President Donald Trump posthumously awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor to right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk, who was killed final month whereas talking at a Utah campus. However largely, Trump talked about himself.
Talking outdoors the Rose Backyard on Tuesday, Trump started by studying from ready remarks about Kirk earlier than presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump was joined by Erika Kirk, the spouse of the slain pundit.
“Today, we’re here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty,” Trump mentioned. “Beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I’ve ever seen before. And an American patriot of the deepest conviction. The finest quality and the highest caliber.”
However Trump quickly went off script, telling the viewers that Kirk didn’t love his enemies.
“I got to know him so well,” Trump mentioned. “He didn’t like losing, and he was able to fight people that were his enemies, and he didn’t necessarily love those enemies so much. And I heard, I heard he loved his enemies, and I said: ‘Wait a minute, is that the same Charlie that I know? I’m not sure,’ but I didn’t want to get into it. But it was a horrible, heinous, demonic act of murder.”
In her personal remarks later within the ceremony, Erika Kirk mentioned that her husband did pray for his enemies.
“He did pray for his enemies, which is very hard, but he did,” she mentioned, drawing fun from Trump. “He did.”
Trump identified that Tuesday’s ceremony would have been Kirk’s thirty second birthday after which commented on Kirk’s look.
“He should have been turning 32 years old,” Trump mentioned. “I tell you, when I first met him, he was like 22, and I said, ‘Boy, he’s awfully young, but I thought he was younger than that.’”
Trump then mentioned Kirk regarded older for his age.
“He looked a little bit older for his age, but that’s OK,” Trump mentioned. “That’s not good when you’re old, but when you’re young, it’s great. He had the best of all things, but he was special.”
Photograph by OLIVIER TOURON/AFP through Getty Pictures
Later through the ceremony, Trump puzzled aloud why Kirk appreciated him.
“In 2016, he was there right from the beginning,” Trump mentioned. “He liked me, I don’t know. I have no idea why. What the hell was he thinking? He said, ‘You’re gonna win, sir.’”
Trump quickly started to ramble about crime in Chicago, the place he has despatched Nationwide Guard troops. He additionally blasted protesters who’ve been standing as much as Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
“When you see these violent incidents, and they’re holding signs with beautiful wood, beautiful cardboard, and perfect paint job, and they’re all the same,” Trump mentioned. “You know they weren’t made in the basement out of love, they were made by anarchists.”
At one level, police sirens may very well be heard blaring within the background of Trump’s speech. He referred to as the sound “beautiful.”
“You hear those sirens going off?” Trump requested. “That’s good, that’s a good sound. They either got the bad guy or they’re going to stop the bad guy. You didn’t hear that sound because no one wanted to do anything. Listen to the beauty of that sound, seriously. And those are the real-deal sirens, not politically correct sirens. They’re like three miles away. What a beautiful sound.”
