Senator Ted Cruz did not mince words this weekend when he warned that the Democratic Party has become a furnace of rage, excoriating their reflexive hostility in the moments before conservatives gathered to remember Charlie Kirk. Cruz made those remarks while appearing on Fox’s Sunday coverage ahead of the massive memorial in Arizona, arguing that too many on the left respond to political disagreement with venom instead of debate. It was a plainspoken rebuke from a man who has long said the Left’s default posture is anger, not engagement.
The memorial at State Farm Stadium in Glendale was as much a celebration of Kirk’s life as it was a rebuke to the cancel-culture forces that have tried to erase conservative voices. Tens of thousands packed the stadium while President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other leading conservatives stood shoulder to shoulder to honor a man who built a movement out of principle and passion. The scale of the turnout made clear that Charlie’s work to reach young Americans did not end with his death.
Charlie Kirk was gunned down while speaking on a college campus on September 10, and authorities have charged a suspect in the politically charged slaying. That brutal act has exposed the rot at the heart of our political discourse: when public debate tips into dehumanization, someone eventually pays the price. Conservatives are right to demand answers, and the outrage from the right is not theatrical—this is grieving mixed with resolve.
Make no mistake: Kirk built something real. He turned a small campus operation into a national force for conservative ideas, faith, and family, and he did it by talking to young people who felt ignored by the establishment. That legacy—evangelism for liberty in an age that prizes conformity—was the centerpiece of the remembrances, and it is a model conservatives must keep following with humility and courage.
Cruz’s anger toward the Democratic reaction is not empty partisan theater; he has demanded concrete steps to stop the financial and logistical support for violent and disruptive demonstrations that erode campus safety. His Stop FUNDERs legislation seeks to follow the money behind extremist chaos, and whether you call it law or common sense, those who bankroll mob rule should face consequences. If the left insists on stoking division, then the right must respond with law, order, and relentless oversight.
The media’s attempt to smudge Kirk into a caricature while minimizing the hostility that inspired his killer is emblematic of the double standard conservatives have endured for years. We are mourning a leader who took risks to bring young people into the civic square, not a villain to be excused for murder because it fits a preferred narrative. Senator Cruz’s stand is a necessary reminder that defending free speech and defending the people who exercise it are one and the same.
Now is the time for Republicans to turn grief into action: protect campuses, hold accountable the individuals and institutions that promote violence, and keep building the movement Charlie started. The left can keep indulging its anger, but conservatives will keep showing up to debate, to vote, and to teach the next generation what real courage looks like. As Cruz and so many others made plain this weekend, the choice is ours—to shrink from hate or to answer it with conviction and lawful strength.
