Tulsi Gabbard opened Charlie Kirk’s memorial with one Bible verse that revealed her plan for fighting back

The murder of Charlie Kirk rocked the conservative movement to its core.

But Sunday night at the Kennedy Center, America got to see exactly how patriots plan to respond to this brazen act of political terrorism.

And Tulsi Gabbard opened Charlie Kirk’s memorial with one Bible verse that revealed her plan for fighting back.

Gabbard calls Kirk’s assassination what it really is

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stepped up to address the packed Kennedy Center crowd with a message that cut straight to the heart of what really happened in Utah.

The former Democrat who joined Trump’s team started her speech by reading from Corinthians about having "good courage" whether we’re in this world or at home with the Lord.

https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1967379400292245537“>https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1967379400292245537

But Gabbard didn’t come to deliver a standard eulogy – she came to explain what Kirk’s murder actually represents.

"Charlie was killed on September 10th. On September 11th, we observed the 24th anniversary of the Islamist terrorist attack on our country 24 years ago," Gabbard told the audience. "Now, these events have something in common. They were both carried out by those who hold on to ideologies that cannot stand up to scrutiny and challenge."

She wasn’t mincing words about what happened to Kirk.

"So they feel that their only recourse is to commit an act of violence to silence those who oppose them and to intimidate and terrorize others into silence," Gabbard continued. "This is the definition of terrorism."

That’s exactly right – Kirk wasn’t killed in some random act of violence. He was assassinated specifically to send a message to anyone else who might dare challenge leftist orthodoxy on college campuses.

The strategy that drove leftists to murder

Gabbard then explained exactly why Kirk had become such a threat to the radical Left.

She talked about watching him at campus events, where he would do something that absolutely infuriated leftist activists.

"Not belittling them. Not arguing just to argue, but to have a real sincere dialogue," Gabbard recalled about how Kirk treated his critics.

Here’s a guy who would literally invite his harshest opponents to come to the front of the line so they could debate him publicly.

"You know, I’ve said many times, and every soldier lives this fact, this truth. I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death for your right to say it. Charlie lived by this principle," Gabbard explained.

The former Army Lieutenant Colonel then brought up Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous words: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."

But Gabbard made sure nobody confused this approach with weakness.

"It means standing up fueled by love to defeat hate, to defeat that evil and that darkness, and to speak the truth and defend our fundamental freedoms that are granted to us by God," she declared.

This is what the Left couldn’t tolerate – someone who was willing to engage with them respectfully but also completely destroy their arguments in front of thousands of college students.

Why the Left had to silence him permanently

The most telling moment came when Gabbard shared a conversation she had with a friend right after Kirk was murdered.

The friend texted asking "What do we do now? I know the answer should be love. The answer should be peace. But Charlie tried that and it didn’t work."

Gabbard’s response reveals everything you need to know about why Kirk was targeted for assassination.

"No, it did work powerfully," she replied. "And that’s why they killed him."

That’s the key insight that explains this entire tragedy.

Kirk wasn’t murdered because his approach was failing. He was murdered because it was succeeding beyond the Left’s worst nightmares.

"We look at the movement that Charlie inspired around the world. Love, truth, freedom, turning to God in good times and hard times," Gabbard noted.

Think about what Kirk actually accomplished in just 13 years. He turned a garage startup into one of the most influential conservative organizations in America. He was reaching millions of young people with a message about constitutional freedoms and traditional values.

Most importantly, he was doing it through open dialogue and respectful debate – exactly the kind of approach that exposes how hollow and weak leftist ideology really is.

Here’s why this assassination will backfire completely

Look, the radical Left just made the biggest strategic blunder in modern political history.

They thought murdering Kirk would intimidate conservatives into staying quiet. Instead, they just proved to millions of Americans that leftist ideas are so weak they can only survive through violence and terrorism.

Gabbard spelled out exactly why this approach is going to devastate the Left in the long run.

"If only 10 of us committed ourselves to continuing Charlie’s mission, that alone would be incredible," she told the crowd. "But there are far more than 10 of us. There are countless people around the world who are eager to carry on Charlie’s mission."

You know what just happened? The Left turned one effective conservative activist into a martyr who will inspire thousands more to take up his cause.

Kirk spent years showing that conservative principles can win in open debate. He proved that you don’t need to silence opponents or resort to violence – you just need to let people hear both sides and trust them to make the right choice.

That terrified the Left because it completely destroys their whole game. These people can’t win arguments, so they have to make sure you never hear the other side.

Kirk was systematically dismantling that control by giving students a platform to hear conservative arguments directly. And it was working so well that desperate leftists decided their only option was assassination.

But here’s what they didn’t count on – martyrdom is the most powerful force in human history. They just gave the conservative movement something it’s never had before: a young father who died defending the principle that ideas should compete in the marketplace, not through violence.

Now Kirk’s name is going to come up in every conversation about free speech for the next fifty years. And every single time, people will remember he got shot for having the audacity to let college kids hear both sides of an argument.

You want to create a martyr? Because that’s exactly what they just did. Kirk will probably recruit more conservatives from his grave than he ever could walking around with a microphone.

The shooter thought he was shutting Kirk up. Instead, he just gave him the loudest megaphone in American politics.

That memorial service wasn’t just about mourning – it was about showing America exactly what’s at stake when one side resorts to terrorism to win political arguments.

This is a spiritual war and it will be won, but there’s only one path to victory.

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1967407249892192550

¹ Washington Examiner, "Trump administration officials, lawmakers, and personal friends pay tribute to Charlie Kirk at Kennedy Center vigil," September 15, 2025.

² The Hill, "Johnson remarks on ‘unspeakable sadness’ as lawmakers, Trump officials recall Kirk at Kennedy Center vigil," September 15, 2025.

³ Fox News, "Date set for Charlie Kirk’s memorial as details emerge from investigation into alleged killer," September 15, 2025.

⁴ CNN, "Charlie Kirk shooting suspect Tyler Robinson in custody," September 13, 2025.

⁵ Wikipedia, "Killing of Charlie Kirk," September 15, 2025.