Trump credits Charlie Kirk for ‘tremendous renewal’ in faith, religion in US

Donald Trump, in his People’s State of the Union” address, said on Tuesday there has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity and belief in god, which he said is especially true among young people.

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington (REUTERS)

A big part of that he said has to do with Charlie Kirk, calling him a “great friend, great guy”. Track live updates from speech here

“…This is especially true among young people, and a big part of that had to do with… my great friend, Charlie Kirk, great guy, great guy. So last year, Charlie was violently murdered by an assassin, and martyred, really martyred for his beliefs,” Trump said, then pointed towards Kirk’s widow Erika.

“His wonderful wife, Erica, is with us tonight,” Trump said.

In Charlie’s memory, we must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind, Trump added.

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“We love religion, and we love bringing it back, and it’s coming back at levels that nobody actually thought possible. It was really a beautiful thing to see,” he said.

Charles Kirk was an American right-wing political activist who co‑founded the conservative student organisation Turning Point USA. He was assassinated in Utah in September last year.

In his “People’s State of the Union” speech, US President Donald Trump struck a triumphant and declarative tone, describing the past year as a dramatic national turnaround. Trump hailed his tariff move, now deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, saying he used the duties to take in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for the country, both economically and on a national security basis.

Trump said that other countries were “ripping” US off “very bad” for years, adding that even Democrats know that but they “just don’t want to say it”.

“Yet these countries are now happy, so are we… we made deals… deals are all done… they are now making a lot of money,” Trump said, and went on to add that tariffs paid by foreign countries he believes will replace the “modern day system of income tax”.

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