In a speech delivered to the country, live from the Oval Office, President Trump responded to the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot at an event on a Utah university campus only hours before.
The “radical left”
Referring to the event, as he correctly did, as "a dark moment for America," Donald Trump continued by blaming the "radical left" for creating an atmosphere of violence by "targeting people you disagree with."
It's time for all Americans and the media to understand that violence and murder result from the tragic act of demonizing people you disagree with.
He provided examples such as the assassination attempt on him and the confrontations with ICE officers, while, as noted by various observers, he himself represents the division he alleges to criticize:
It's high time for all Americans and the media to face the reality that violence and murder result from consistently vilifying people you disagree with, in the most hateful and abhorrent manner possible, day after day and year after year.
Once more, Trump refuses to recognize that political violence impacts both parties, using instances of attacks against himself and his party as examples, which he blames on the "radical left."
From the incident that nearly took my life in Butler, Pennsylvania last year, which resulted in the death of a husband and father, to the assaults on ICE officers, to the brutal killing of a healthcare executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others, violent acts driven by extreme left-wing politics have caused significant harm to many innocent individuals and led to numerous fatalities.
Violence on both sides
However, the president appears unaware of the criticisms faced by the opposing party.
In 2018, a number of Democratic personalities, such as Obama, Clinton, Biden, and Harris, became victims of bomb threats in packages from an extremist Trump supporter.
Starting from 2020, a number of Democratic leaders have also become targets of people fueled by intense political divisions:
In 2020, Gretchen Whitmer became the target of a kidnapping attempt, while in 2022, Paul Pelosi was physically assaulted with a hammer at his residence. In 2023, Angie Craig faced an attack within her apartment complex. In 2025, Melissa Hortman was tragically killed along with her husband during a shooting that targeted multiple Democratic officials. That same year, Josh Shapiro narrowly escaped an arson incident at his official home while he and his family were asleep inside.
"For years, individuals from the extreme left have likened exceptional Americans such as Charlie to Nazis and the most heinous mass murderers and criminals," Trump adds.
The president ends by vowing that his administration will track down those responsible:
My government will identify all individuals involved in this atrocity and other acts of political violence, including the groups that finance and back it, as well as those who target our judges, law enforcement personnel, and all others who maintain order in our nation.