When political activist Charlie Kirk’s body returned home to Arizona Thursday, a special message was delivered by air and traffic control.
“Welcome home, Charlie. You didn’t deserve it… May God bless your family,” a man is heard saying.
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Kirk, 31, founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated Wednesday when he was speaking at Utah Valley University as part of his American Comeback Tour, IJR previously reported.
After Air Force Two landed, Kirk’s widow, Erika, was escorted off the plane by Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha. The couple flew from Utah to Arizona with Erika Kirk, the Associated Press reported.
Erika Kirk and Usha Vance were seen holding hands, per a Fox News video.
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The vice president helped carry Kirk’s casket with a group of uniformed service members, per the AP.
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Vance wrote at lengthy on social media about how he and Kirk became friends.
“A while ago, probably in 2017, I appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show to talk about God knows what. Afterwards a name I barely knew sent me a DM on twitter and told me I did a great job. It was Charlie Kirk, and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today,” Vance wrote.
“Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind. Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives,” the vice president continued. “When others were right, he learned from them. When he was right–as he usually was–he was generous. With Charlie, the attitude was never, ‘I told you so.’ But: ‘welcome.’”
“When I became the VP nominee–something Charlie advocated for both in public and private–Charlie was there for me. I was so glad to be part of the president’s team, but candidly surprised by the effect it had on our family. Our kids, especially our oldest, struggled with the attention and the constant presence of the protective detail. I felt this acute sense of guilt, that I had conscripted my kids into this life without getting their permission,” Vance wrote. “And Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers. Some of our most successful events were organized not by the campaign, but by TPUSA. He wasn’t just a thinker, he was a doer, turning big ideas into bigger events with thousands of activists. And after every event, he would give me a big hug, tell me he was praying for me, and ask me what he could do. ‘You focus on Wisconsin,’ he’d tell me. ‘Arizona is in the bag.’ And it was.”
“Someone else pointed out that Charlie died doing what he loved: discussing ideas. He would go into these hostile crowds and answer their questions,” Vance posted. “If it was a friendly crowd, and a progressive asked a question to jeers from the audience, he’d encourage his fans to calm down and let everyone speak. He exemplified a foundational virtue of our Republic: the willingness to speak openly and debate ideas.”
Vance called Kirk “a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him.”
“You ran a good race, my friend. We’ve got it from here,” Vance concluded.
