‘Certainly Fitting’: GOP Lawmakers Hail Trump’s Plan to Award Medal of Freedom to Kirk

Republican members of Congress on Thursday applauded President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would be posthumously awarding Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The medal is the highest award a civilian can receive from the U.S. president. Prominent Americans who have received the honor include Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Olympic gold-medal gymnast Simone Biles, Walt Disney, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and astronaut Neil Armstrong. Other notable honorees include Pope John XXIII, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Pope Francis, and anthropologist Jane Goodall.

“I mean, I think it’s certainly fitting. Charlie Kirk was a patriot, great family man, a great Christian, and you know, he was huge for all of us,” Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., told The Daily Signal.

“You know, it’s really, words can’t express how grateful I am to the president for doing that. And I think a lot of us [are] really hurt, really angry right now. And I think this is a good way to honor Charlie Kirk and his family, his wife and his two children, and all the great work that he did in such a short period of time, that he will be missed terribly,” Moore said.

“Oh, absolutely. And I think it can’t be overstated how impactful he was. I mean, you have few people in our history that that can create a movement of millions upon millions, especially young people like he did,” Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told The Daily Signal.

“[P]eople like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, I think Charlie Kirk’s name will go, will be one of those that goes alongside, historically, these individuals,” the Missouri lawmaker continued.

“Well, I think Charlie Kirk did a lot, and I think that he got assassinated. The first I’ve heard it, by the way, but I think that he did a lot for this country, did a lot for the conservative movement, and he got killed living up to the greatest ideals of being an American, engaging in political speech. And I think recognizing that the guy taken far before his prime is a noble thing to do,” Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., told The Daily Signal.

“Thank God,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told The Daily Signal.

“Charlie gave his life to the First Amendment. This was a young man who simply wanted people of differing opinions to come to his events and debate ideas. He was the eternal optimist. He was a Christian. He was a man of faith, and he liked it if you had an opposing view. He made kids and students with opposing views better debaters,” Mace said, adding:

“And you know, the Left wants to say, Democrats want to say, we need to have a national conversation. That is literally what Charlie Kirk’s life was about, was having a national, peaceful conversation, and he was assassinated. He was murdered for it, and it’s wrong.”

As for whether Kirk’s body should be honored by lying in state in the Capitol, Rep. Higgins, R-La., told The Daily Signal, “Charlie’s family should be asked about whether he should lie in state, not me. As for being honored otherwise, that’s already happening throughout the conservative Christian realm.

Not all members of Congress were in agreement about the president’s decision to award Kirk the medal.

“That is the opposite of bringing the rhetoric down, like … I have tremendous sadness and sympathy for the family, for the Kirk family, for what’s happened,” Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., told The Daily Signal. 

“There are, there are voices we can choose to elevate in our society and celebrate with things with the dignity of the Congressional [sic] Medal of Freedom. And there are, there are voices that we do just to elevate and amplify the rhetoric,” he added.

Casten criticized Trump for not mentioning in his remarks yesterday about Kirk liberal Democrat political figures, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who have been targets of political violence.

“It’s a choice in Trump’s speech last night to mention people on the right who have been the victims of political violence and ignore Gretchen Whitmer and ignore Paul Pelosi and ignore Josh Shapiro,” Casten continued, contrasting the president’s address with the one then-President George W. Bush gave after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. 

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., also announced on Thursday that he had introduced a resolution to award Kirk the Congressional Gold Medal, which is the highest honor that Congress can award a civilian.

George Caldwell contributed to this report.

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