In a heartfelt ceremony at the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, President Donald Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative icon Charlie Kirk, on what would have been his 32nd birthday.
During the event, his wife, Erika, revealed that he likely would have run for president one day.
Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was tragically assassinated on September 10 during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, 22, a Utah man with a furry transgender boyfriend, has been charged with capital murder for the shooting.
Trump, who rushed back from the Middle East after formalizing an Israel-Hamas peace deal, praised Kirk as a “martyr for truth and for freedom,” comparing him to figures like Socrates, Saint Peter, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King.
“Charlie Kirk was a martyr for truth and for freedom,” Trump said. “And from Socrates to Saint Peter, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King, those who change history the most — and he really did — have always risked their lives for causes they were put on Earth to defend.”
The President emphasized that Kirk had changed history and risked his life for his causes, stating that he is now “looking down on us right now” from heaven among “true American heroes.”
“We’ve watched legions of far-left radicals resort to desperate acts of violence and terror because they know that their ideas and arguments are persuading no one. They know that they’re failing,” Trump said.
“They have the devil’s ideology, and they’re failing. And they know it. They feel it, and they become violent.”
Erika Kirk accepted the award and delivered an emotional tribute, during which she revealed that her husband “probably would have run for president” had he not been killed, but not out of personal ambition, only if he felt the country needed it, from a “servant’s heart standpoint.”
“There was no limit, no limit to what he would have sacrificed to defend freedom for all. And if the moment had come, he probably would have run for president, but not out of ambition,” his widow said.
“He would only have done it if that was something that he believed that his country needed, from a servant’s heart standpoint. Charlie lived only 31 short years on this side of heaven, but he lived every single second, every single day with purpose, and he fought for truth when it was unpopular.”
JUST IN: Erika Kirk CONFIRMS Charlie Kirk would “probably have run for President” had he not been assassinated
And I truly believe he would have won.
I’m trusting that God has a plan, and Charlie will work up in Heaven to find the perfect President to take his spot
pic.twitter.com/Yniw67f0KM
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 14, 2025
President Trump himself has stated that Charlie Kirk could have been a future president, expressing this sentiment during a visit to the U.K.
“Some people said he might be President someday. I told him, I said, ‘Charlie, I think you have a good shot someday at being President,’” Trump said at the time.
In a Fox News op-ed, Benny Johnson, a colleague who worked with Kirk for over a decade, wrote that “America lost a future president” with his death.
Charlie Kirk’s untimely death has robbed America of a rising star who dedicated his life to conservative values, faith, and freedom. This Medal of Freedom honor ensures his legacy endures, but the discussion about his presidential potential will forever leave many wondering what could have been.
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