The footage of President Donald Trump hugging an emotional Erika Kirk at her late husband Charlie Kirk's funeral in September 2025 went viral on social media — and for good reason. While Charlie was well known in Republican circles, Erika mostly flew under the radar. That is, until her husband was assassinated. The snap of Erika being embraced by the president incentivized netizens to do some digging to figure out whether they knew each other prior to the sad event. In a post that also went viral, a user on X , formerly known as Twitter, cited Erika's participation in the 2012 Miss USA pageant as proof that she and Trump do indeed go way back. For those who are unaware, the divisive politician used to co-own the pageant, and one of the photos showed Erika posing in a bikini in front of

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