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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
J Oliver Conroy

‘The devil is not gonna win’: how Charlie Kirk became a Christian nationalist martyr

people wear shirts that read 'thank you Charlie a true patriot'
People visit a memorial for Charlie Kirk outside the headquarters of Turning Point USA in Phoenix, Arizona, on 18 September 2025. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Christian nationalists in the US are positioning Charlie Kirk as a martyr for their movement, one that has grown in popularity and whose rise was intertwined with Kirk’s own political ascent.

After Kirk’s killing, his widow, Erika Kirk, wrote on social media that the “world is evil”, but God “so good.” The “sound of this widow weeping [echoes] throughout this world like a battle cry,” she said. “They have no idea what they just ignited within this wife.”

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