Turning Charlie Kirk into a martyr to advance Trump, Christian Nationalism
The assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, was a sad reminder of how broken and dysfunctional America has become and how far away we are from being “one nation, under God.” However, then as now, Donald Trump and MAGA (Kirk was a proud member) have used the tragedy to turn him into a “martyr for truth and freedom” (Trump’s words) and advance the Christian Nationalism agenda.
Let’s put aside the fact that when Donald Trump speaks of “truth,” he’s referring to words spoken by the people who worship his magnanimousness. Let’s also remember that his version of “freedom” is a far cry from God’s gift of liberty as described in the Declaration of Independence.
Even before there was a suspect, Trump was using the tragedy for political advantage (via Lincoln Square Media):
His Oval Office response to the assassination was pure authoritarian theater. With not a shred of evidence, Trump blamed his political opposition. He did not pause for facts, for law enforcement, for mourning. He reached immediately for the strongman’s first tool: scapegoating. By blaming his enemies, he seeks to mobilize his followers, discredit his critics, and justify repression. This is not a new tactic. It is the well-worn script of Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Franco, Mussolini, Pinochet — and now, unmistakably, Trump.
We are now living through the very scenario many of us warned about. Trump has returned to power, and in his second term, he is showing us precisely what authoritarian rule looks like in America. The contempt for constitutional limits, the eagerness to turn federal power against political rivals – and the American people, the open celebration of violence as a political weapon — these are not theoretical dangers. They are the governing reality. His Praetorian Guard of congressional enablers, media propagandists, political henchmen, and state-level allies ensures there are no internal checks. The abuses of his first term look quaint and, in hindsight, like rehearsals. (Emphasis mine)
Despite the accusation of many, I didn’t celebrate the tragedy; to do so would be despicable. To quote Rick Wilson, “In a republic worth saving, power is contested at the ballot box, not through bullets. We resolve our disputes with words, not weapons. Not soft words; not whispered disputes; but big, loud, passionate arguments. If violence becomes the coin of our politics, America is finished.”
Trump influencers, “Christians”, MAGA, and others turned Kirk into a martyr and used that as a rallying cry to go to war against their political enemies (via ABCNews.com):
“The best way President Trump can reinforce Charlie’s legacy is by cracking down on the Left with the full force of the government,” said Laura Loomer in a post on X after Kirk’s death was announced. “No mercy. Jail every single Leftist who makes a threat of political violence,” Loomer added.
In an earlier post, Loomer wrote that “We must shut these lunatic leftists down. Once and for all. The Left is a national security threat.”
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk … posted that “the Left is the party of murder” and added “if they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is fight or die.”
Conservative activist Christopher Rufo called for a J. Edgar Hoover–style campaign to target the “radical left. The last time the radical Left orchestrated a wave of violence and terror, J. Edgar Hoover shut it all down within a few years. It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos,” he wrote on X.
Pro-Trump influencer Joey Mannarino, who has over 600,000 followers on X, urged Trump to take an El Salvador–style approach — a reference to the country’s controversial campaign of mass arrests and suspended civil liberties, which drew accusations of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. “Trump has to go full Bukele. Now. Fill the jails up with these terrorists,” Mannarino said.
On Steve Bannon’s podcast, MAGA figure Jack Posobiec called for retribution. “There’s never going to be another Charlie Kirk, but there’s never going to be another assassin to take out someone like the way they did because of what comes next will be swift, quick and it will be retribution,” Posobiec said.
In [his] conversation with Posobiec, Bannon said that his friend Kirk was a “casualty” whose life was taken in cold blood. “Charlie Kirk is a casualty of the political war,” Bannon said. He also said, “We are at war in this country, and you have to have steely resolve.” (Emphasis mine)
For those who hate it when Nazi comparisons are made to describe Trump’s authoritarian/dictatorial behavior, be prepared to be offended because here’s another one: Horst Wessel:
He was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, who became a propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany following his murder in 1930 by two members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). After his death, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels elevated him into a martyr for the Nazi Party.
Wessel’s funeral was given wide attention in Berlin, with many of the Nazi elite in attendance. After his death, he became a propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany. A march for which he had written the lyrics was renamed the “Horst-Wessel-Lied” (“Horst Wessel Song”) and became the official anthem of the Nazi Party. (Emphasis mine)
Last week, many in MAGA-land recycled their “Kirk was a martyr” talking points of a year ago in “remembrance” of the tragedy but were, in reality, renewing their call for America to be turned into a Christian Nationalism state (via Alternet.org):
A political activist group that has long supported President Donald Trump, the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, is reportedly struggling with its identity as Christian nationalism has become an increasingly potent influence within its ranks.
Kirk was assassinated one year ago…, a moment that galvanized a Christian nationalist movement that has already largely rallied behind Trump.
“The religious right has been ascendant during the second presidency of Donald Trump, and they’ve harnessed his disdain for rules and norms to blur the lines between church and state,” reported Vox’s Christian Paz in May. “Inside the White House, the secretary of defense has framed the war in Iran and American military action abroad as sanctioned and guided by God.
Outside the government, this alliance between church and state often skirts near the edge of outright idolatry. Conservative pastors are erecting golden statues of Trump (but insisting it does not mirror the infamous golden calf of the Old Testament). They’re extending their hands over the president in prayer after comparing him to Jesus and standing by him, with some mild criticism, after he cast himself as an AI-slop Messiah.” (Emphasis mine)
As I reveal in my book, The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty, much of what passes as faith in Washington is little more than politicians using the name of God to advance their agenda — which is exactly what we have witnessed from Trump, MAGA, and Christian Nationalism. And as I wrote in June 2024 on The Strident Conservative, when it comes to Christian Nationalism, there is nothing Christian about it.
Basically speaking, Christian Nationalism is the belief that America is defined by Christianity, that Christianity should be given preferential treatment, and that government should be empowered to do whatever is necessary to promote it. While Christianity’s role in the forming of America can be argued, the belief that our government should be used in such a manner is diametrically opposed to what the Founding Fathers believed. Consider these quotes by Patrick Henry:
Religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence…
Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom. (Emphasis mine)
We should also remember that one of the bases for America’s independence from King George was his abuse of power as the leader of a theocratic monarchy (kings were considered “anointed by God” to rule).
It is one thing to mourn Charlie Kirk. It’s quite another to let Donald Trump and MAGA turn him into a martyr to advance an authoritarian takeover of our great republic via Christian Nationalism.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative and the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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