"I forgive him." They were three little words, and yet, they were huge.

In a stadium packed to capacity, Erika Kirk's address to an assassin was delivered in tears and received with silence until the crowd grew into applause.

"The answer to hate is not hate," she added. It is, perhaps, the message America needs to hear most and the one it has heard least.

As it happened: Trump delivers speech at Charlie Kirk's memorial

Image: President Donald Trump embraces Erika Kirk. Pic: AP

Image: Erika Kirk wipes tears from her eyes during her speech. Pic: AP

The memorial to Charlie Kirk felt like a Republican state funeral in all but name.

This was MAGA in mourning, an occasion that laid bare the influence of Charlie Kirk and his politics.

They had travelled in their tens of thousands to

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