Trump at Kirk mourning celebration: “I hate my opponent”

Eleven days after the fatal assassination attempt on the ultra-right US activists and er Charlie Kirk, his widow Erika called up the United States for reconciliation. “The answer to hate is not hate,” she said on Sunday at the funeral service for her husband in Glendale in the US state of Arizona. She forgive the assassin. US President Donald Trump, on the other hand, emphasized that he “hate” his left opponents and asked the crowd: “Fights, fights, fights!”

The funeral service took place in a football stadium near Phoenix filled to the last seat, in which more than 60,000 people had gathered. According to the US media, thousands were pursuing the event outside on large screens.

When Erika Kirk stepped onto the stage in a white trouser suit with a cross on the chest and looked towards the sky, cheers broke out. Her husband fulfilled his work “God’s will”, said his widow. She has taken over the management of Kirk’s youth organization Turning Point USA (turning point USA), which advertises at schools and universities for radical right positions.

The assassin said Erika Kirk said: “This young man, I give him”. The crowd applauded her as she wiped the tears out of sight. “This is what Christ did and what Charlie would do,” she added.

US President Trump, on the other hand, said Kirk murdered by a “radicalized, cold-blooded monster cruel”. He again criticized the “radical left”. The attack was an “attack on the United States of America,” said the President. The perpetrator directed the weapon against Kirk, “but the ball aimed at all of us,” emphasized Trump, who was behind armored glass during his speech.

Former President Barack Obama from the Democratic Party had accused Trump after the assassination attempt to continue polarizing the United States instead of reconciling the country. “We are at a division,” emphasized Obama.

For the first time, Trump confessed significant differences between Kirk and himself: Kirk was a “missionary with a noble spirit” who hadn’t hated his opponents. “I don’t agree with Charlie: I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for him,” emphasized Trump.

“I’m sorry, Erika,” Trump said to the widow. “Charlie is angry. Just see it, he’s angry with me now,” said the president, while the crowd applauded him.

Already immediately after Kirk’s death, Trump had held “radical left” responsible for not giving any evidence. Since then he has announced a stricter procedure against his political opponents and critical media.

On the eve of the funeral service, Trump called on Minister of Justice Pam Bondi to act against leading representatives of the Democrats, who had been involved in investigations against him in the past. The minority leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said that the United States was on the “way to the dictatorship” under Trump.

Kirk was shot on September 10 at a discussion event at a university in the US state of Utah. Because of his radical views on topics such as gender identity or gun ownership, the 31-year-old was very controversial.

The alleged assassin Tyler Robinson is charged with murder, the 22-year-old threatens the death penalty. According to the Federal Police FBI, Robinson lived with a trans person and accused Kirk to sow “hate”.

Trump once again called his supporter Kirk a “martyr for American freedom”. Other members of the US government and partly evangelical speakers praise Kirk as a lord of “God’s will”, as “heroes” and as “patriots”. Again and again the crowd “USA, USA!”

Trump’s chief of staff in the White House, Susie Wiles, recalled that Kirk mobilized numerous young voters for Trump in the presidential election last year. They were “Charlies Army,” said Wiles.