Secretary of State Marco Rubio honored slain conservative leader Charlie Kirk on Sunday, remembering him as a bold and wise leader who built a movement to defend America’s values and will “matter now more than he ever has before.”
Speaking before tens of thousands gathered in Arizona to honor Kirk — including President Donald Trump, members of his Cabinet, and international media — Rubio recalled his early skepticism when first hearing Kirk’s vision of taking conservative ideas onto college campuses.
“I said, college campuses, you’re going to do that? Why don’t you start somewhere easier, like, for example, Communist Cuba?” Rubio recalled. “But my skepticism was proven wrong.”
Over the next decade, Rubio said, Kirk led a “renaissance” against narratives that painted America as “a source of evil, not of good in the world.”
Instead, Kirk taught young people “that ours was not a great country, but the greatest, most exceptional nation that has ever existed in the history of all of mankind. And that it’s worth fighting for. It’s worth defending, it’s worth preserving, and it’s worth passing on to the next generation.”
Rubio described Kirk as remarkably knowledgeable for his age. “It’s unbelievable how much he knew,” he said, recalling when Kirk quoted Roman emporer Marcus Aurelius. “I said, ‘Who said that?’ He said, ‘Marcus Aurelius.’ I said, what district does he represent?”
In one of their final exchanges, Kirk messaged Rubio from overseas. “He wrote me from South Korea. ‘I have many concerns I want to share with you when I get back,'” Rubio said. “He was constantly expanding his horizons.”
Beyond knowledge, Rubio praised Kirk’s wisdom and courage. “Wisdom that sometimes it takes a lifetime to accumulate. He had it in just 31 years,” he said.
Kirk was also gutsy, seeking dialogue with opponents rather than retreating into ideological bubbles.
“Charlie Kirk was bold. He actively sought to engage peacefully and respectfully those who he disagreed with,” Rubio said. “Time and again, he sought to engage those he disagreed with because he understood that we were not created to isolate ourselves from one another, but to engage.”
Rubio pointed to the massive turnout for the tribute as proof of Kirk’s impact.
“Look around this place. There are 100-something thousand people here. The president of the United States is here. His entire Cabinet is here. Television outlets and media outlets from all over the world are covering this,” he said. “In every country I stopped, they gave us their condolences for his passing.”
The secretary of state closed with Kirk’s faith-driven message. “One of the things he wants us to take away from this … is his deep belief that we were all created … by the hands of the God of the universe,” Rubio said. “And when He returns … we are going to have a great reunion there again with Charlie and all the people we love.”
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