Charlie Kirk’s death has ‘awoken that sleeping giant’

WASHINGTON — First son Eric Trump on Sunday said the tragic assassination of activist icon Charlie Kirk has “awoken that sleeping giant” of conservatism in America.

Trump said he has seen the movement more energized after the murder of the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder.

“It’s transcended the generation of youth. Like, everybody over the last couple of days has been talking about how Charlie created the greatest youth movement,” Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.

“This is a hit on our country. It’s a hit on our movement. It’s a hit on Christianity. It’s a hit on religion. It’s a hit on freedom,” he said of Kirk’s slaying at an event in Utah on Wednesday.

“They truly have awoken that sleeping giant, just not within the youth vote, but really transcending everybody who’s in this nation,” he said of radical lefty ideologists.

“This could have been the greatest mistake these people have ever made.”

Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, has said a portion of proceeds from his book, “Under Siege,” will go to Turning Point USA in honor of Kirk.

The Trump scion said that if Kirk’s assassination had happened before his book was published, it would have been the focus of another chapter about “how they tried to silence us, how they try and take us off that stage, how they try and eliminate the most powerful voices in the movement.”

Kirk, a married dad of two, was speaking at Utah Valley University when lefty 22-year-old trade-school student Tyler Robinson, 22, fatally shot him in the neck, authorities said. The suspect was apparently radicalized by the far left through his heavy online activity.

Kirk had meanwhile been widely credited for helping to mobilize young men to turn out in support of conservatives, including Eric’s dad, President Trump. The influencer would spend his time showing up at college campuses and debating students on the top issues of the day.

Eric Trump credited Kirk with helping his father win the popular vote in November’s presidential election.

“That’s because of the work of Charlie Kirk,” he said. “And that’s because of the work of conservatives like all of us, including me, who stood on the stage every single day for well over a decade and would not cower and would not hide our voice.

“Charlie was not afraid to go to any of these campuses. And he changed the soul of the youth vote in this country,” Eric said.