President Donald Trump awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously to Charlie Kirk on Tuesday.

Kirk was an activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation’s politics further to the right; he was killed last month during an event at a university in Utah. His politics were often divisive, and Trump has cited Kirk as a major reason he was reelected, calling Kirk a “great American hero” while speaking at his funeral in September.

The government shutdown also entered its 14th day Tuesday, with the Senate returning from its holiday break, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson refusing to call lawmakers back to Washington and Trump’s budget director vowing to keep firing federal workers.

Democrats have focuse

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