LEILA FADEL, HOST:
We're going to hear now from someone who follows the right-wing movement as a senior reporter at The Bulwark, a conservative-leaning political commentary website that is critical of President Trump. Will Sommer, welcome to the program.
WILL SOMMER: For having me.
FADEL: So at the memorial, people remembered Charlie Kirk as a father, a husband, a man who believed in the free exchange of ideas, a hero and a martyr. How did Kirk, as he was portrayed in the memorial service, resemble Kirk in life?
SOMMER: You know, I think the memorial was really a mix. I mean, it was a - there were, on one hand, really these kind of glowing moments of, you know, remembrance, and especially, you know, certainly from his wife, Erika. And there was this very emotional moment that I think people, certainly on the right, are going to be talking about for a long time when she forgave her husband's killer. On the other hand, I think there was also this element of kind of anger, certainly from Donald Trump and Stephen Miller - this sense of they're going to get revenge, not just against the suspect but against the left more broadly.
FADEL: Let me ask you about that, because President Trump called Kirk a missionary with a noble spirit. And after Kirk's widow, as you pointed out, Erika Kirk, said she forgave the man who shot her husband - that she, as a Christian, believes in meeting hate with love - Trump preached a very different message. Let's listen to that.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best for them. I'm sorry.
FADEL: Was this a memorial designed to heal or stoke divisions?
SOMMER: You know, I think there was certainly a lot of healing and grieving. But, you know, really, the president - it was sort of really tonally off there. I mean, as you said, I think Erika Kirk had made this kind of really, like, climactic, you know, major moment. And so much of it was about Christianity and Jesus...
FADEL: Yeah.
SOMMER: ...And forgiveness. And then Trump gets out. And he talks a lot about tariffs and what a great job he's doing and, again, this kind of sense of - like, of crushing his opponents beneath him and stuff like this. And it was also - I mean, certainly, when Trump came out, it had aspects of a political rally.
FADEL: Now, we heard from Erika Kirk, the new CEO of his organization, Turning Point USA - of Charlie Kirk's organization, his widow. We also heard from cabinet members, from influencers, from the president, as we just heard there. What did the event show us about who is laying claim to Kirk's legacy?
SOMMER: Yeah. So Kirk's legacy is going to be obviously really hotly contested. I mean, he - it is very powerful. He's seen as a martyr on the right. And on one hand, you have the - sort of the Turning Point USA movement, which has really wrapped itself around Erika Kirk, and I think she delivered very well in her speech. I think in the lead-up to this, a lot of people on the right that I spoke with were saying, well, you know, obviously, she's dealing with so much. Is she going to be able to step up here and then, you know, run the organization going forward? And I think she really performed well there.
On the other hand, you have people like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, who were also friends with Charlie Kirk, who are saying, well, you know, maybe he was turning against Israel in his final days. And we saw Tucker Carlson make a really bizarre reference to this in his own speech at the memorial, where he said, well, you know, this is maybe like how people - how Jesus was killed. And people were sitting around eating hummus and saying, you know, we've got to take care of Jesus and kill him. And given the conspiracy theories that Israel - again, totally baseless conspiracy theories - that...
FADEL: Completely, yeah.
SOMMER: ...Israel killed Charlie Kirk, it was a very kind of discordant thing to say at the memorial.
FADEL: Let's go back to what we heard from administration officials, I mean, thinking about where they go from here. I want to play a clip from Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff - you mentioned him already - who spoke to an unspecified they that he said were, quote, "trying to foment hatred against us."
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STEPHEN MILLER: You have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization, to save the West, to save this republic.
FADEL: What does this say about how the administration may act in Charlie Kirk's name going forward?
SOMMER: Yeah. I mean, I think we're really expecting the administration - and I think they've been open about this - to use this as an opportunity to attack civil society institutions like nongovernmental organizations, to attack the media, academia potentially. Already, we've seen the FCC weigh in and essentially get Jimmy Kimmel's show canceled, at least temporarily. The - I think there's going to be a much broader attempt to disrupt, you know, quote, liberal networks, even though there's really no examples of them actually being involved in this incident.
FADEL: So both a message of love and healing from Charlie Kirk's widow, but also this promise to fight going forward from the administration. Will Sommer is a senior reporter at The Bulwark. Thank you for joining us, and thank you for your insights.
SOMMER: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAPA M'S "WALT'S") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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