President Donald Trump honored conservative activist Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, marking what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday, as reported by The Gateway Pundit.

The posthumous award came just over a month after Kirk was assassinated during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on September 10.

Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk, accepted the nation’s highest civilian honor on his behalf and delivered an emotional tribute, revealing that her husband had likely considered running for president one day.

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“There was no limit, no limit to what he would have sacrificed to defend freedom for all,” she said.

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“And if the moment had come, he probably would have run for president, but not out of ambition. He would only have done it if that was something that he believed that his country needed, from a servant’s heart standpoint.”

Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed by Tyler Robinson, 22, of Utah, who has been charged with capital murder.

Investigators said Robinson’s motive remains under review but confirmed the suspect had ties to a radical online community. Prosecutors have identified Robinson’s live-in partner as a transgender activist.

President Trump returned from the Middle East, where he had finalized an Israel-Hamas peace accord, to lead the ceremony.

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Calling Kirk a “martyr for truth and for freedom,” the President compared him to historical figures including Socrates, Saint Peter, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr.

“Charlie Kirk was a martyr for truth and for freedom,” Trump said. “And from Socrates to Saint Peter, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King, those who change history the most — and he really did — have always risked their lives for causes they were put on Earth to defend.”

The President described Kirk as a man who “changed history” and “risked his life for his cause,” telling the audience that he is “looking down on us right now” from heaven among “true American heroes.”

Trump also spoke sharply about political violence directed at conservatives, saying:

“We’ve watched legions of far-left radicals resort to desperate acts of violence and terror because they know that their ideas and arguments are persuading no one. They know that they’re failing. They have the devil’s ideology, and they’re failing. And they know it. They feel it, and they become violent.”

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During the event, Trump reflected on earlier conversations he’d had with Kirk about leadership and public service. “Some people said he might be President someday,” Trump said.

“I told him, I said, ‘Charlie, I think you have a good shot someday at being President.’”

In a Fox News op-ed, commentator Benny Johnson — who worked alongside Kirk for more than a decade — wrote that “America lost a future president” with Kirk’s death.

Erika Kirk’s tribute echoed that belief, emphasizing her husband’s dedication to purpose and principle. “Charlie lived only 31 short years on this side of heaven, but he lived every single second, every single day with purpose, and he fought for truth when it was unpopular,” she said.

The ceremony concluded with a standing ovation from family, Turning Point USA members, and administration officials who attended. The Medal of Freedom honor formally recognizes Kirk’s legacy as one of the most influential conservative voices of his generation.

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