Sunday's massive, televised memorial service for Charlie Kirk contained grace notes that were simply breathtaking to behold. "That young man…I forgive him," said Kirk's widow Erika, speaking of alleged killer Tyler Robinson. "I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it's what Charlie would do."
Yet such a profound expression of grief and forgiveness was overwhelmed by the crassly political messaging voiced by speakers such as President Donald Trump, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, and media hypeman Tucker Carlson. By using the occasion to score cheap partisan points and indulge in weird personal obsessions, they managed to drag the service into Idiocracy meets The Hunger Games territory. Indeed, far from being the launching pad for "the storm" and the "awaken[ing]" of the "dragon" that Miller prophesied, Sunday's event may well represent the high-water mark of Trump's final term and the crescendo of MAGA more broadly as the negative and unpopular effects of his policies become unmistakable.
Taking the stage after Erika Kirk, Trump averred, "He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them." While some Trump supporters insist that the president was engaging in a self-deprecating display to honor Charlie Kirk's memory, even they show discomfort. As PJ Media's Tim O'Brien grants, "On paper or online, this is an easy line to misread. A short video clip of it may also remove tone and context. To be fair, Trump's patented deadpan delivery doesn't help with some people, who, even when they watch him say his words, still aren't able to pick up his self-deprecation. Then, of course, is the fact that there is a certain degree of truth in what he says."
