Trump blames 'radical left' for killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk

Carson Swick, The Baltimore Sun on Sep 11, 2025

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Even as the person who shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah Wednesday remains at-large, President Donald Trump appears to be assigning some blame for the murder.

“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said in a recorded video from the White House Wednesday night. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now. My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence — including the organizations that fund it and support it.”

The president, who earlier mourned the loss of “The Great, and even Legendary” Kirk, ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff until Sunday evening in his honor.

The founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, Kirk, 31, was shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University. School officials said the shooter fired the single fatal shot from a building about 200 yards away. His death was met with shock and condemnation across the political spectrum, including from all of America’s former presidents Wednesday night on social media.

“There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones,” wrote Former President Joe Biden.

Former President Barack Obama called Kirk’s killing an act of “despicable violence.”

“We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy,” Obama said. “Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children.”

Former President George W. Bush said Kirk was “murdered in cold blood… on a college campus, where the open exchange of opposing ideas should be sacrosanct.”

“Violence and vitriol must be purged from the public square. Members of other political parties are not our enemies; they are our fellow citizens,” Bush wrote. “May God bless Charlie Kirk and his family, and may God guide America toward civility.”

Former Bill Clinton called for “serious introspection” and said he was “saddened and angered” by the shooting.

“I hope we all go through some serious introspection and redouble our efforts to engage in debate passionately, yet peacefully,” Clinton said.

Trump administration officials noted Kirk’s impact on shaping conservative youths with his signature public debates on college campuses. The activist was close to many figures in Trump’s inner circle, including Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr.

In a lengthy eulogy posted to X, Vance said the Trump administration’s “success traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” and said Kirk helped them “staff the entire government.”

“Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him,” Vance wrote.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose uncle and father were both assassinated in the 1960s, wrote: “Once again, a bullet has silenced the most eloquent truth teller of an era.” Kennedy described Kirk as a “crusader for free speech.”

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