 2021,

[08:10] Charlie helped me. Not because I was a

[08:12] future vice president, but because I was

[08:15] a dear friend. I saw just a couple of

[08:18] months ago when a White House staffer

[08:20] struggled with the weight of his job and

[08:22] the responsibilities of new fatherhood.

[08:25] Charlie stopped what he was doing in the

[08:28] hallways of the West Wing and said a

[08:31] prayer for that staffer.

[08:33] Because Charlie believed that we were

[08:35] all children of God, he treated everyone

[08:38] with grace. And that is perhaps the

[08:41] enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk. You

[08:43] know, I was telling somebody backstage

[08:49] that I always felt a little

[08:50] uncomfortable talking about my faith in

[08:52] public. As much as I loved the Lord and

[08:55] as much as it it was an important part

[08:57] of my life, I have talked more about

[09:00] Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than

[09:03] I have my entire time in public life.

[09:27] And that is an undeniable legacy of the

[09:30] great Charlie Kirk. You know, he loved

[09:33] God. And because he loved God, he wanted

[09:36] to understand God's creation and the men

[09:39] and women made in his image. Now, much

[09:43] has been said over the last week about

[09:46] Charlie's ability to approach any topic,

[09:49] any person in good faith, an achievement

[09:51] that was only possible because Charlie

[09:55] knew that we were all children of God.

[09:59] He knew deep down the truth of

[10:02] scripture. And from that confidence,

[10:04] everything else flowed. That unshakable

[10:07] belief in the gospel led him to see

[10:10] differences in opinion not as

[10:12] battlefields to conquer, but as way

[10:15] stations in the pursuit of truth.

[10:19] He knew it was right to love others,

[10:22] your neighbor, your interlocutor,

[10:25] your enemy.

[10:27] But he also understood his duty to say

[10:29] what is right and what is wrong. To

[10:32] distinguish what is false from what is

[10:35] true.

[10:45] Charlie was slain doing what he loved,

[10:49] telling the truth, proclaiming his

[10:51] faith, building out a dream. And now

[10:55] he's gone. And our hearts feel so empty

[10:58] because he's been taken from us.

[11:01] He has been taken from his parents and

[11:03] from his sister. He has been taken from

[11:06] our darling Erica and their beautiful

[11:08] children. And Erica, I know I speak for

[11:11] this entire auditorium when I say that

[11:14] we love you and we will never stop

[11:16] standing by your side just as Charlie

[11:19] did.

[11:31] He was taken from us

[11:33] by those who despise

[11:36] the virtues that actually made our

[11:39] civilization great to begin with.

[11:43] Dialogue, truth seeeking, family, and

[11:47] faith.

[11:49] In the wake of his death, we have seen

[11:52] some of the very worst parts of

[11:54] humanity.

[11:56] We have watched people slander him. We

[11:59] have watched people justify his murder

[12:02] and celebrate his death.

[12:06] I know that this makes you angry just as

[12:09] it has made me angry. But it is easy in

[12:12] these moments to see only the worst of

[12:15] our fellow man.

[12:17] I found myself wishing that I could pick

[12:20] up the phone and talk to my friend and

[12:24] ask him for his advice in his counsel

[12:27] to ask him how to respond to such hate

[12:30] and the souls from which that hate

[12:32] springs.

[12:34] But I can't call my friend because he

[12:37] was murdered for speaking the truth.

[12:40] I can only guess at what he might say

[12:43] and what he would encourage me to do.

[12:46] And here's what I think.

[12:49] I think he would encourage me to be

[12:51] honest that evil still walks among us.

[12:55] Not to ignore it for the sake of a fake

[12:58] kumbaya moment, but to address it headon

[13:01] and honestly as the sickness that it is.

[13:14] But I also think he would encourage me,

[13:17] he would encourage all of us to focus on

[13:20] the good. He would encourage us to

[13:22] remember that for every hateful voice

[13:25] celebrating his murder, there are a

[13:27] thousand people mourning it and fighting

[13:29] for his legacy every single day.

[13:40] He would tell me to pray. I'm certain of

[13:43] it.

[13:44] He would tell me to pray for my friends,

[13:46] but also for my enemies.

[13:50] He would tell me to put on the full

[13:52] armor of God and get back to work.

[14:04] He would tell us to commit ourselves to

[14:07] telling the truth and to fight for that

[14:09] truth each and every single day.

[14:13] He would tell us to talk about God's

[14:15] love and the fact that that love applied

[14:19] everybody across the whole human family.

[14:24] Charlie suffered a terrible fate, my

[14:27] friends. We all know it. We all saw it.

[14:30] But think, it is not the worst fate. It

[14:35] is better to face a gunman than to live

[14:38] your life afraid to speak the truth.

[14:50] It is better to be persecuted for your

[14:52] faith than to deny the kingship of

[14:55] Christ.

[15:02] It is better to die a young man in this

[15:05] world than to sell your soul for an easy

[15:08] life with no purpose, no risk, no love,

[15:10] and no truth.

[15:19] Christ told us in the Gospel of John, I

[15:21] have said these things to you that in me

[15:24] you may have peace.

[15:27] In the world you will have tribulation,

[15:30] but take heart. I have overcome the

[15:33] world.

[15:42] Charlie took heart. And now we must do

[15:47] the same. I've seen so many of you say,

[15:50] so many on social media talk about for

[15:53] Charlie. We must do this for Charlie.

[15:56] For Charlie, we will speak the truth

[15:59] every single day.

[16:03] [Music]

[16:09] For Charlie, we will rebuild this United

[16:12] States of America to greatness.

[16:20] For Charlie, we will never shrink. We

[16:22] will never cower. And we will never

[16:24] falter even when staring down the barrel

[16:27] of a gun.

[16:35] For Charlie, we will remember that it is

[16:38] better to stand on our feet defending

[16:41] the United States of America and

[16:43] defending the truth than it is to die on

[16:46] our knees.

[16:53] My friends, for Charlie, we must

[16:56] remember that he is a hero to the United

[16:58] States of America and he is a martyr for

[17:01] the Christian faith. May our heavenly

[17:03] father give us the courage to live as

[17:06] Charlie lived. That is what we must do

[17:09] for Charlie. You ran a good race, my

[17:12] friend. I love you. We've got it from

[17:14] here. Thank you.

[17:24] [Music]