The MAGA movement held a memorial service for far-right influencer Charlie Kirk on Sunday—and it’s sparked a firestorm.
Held Sunday in Glendale, Arizona, Kirk’s hometown, the event drew MAGA royalty: Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and a crowd of die-hard followers. The speeches were full of praise and an unmistakable air of political theater. The tone? Reverent, almost holy. But outside that echo chamber, people were stunned—not by the grief, but by the glorification.
Online, backlash poured in fast.
“MAGA is a cult,” wrote political analyst Wajahat Ali on Bluesky. “Normies around the world, the majority, rightfully look at them as unhinged. We have the numbers. Don’t bow down or be silenced. Also, don’t make Charlie Kirk into a saint. Use your free speech to accurately call out his life that was lived in hate.”
Kirk, who was shot and killed nearly two weeks ago during a speech at a Utah university, was no stranger to controversy. In life, he built a brand on provocation—targeting trans people, spreading conspiracy theories, and routinely stoking division. Now in death, critics say MAGA is trying to scrub the record clean.
“Thing about this is that Charlie Kirk was a racist transphobic neonazi creep,” wrote podcaster Andrew Hickey. “Also misogynist and antisemitic. He was pure distilled hatred and evil. It’s bad that he was shot, but that doesn’t mean he was any less of a monster.”
One recurring theme in the criticism: this wasn’t mourning—it was worship.
“All I can say is, this whole Charlie Kirk shit is weird and embarrassing,” posted Josh Sternberg, executive editor of Morning Brew.
Others pointed out the hypocrisy in how MAGA wants Kirk remembered—especially given his own past rhetoric.
“Charlie Kirk referred to slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as ‘an awful’ person,” noted USA Today opinion columnist Michael Stern. “And MAGA are going crazy if liberals do the same?”
For many, the line was clear: Kirk’s death may have been tragic, but that doesn’t erase who he was or what he represented.
“I will not whitewash the white supremacist that was Charlie Kirk,” writer Mona Eltahawy posted. “For someone so young, what an embarrassment of hatreds he left us to excoriate him with.”
The reaction wasn’t just about Charlie Kirk—it was about what the right is doing in his name. Turning a political arsonist into a saint. Erasing years of inflammatory rhetoric with tearful speeches and American flags.
Critics aren’t letting that slide. Not quietly.
Because for them, this wasn’t about grief. It was about rewriting history—and worshipping a man who, in their eyes, stood for all the wrong things.
