At what was meant to be a solemn farewell for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump managed to turn the service into a spectacle, dancing, smiling, and awkwardly embracing Kirk’s widow in scenes many said looked more like a campaign rally than a funeral.
Observers noted that instead of appearing visibly shaken or grief-stricken, Trump closed the ceremony swaying to “America the Beautiful,” grinning for cameras, and gesturing like he was onstage at one of his rallies. At one point, he pulled Erika Kirk beside him as he sang along and waved, the pair framed by flashing lights and roaring applause.
The optics fueled widespread criticism.
Commenters online called the moment “strange,” “cheap,” and “grotesque,” saying it stripped the event of gravity and turned grief into pageantry.
“That wasn’t mourning—it was mobilizing,” one person wrote. Others argued the display confirmed that Trump was more invested in the spotlight and movement-building than in honoring a life cut short.
Supporters countered that Kirk’s life’s work was political and that his funeral reflected his mission of registering young conservatives to vote. But even some on the right conceded that Trump’s smiling send-off, complete with rally-style vibes, jarred against expectations of a traditional memorial.
Clips of Trump singing and dancing while embracing Kirk’s widow were reshared on an Instagram political satire page, sainthoax, where Trump was mercilessly mocked. In just two hours, it had already garnered 61,000 likes.
“This country is next-level unhinged,” one person wrote. “Oh, they definitely did it,” one viewer wrote, followed by a laughing emoji.
“Seems more like a celebration rather than a funeral mourning someone who was killed,” another viewer wrote on Instagram.
Many in attendance and watching online also noted Trump appeared to doze off during parts of the service, a moment critics quickly tied to other public lapses.
At the U.S. Open finals earlier this month, Trump was seen nodding off, and cameras caught him struggling to stay awake during White House events over the summer. At the time, Charlamagne Tha God even called Trump out during an appearance on “The Daily Show,” where he pulled up a list of dementia symptoms from the Mayo Clinic — then rolled footage of Trump over the past year showing signs of each one.
Psychologist John Gartner, a former assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, has also suggested that Trump shows signs of “early dementia,” according to reports.
Still, many online commenters described the service as a political production.
“They called it a funeral for Charlie Kirk, but inside State Farm Stadium it was a Trump rally—voter booths, signs screaming ‘Charlie wants you to register to vote,’” one critic wrote on Threads.
Conservative voices pushed back.
“It was a funeral for Kirk and Kirk was outspokenly in support of getting people registered to vote,” one wrote. “Just because Trump was there doesn’t make it a ‘Trump rally.’ … Don’t celebrate death and let us mourn, it’s that easy.”
The divides underscored Kirk’s polarizing legacy and the tensions surrounding his death.
Some progressives accused Trump of exploiting the killing, while others on the right accused Democrats of celebrating it.
One commenter went as far as to call the assassination a “false flag.”
“Today’s word is brought to you by the White House. False Flag: An act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party,” the person wrote.
Trump’s appearance highlighted his uneven responses to political violence. After Kirk’s death, he swiftly lowered flags to half staff and called it “a dark moment for America,” announcing plans to award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Yet in June, when Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was assassinated alongside her husband, Trump didn’t attend the funeral and later brushed off questions about lowering flags.
Critics have accused Trump of showing sympathy only when conservatives are targeted. At Kirk’s service, he again framed political violence as a one-sided phenomenon.
Kirk’s assassination has rattled conservatives, with MAGA figures like Elon Musk and Steve Bannon vowing retaliation and civil war. Trump, meanwhile, used the Arizona memorial to both eulogize an ally and reinforce his MAGA movement.
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