In the days since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, President Donald Trump has intensified his rhetoric against what he calls the “radical left,” blaming them for Kirk’s assassination and broader political violence — a contrast to his comparatively muted responses when Democrats have been targeted.
Speaking to NBC News on Saturday, Trump said he wanted the country to “heal” but added: “We’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did.”
His comments echoed a video message from the Oval Office hours after Kirk’s death on Wednesday, in which Trump declared left-wing rhetoric “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.” He pledged to track down not only those who carried out Kirk’s killing but also the “organizations that fund it and support it.”
The president referenced other attacks, including the 2023 assassination attempt against him in Pennsylvania, but made no mention of violence against Democrats — such as the June killing of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband or the April arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home.
On Fox News Friday, Trump doubled down, saying left-wing radicals “are the problem,” while suggesting right-wing extremists were motivated by opposition to crime. “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy,” he said.
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Trump issued a brief statement after Hortman’s killing but did not attend her funeral. By contrast, he has said he will attend Kirk’s. His critics note the disparity reflects a pattern: when campaigning in California last year, he mocked the 2022 hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, joking about the former Speaker’s opposition to border security.
Republicans have rallied behind Trump since Kirk’s killing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is closely monitoring service members who mock the incident. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) vowed to push for lifetime social media bans for anyone who belittles Kirk’s death, saying he would “cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals.”
But legal experts warned such measures would violate the First Amendment. “The government does not have the power to dictate to private social media companies what content they can or cannot have,” said Will Creeley, legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
