There were many beautiful speeches given at Charlie Kirk's memorial service in Arizona on Sunday, but what stood out to me the most was the one given by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. As he does — in a way I think many Americans are just noticing about the former senator now that he has a bigger stage — Rubio delivered poignant remarks woven with his signature wit, passion for American and Christian values, and his heightened awareness and understanding of our nation's role on the world stage. His leadership skills were on full display.
Rubio began his speech with an anecdote about how a woman who helped him with his campaign years ago told him of a young man who was "gonna start this group to go on college campuses and try to convince young Americans that ours is the greatest country in the history of the world, and that Marxism was bad."
"And I remember thinking back then — I'm gonna admit to you guys, I was a little skeptical. I said, 'College campuses, you're gonna do that? Why don't you start somewhere easier, like, for example, communist Cuba?"' he said, lightening the mood in the room. Of course, he said, his skepticism was eventually proven wrong.
He continued:
Understand where we were at that time in our history. Understand where we are still today in many places, where young Americans are actively told that everything that they were taught, that all the foundations that made our society and our civilization so grand, they were all wrong, they were all evil, that marriage is oppressive, that children are a burden, that America's a source of evil, not of good in the world.
Charlie Kirk was the voice that told a generation that none of this is true.
Rubio also spoke of Kirk's knowledge, saying that recently, he'd said some quote to him, and the secretary asked who said that?
Kirk replied: "Marcus Aurelius."
"What district does he represent?" Rubio said he jokingly asked him, but his point was that Kirk had the knowledge and wisdom to quote Roman emperors, while most of us, well, do not.
"He was constantly expanding his horizons, but he just didn't have knowledge. He had wisdom, an uncanny amount of wisdom for a man as young as he was," Rubio said.
The secretary also emphasized something that has become a major talking point in recent weeks: the fact that many of us — Rubio said he included himself in this — tend to isolate ourselves from people with whom we disagree, but Kirk sought those people out "to engage peacefully, respectfully." He cited an example that made the news in recent days. Tim O'Brien covered it for us yesterday: CNN's Van Jones confessed that Kirk reached out to him the day before his murder and told him he wanted to have a dialogue.
Unfortunately, that moment never came. Jones said he didn't even get a chance to respond.
Rubio spoke of Kirk's impact on everyone, the entire world really. He pointed out the droves of people in attendance and the fact that the president and his cabinet, some of the most powerful people in the world, were there. He said media outlets from all over the world were there, too, and explained that everywhere he traveled overseas last week, people stopped to offer their condolences.
Recommended for VIPs: The World Mourns: Leaders From Around the Globe Speak Out on Charlie Kirk's Assassination
He concluded with a powerful and passionate spiritual message that surpasses politics and all other earthly matters. I'll leave you with Rubio's closing words:
But I hope many who are watching... I imagine there are people watching here tonight that didn't know much about Charlie Kirk until 11 days ago.
Maybe they were disengaged from politics, maybe they were partially engaged. I hope one of the things they take from this is that the movement Charlie Kirk led and started and gave fuel to was about politics, but not only about politics. It was deeper, it was broader. And I would say that, taking the liberty, but I'm confident he would agree, one of the things he wants us to take away from this, from all of this, is the following, his deep belief that we were all created, every single one of us, before the beginning of time by the hands of the God of the universe, an all-powerful God, who loved us and created us for the purpose of living with him in eternity.
But then sin entered the world and separated us from our creator. And so God took on the form of a man and came down and lived among us.
And he suffered like men, and he died like a man. But on the third day, he rose unlike any mortal man.
And to prove any doubters wrong, he ate with his disciples so they could see and they touched his wounds.
He didn't rise as a ghost or as a spirit, but as flesh. And then he rose to the heaven, but he promised he would return, and he will.
And when he returns, because he took on that death, because he carried that cross, we were freed from the sin that separated us from him.
And when he returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth and we will all be together, and we are going to have a great reunion there again with Charlie and all the people we love.
Have you EVER seen this much passion from Secretary @marcorubio?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 21, 2025
This is REMARKABLE to watch.
PREACH. pic.twitter.com/o7ovjFRKPP
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