WASHINGTON — This afternoon, Speaker Johnson spoke on the House floor in support of his resolution honoring the life of Charlie Kirk. He encouraged his colleagues in the House to send a bipartisan message that political violence – and the glorification and celebration of violence – are profoundly wrong and unacceptable.
“By voting for this resolution, we’re making a strong statement on behalf of the Congress,” Speaker Johnson said. “We’re telling our constituents, for one thing, that political violence, but also the glorification and celebration of that violence, are profoundly wrong, and that goes against everything we stand for as Americans.”
Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.
Below are Speaker Johnson’s remarks as delivered:
Mr. Speaker, this has been a tough week in the country. I think I’ve spoken at three or four vigils already. I’ll be attending our late friend Charlie Kirk’s funeral on Sunday, as many of us will, to pay what will be our last respects, but the honor of his memory will go on.
The last week has been difficult because people are shaken by this in a way that we’ve not seen the country moved in quite some time. I’ve described it as if a shadow has been cast across the country by the untimely death of our dear friend, and the way it was done in such a hateful, heinous manner online for people to view. It’s been disturbing.
My heart’s gone out, in particular, to all the students around this country who are so closely associated with Charlie Kirk’s organization, Turning Point. There are 3,500 plus chapters of Turning Point on universities, college campuses, high school campuses across America, and so many of those students felt personally connected to Charlie because his voice resonated with them and it helped inform their worldview and the way they see politics in society.
And when he was lost in such an abrupt and tragic manner, they felt it to their core. I’ve been so burdened and disturbed for that. I’ve been praying for all those kids, the untold number of young people around the country who are so disturbed, and frankly, need trauma counseling themselves from what they’ve just seen and witnessed.
But in the midst of all this, the thing that encourages me is that I believe in the same promises of scripture that Charlie did, and I’ve been reminded a lot of the passage of scripture that says the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.
Some translations of the Bible say the darkness cannot comprehend it. And I think that’s true. And what I’ve said to all these students and what I’ve shared in these vigils is the same refrain to summarize the best way to honor the legacy of this singular voice in our culture, not just in the conservative movement, but in the recent history of America in the last several decades.
The best way to honor the work and the legacy and the ministry of Charlie Kirk is to do what he did, and that is to advance the principles that he advanced, and to adopt his approach. What I mean by that is the principles that Charlie advanced were the good things Scripture talks about.
We focus on the noble and praiseworthy and the good. And Charlie did that. He focused on things like faith, family, freedom, virtue, honor, and patriotism. Charlie believed in America. He believed in the promise of America and the creed of America, that we’re all made in the image of God, the self-evident truth that God is the one that gives us our rights, and not the government. Those principles are worth fighting for.
Charlie used to quote Ronald Reagan, as I do all the time. Reagan reminded us, freedom is not inherited in the bloodstream. It has to be fought for, protected, taught, and passed along to the generations that come behind us so that they will know the same liberty and opportunity and security that too many of us have taken for granted too often.
Charlie believed that, and he advanced those principles every single day in every venue that he was able. But he did it in a manner that we should emulate. Because when I tell the young people that they should adopt the practices and the manner the approach of Charlie Kirk, what I mean by that is that he was never motivated by hatred for someone on the other side of that debate.
Charlie, to the contrary, was motivated by love because he believed in what Scripture says, there are these three things that remain, faith, hope, and love. And love is the greatest of all. Love overcomes, love conquers, and that’s what motivated our friend.
And so, even though he could defeat anybody in a debate, so often, and I saw this myself, when he would vanquish someone in a policy argument, he was the first person after that to reach out a hand of friendship or offer an arm around the shoulder of someone who he had just defeated in a contest.
Why? Because it wasn’t about winning the policy, it wasn’t about at the end of the day, really the policy arguments, it was about the people. And Charlie loved vigorous debate, but he loved people more. That is the legacy of our friend.
A lot of things have been said about him. And you know, when someone is on the air, when they’re a ubiquitous voice in all forms of media all the time, 24 hours a day, you can go cherry pick one line or phrase or something that they said in a long context or a long discussion, and you can pick anything out and make someone portray them to be something they were not.
But the people who were doing that did not know Charlie Kirk, and all of us who did will attest. Every single person who spent any time with Charlie Kirk will tell you that he was a good and godly man, not a perfect man. None of us are. There was only one ever perfect man, and he was God and man. But Charlie Kirk was a good man who loved his fellow man and gave his life literally in the pursuit of advancing truth.
And so, the very least that we can do is honor him, and especially at a time in the country when people are anxious and frightened. In moments like this, when political instability and fear are pervasive, it’s incumbent upon leaders to step forward and stand in the breach and do what is right. And so, by voting for this resolution today, we’re making a strong statement on behalf of the Congress.
We’re telling our constituents, for one thing, that political violence, but also the glorification and celebration of that violence, are profoundly wrong, and that goes against everything we stand for as Americans.
Charlie stood for exactly the opposite. He stood for what was good in America, what is virtuous, worthy of protection and preservation, and we honor his memory by doing this simple act of passing this resolution. I can’t imagine that anyone would vote against it or vote present or pretend as though this is not exactly the right thing to do.
So, I certainly hope that we can pass this resolution unanimously today, just as it should be passed. And I thank again, my dear friend and colleague, Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona. Our hearts go out to the people of Arizona, as they do to everyone who is mourning this death.
But I will tell you this, the truth that Charlie advanced will go forward more loudly and more profoundly than it ever has before, and that’s the encouragement we have. With that, I yield back.
###