Trump Awarded Charlie Kirk With the Medal of Freedom, but Why Did He Do That?

Oct. 14 would have been Charlie Kirk's 32nd birthday, and as such, the Senate declared a day of mourning for the conservative activist who was shot and killed in September. On that day, President Trump also posthumously awarded Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Kirk's widow Erika accepted the honor, but following the ceremony in the newly renovated Rose Garden, many wanted to better understand why the president had decided to bestow the honor on Kirk. Here's what we know.

The shortest possible answer here is that the Medal of Freedom is bestowed by the president, and as a result, it's the president who gets to decide who to give it to. Trump has previously honored people like Rush Limbaugh and Devin Nunes, so he is certainly not opposed to bestowing the honor on openly partisan figures like Kirk. In his remarks, Trump offered a little more insight into his thinking.

"Today, we're here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, a beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody have ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber, the late, great Charlie Kirk," he said, per ABC News. "Five weeks ago, our nation was robbed of this extraordinary champion."

Trump first announced that he would be bestowing the honor on Kirk just a day after his death.

"We're entering his name forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes. He's a true American hero, an amazing person," Trump added, saying that he would always be there for Erika and the rest of Kirk's young family.

Kirk was undeniably influential in shaping Trump's campaigns for president and was entrenched in the conservative movement for more than a decade before his death.

Although the president can ultimately decide who to give the award to, he is supposed to decide this based on whether a person has given "great contributions to either the United States or the world," according to the official website of the U.S. Senate.

While Kirk was an overtly partisan figure, he undeniably shaped modern America, although there will be debate for years about whether he did so in a positive direction or not.

In the weeks since his death, Republicans as high up as the president have worked hard to cement Kirk's legacy as someone who fought nobly for a cause they all believe in. Almost immediately after his death, though, people started pointing out that Kirk was not afraid to say racist or misogynistic things in furtherance of the worldview he believed in.

Kirk's legacy will continue to be written, but it's fair to say that only a Republican president would have bestowed the honor upon him, given how overtly partisan many of his achievements were. Now, though, as the president said, he's on a list that includes many of our country's bravest heroes.