THE FUTURE OF MAGA IS ERIKA

On a warm spring evening in 1974, the music critic Jon Landau watched a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, and wrote: “I have the seen the future of rock and roll, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” On a hot summer day in September 2025, about 200,000 people attended the Charlie Kirk memorial, and over 20 million watched on cable and online.  Many of the witnesses likely came away thinking: “I have seen the future of the MAGA movement, and its name is Erika Kirk.”

Erika Kirk is the widow of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, but she is much, much more than that. She is a woman of impressive and eclectic accomplishments in her own right.  

While playing NCAA Division II basketball in college, she earned dual degrees in political science and international relations. After graduating college, she earned a third degree, in American Legal Studies. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Biblical Studies.  

She was crowned Miss Arizona at the age of 23, and represented the state in the Miss USA Pageant.

Ten years ago, she founded Biblein365, a ministry program that helps its members read the Bible in one year. It claims to have 180,000 participants. She runs her own faith-based clothing company, hosts a podcast focused on Biblical leadership, and reportedly works as a real-estate agent.

On top of that, she is the mother of two young children.

On September 12, two days after the assassination, she was unanimously chosen to take his place as CEO and Board Chair of Turning Point USA. This was not a big surprise. Before his death, her husband had discussed just such a succession plan with Turning Point executives.

But what happened nine days later, at the packed State Farm Stadium, was a surprise, at least to those who knew her only as Charlie Kirk’s widow. The event was planned as a memorial to Charlie Kirk. But it also turned out to be an opportunity for the potential heirs apparent to MAGA leader Donald Trump to showcase their talents. One might even say it was a kind of MAGA movement beauty pageant. Erika Kirk, who knows a thing or two about beauty pageants, demonstrated to a vast audience that she is equipped and inclined to take on the leadership, not just of Turning Point USA, but of the MAGA movement itself.

Some of the other candidates were good, some were bad, and some were ugly.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke passionately about Charlie Kirk’s legacy, but was relaxed enough to inject some humor into his remarks, as he recounted his reaction on hearing of Charlie’s ambition to reach out to young Americans on college campuses: “College campuses? Why don’t you start somewhere easier, like communist Cuba?” Vice President Vance spoke in classical terms, connecting Charlie Kirk with Athens, the City of Reason, and Jerusalem, the City of God, before concluding that America was his true home.

On the bad side, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard halted and stumbled through her speech, sounding as though she were reading it for the first time.

And then there were the ugly. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller spoke ominously of the dark forces that had killed Kirk, exclaiming: “You have nothing. You are nothing. You will leave behind nothing.”  He wasn’t referring to the individual who had shot Charlie Kirk. Rather, he seemed to be referring to the Democratic Party. Tucker Carlson had a narrower enemy in mind, when he compared the death of Kirk to the events of 2,000 years ago, when “a bunch of guys eating hummus,” plotted the death of Jesus Christ. There was little doubt which religious group he meant by the hummus reference. And his cackle only made his anti-Semitic undertones more hideous.

None of the speakers even approached the power and eloquence of Erika Kirk. The highlight of her speech was her forgiveness of her husband’s murderer:

On the cross, our savior said, “Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do,” That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know, from the Gospel, is love and always love.

In future years, this passage, movingly and tearfully delivered, will take its place alongside Martin Luther King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” and Ronald Reagan’s “Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy” addresses as a monument of American rhetoric.

Unsurprisingly, Fox pundits covering the event were in tears. But so were commentators on MSNBC and CNN, who put aside their political biases to praise the speech emotionally.  On his first night back on the air, Jimmy Kimmel cried openly, describing Erika Kirk’s speech as “a selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow.”

After Erika Kirk spoke, President Trump addressed the crowd. His speech showed why MAGA, a movement he created, now needs new leadership. It showed that for MAGA’s sake, the end of Donald Trump’s second term cannot come too soon.

Where Erika Kirk spoke of forgiveness, the President promulgated a different policy.

[Charlie Kirk] was a missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose. He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika. But now Erika can talk to me and the whole group, and maybe then can convince me that that’s not right, but I can’t stand my opponent.

He delivered these remarks with a sly smile, evidently to show that he was just being funny. But it seemed a strange subject, and an even stranger venue, for such a joke. And his threats to indict his political opponents (along with the now actual indictments), suggest that the President — smile or no smile — wasn’t joking at all.

Trump went off on tangents which had little or no relationship to Charlie Kirk. He discussed autism, and teased about an upcoming announcement that would be “one of the most important news conferences I’ve ever had.” (That conference turned out to be a scare about the supposed dangers of Tylenol.)  He bragged about winning “the biggest election in the history of our country.” (Although he received less than 50% of the popular vote in both his victories.) He touted his administration’s tariffs, and claimed the revenue numbers generated by them were “incredible.” At times, he sounded as though he thought he was back on the campaign trail.

After he finished, Erika Kirk returned to the podium and allowed herself to be embraced and comforted by the President. But considering the different qualities of their presentations, it appeared that their physical connection was designed not so much for Erika to receive support as it was for her to give it.

Since the memorial, Erika Kirk has been busy reenergizing Turning Point USA, and urging its audience to “buckle up.” She recently said that the Charlie Kirk Show “is not just a show. It has a movement attached to it.” She may have meant the Turning Point USA movement, but it is also possible that she meant the broader-based MAGA movement.

Erika Kirk would not be the first widow to emerge from her husband’s death as a movement leader. Isabel Peron succeeded her husband Juan Peron as President of Argentina. Under her administration, the country suffered through a period of political and economic instability; after two years, she was overthrown in a military coup. Corazon Aquino was more successful. She became the leader of the Philippine opposition after her husband was assassinated, and was elected to the presidency after defeating Ferdinand Marcos. She is known as the “Mother of Philippine Democracy.”

Not all such widowed leaders have achieved power in the political sphere. Katharine Graham took control of the Washington Post after her husband Philip Graham died. She led the newspaper through the Pentagon Papers release and the Watergate scandal.

Politics is an uncertain business, full of uncertainties. But in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, his widow has emerged as a strong candidate to become MAGA’s future. In a profoundly sad time for Erika Kirk, that may be an uplifting prospect for MAGA.