I am back home today after attending Charlie Kirk’s magnificent memorial service yesterday – an event that proved to be too big for even an NFL football stadium, with some 200,000 people making their way to Arizona to honor Charlie’s life and legacy.
It was like a state funeral with the nation’s top political leaders, from President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Stephen Miller, Sergio Gor, and Susie Wiles, in attendance. Elon Musk was there as well. He was steps away from me on the floor.
It was incredible to see who was there. That is how much of a mark Charlie made, not just on our country but on our government, in particular, at age 31.
Charlie ‘Unafraid’
Ask yourself what you were doing at age 31. When I was 31, I hadn’t even gotten into television yet. I was still practicing law. It is amazing to me the amount that he accomplished in his 31 years. From 18 to 31, Charlie worked nonstop. And it was a labor of love. He wasn’t trying to get to know these people because he wanted access to power or to feel special. He was doing it because it was his life’s calling, and he really, truly cared about changing this country for the better and – I think you could accurately say – about saving this country.
It was his life’s work that brought him into the circles of power. And it was great to hear some of the stories of people who knew him when he was starting Turning Point USA. He needed that first $50,000 to get things going, and Rebecca Dunn shared how he pitched her and her husband. She told him to come back when he had the first half, and, two days later, he called to say he had raised the money. He was 18.
Charlie didn’t have any connections; he didn’t come from a wealthy family. If somebody said to you at 18, “See if you can go raise $50,000 in two days,” could you have done it? I couldn’t have. But Charlie somehow managed to find these people who had potentially big pockets and, one by one, called them.
That was one of the main takeaways I had: All these people had been contacted by an by an unafraid Charlie. He was not afraid about reaching out, even when he was young, to people he didn’t know to ask for help building his mission. And that was part of the same spirit he used in reaching across the aisle to speak to people he disagreed with or who disagreed with him as part of his mission, too.
Bigger Than Politics
It is very clear that Charlie’s death is far bigger than politics. His funeral is going to be remembered as one of the most impactful spiritual events in American history. I will tell you, the moment I walked into the stadium I was overwhelmed. I brought my two oldest children with me. They are almost 16 and 14. There were so many people in the stands. Everyone was dressed in red, white, and blue. It was so heartening, and that is exactly what Charlie would have wanted. It was a great call by his team.
I couldn’t believe the love that was outpoured over me and my children as we arrived. I was so moved by it. People yelled, “I love you,” and I yelled back, “I love you.” And I meant that. I think we were all having a shared moment of grieving. That wasn’t about The Megyn Kelly Show; that was about, I think, our relationship with Charlie and our coverage of Charlie.
Every time I looked at the crowd during the proceedings and I saw the 70,000 people inside that building (and then there was an overflow with tens of thousands more next door), that is what made me get emotional. It was seeing the outpouring of people, the regular folks.
I sent out a tweet about this yesterday, but I saw one woman with a severe limp, another guy who had a cane, elderly people, tons of young people, very pregnant women. They all flocked to this event. Some of them had waited in line since two or three in the morning. They did not care about their own comfort. I was so impressed by those people. They knew they would be physically uncomfortable, and they didn’t care. They wanted to go there to honor Charlie, to pay homage to his life, to mourn his death, to be with their fellow Americans in shared grief and worship. It was it was beautiful.
Something Greater
It was much more than a memorial. It was a gathering of faith and reconnection with God and each other. This was not about the radical left. This was about us. This was about Team Sanity – people of faith who believe in a loving God; who don’t have it figured out why he took Charlie from us but understand there is a higher purpose that we are just too mortal to fully understand right now; who looked at Erika Kirk and felt like they wanted to drop to their knees.
We were so floored by her strength and what she did – not the haters and what they said online. Forget them. This isn’t about them. This is about those of us who were there, and watched on TV, and saw clips online because they cared enough to take time out of their busy day to watch and feel that stirring inside that reminded us this life here is about something greater than us. It is about something greater than us.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,154 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.