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As many as 100,000 mourners gathered in Arizona on Sunday for a memorial service celebrating the life of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist whose assassination has sent shockwaves across the political divide.
President Donald Trump and vice-president JD Vance were both set to address the crowd at State Farm Stadium, an American football arena with a capacity of more than 60,000, just outside of Phoenix.
Tens of thousands more were expected to fill a smaller nearby arena designated for overflow.
Mourners lined up in the early hours of Sunday morning — with some camping out night the before — dressed in “Sunday best” of “red, white or blue,” as requested by event organisers, Turning Point USA.
Many wore red baseball caps and other Trump-branded items. Others arrived in white T-shirts with the word “freedom” written on the front in black letters — the same outfit Kirk was wearing when he was killed.
As mourners waited for the service to start, the arena took on the feel of a megachurch, with mourners standing and singing along to live performances from Christian rock bands.
But the memorial service was also undeniably a political event, with scores of Republican lawmakers and conservative media figures in attendance.
Mourners in stadium seats were given posters with slogans including “Never Surrender” and “This is Our Turning Point”. Volunteers also handed out information about how to register to vote.
Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a grassroots juggernaut that promotes conservative ideals at colleges, universities and secondary schools. He was shot dead earlier this month in Utah at what was supposed to be the start of a tour of college campuses.
The group’s political arm, Turning Point Action, has been widely credited with rallying support for Trump and the Republican party in recent years, and Kirk was seen as a trusted adviser to the president, Vance and other senior officials.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio, defence secretary Pete Hegseth and US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were also expected to address the crowds, as were White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House sent two planes full of administration officials to Arizona, where Kirk lived at the time of his death, adding: “That just speaks to how many people he touched at the highest levels of our government.”
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House early on Sunday, Trump said he would “celebrate the life of a great man”.
“He was a young man, but a great man,” Trump added. “We want to look at it as a time of healing, a time of whatever. That something like this could have happened is not even believable . . . We will have a very interesting day, a very tough day.”
The US Secret Service and state and local law enforcement put in place extensive security measures surrounding the arena given the number of high-ranking officials in attendance.
Kirk’s killing came at a time of increased political violence and deepening partisan divides in the US.
Trump and many senior White House officials have blamed Kirk’s death on the “radical left” and vowed to avenge his killing by pursuing political opponents, including those who engage in what attorney-general Pam Bondi has described as “hate speech”. Critics have said the Trump administration is weaponising Kirk’s murder to silence their critics.
“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, eliminate and destroy this network and make America safe again for the American people,” Miller said on Monday during an appearance on the Charlie Kirk podcast, which Vance guest hosted.
State authorities in Utah have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder, and will seek the death penalty. The prosecutor in the case said the shooter had been motivated by Kirk’s “political expression”.
Kirk, who had millions of followers on social media, was a polarising figure, espousing hardline conservative positions and a brand of Christian nationalism.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Friday honouring Kirk’s life, with 95 Democrats voting in favour of the motion alongside all of the chamber’s Republicans.
Dozens of Democrats opposed the measure, saying Republicans were making political violence a partisan issue.
“We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was,” said New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who added that Kirk’s “rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans”.
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