Donald Trump called Charlie Kirk a “martyr” during an inflammatory speech in which he blamed the “radical left” for the 31-year-old’s murder and called for a crackdown on left-wing groups.
Trump posted the four-minute address to Truth Social on Wednesday night. He began by sharing his “grief and anger” at the “heinous” murder of Kirk, who was killed during a debate at Utah Valley University hours earlier. He then said the rhetoric of the left was to blame for violent attacks on Kirk, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, and himself.
Authorities are still hunting for the shooter at the time of publishing.
As well as vowing to find and punish those responsible, the president called Kirk “the best of America” and claimed “there’s never been anyone who was so respected by youth.”
He added, “Charlie Kirk travelled the nation, joyfully engaging with everyone interested in good faith debate. His mission was to bring young people into the political process, which he did better than anybody ever, to share his love of country and to spread the simple words of common sense on campuses nationwide. He championed his ideas with courage, logic, humor, and grace.”
Trump’s White House message to the nation then called out the dangerous division in American politics today, blaming the left‘s rhetoric for what he labeled modern “terrorism.”
“It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” Trump said.
He complained that MAGA figureheads, including himself, were regularly compared to Nazis. As recently as Tuesday, protesters shouted, “Trump is the Hitler of our time” while the president was dining in D.C. with Vice President JD Vance and top Cabinet members.
Vance himself had previously labeled Trump “America’s Hitler” in 2016 before changing his mind and joining his campaign.
“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 his video message. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
After promising to track down perpetrators of Kirk’s death and “other political violence,” Trump’s message then got personal.
The president referenced the attempt on his own life at a Pennsylvania rally last year, along with the 2017 shooting of then U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise at a congressional baseball game by a left-wing activist. Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in 2024, was a registered Republican voter, according to multiple reports at the time. He was killed at the scene by the Secret Service.
Trump also noted the death of United Healthcare CEO Bryan Thompson, who was shot dead in Manhattan last December. The suspect in the Thompson case, Luigi Mangione, has pleaded not guilty and is currently in a Brooklyn detention center awaiting his trial.
“From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, which killed a husband and father to the attacks on ICE agents,” Trump said, “to the vicious murder of a health-care executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others, radical-left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.”
He added, “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that funded and support it as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country.”
Authorities have so far seemed to have bungled the hunt for the Kirk suspect, who killed the father-of-two with a single shot. FBI Director Kash Patel said they had taken a suspect into custody, who was released after 90 minutes of interrogation. “Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency,” Patel wrote.
The president labeled the assassin a “monster” but insisted that Kirk’s conservative voice was going nowhere.
“Charlie was the best of America, and the monster who attacked him was attacking our whole country. An assassin tried to silence him with a bullet, but he failed, because together, we will ensure that his voice, his message, and his legacy will live on for countless generations to come.
Trump added, “Today, because of this heinous act, Charlie’s voice has become bigger and grander than ever before.”
Earlier Wednesday, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out that Trump was no stranger to inflammatory comments when quizzed on Democrats toning down rhetoric.
“Oh, please. Why don’t you start with the president of the United States? And every ugly meme he’s posted and every ugly word.”
The president’s speech made no mention of politically charged attacks on Democrats. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords of Arizona survived a shooting in 2011 by a gunman who killed six people in the incident. She had to leave her role in Congress due to her injuries and now advocates for gun control.
“This summer alone, both Democrats and Republicans have been assassinated in heinous acts of political violence,” Giffords posted on Wednesday. “It’s terrifying, and has no place in a democracy.”
She added, “The responsibility to protect our public servants, political figures, and all Americans is not partisan. It’s patriotic—and long overdue. Congress must take action, now.”
Several Democratic leaders, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, were the targets of pipe bombs that were intercepted after they were sent through the mail in 2018. Cesar A. Sayoc Jr., who posted the bombs, targeted people he believed were enemies of his own hero, Donald Trump, according to The New York Times.
Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked in his San Francisco home in 2022 and had his skull fractured with a hammer.
Trump joked about the terrifying attack during a state party convention in 2023. Calling Nancy Pelosi “crazy,” he asked, “How’s her husband doing? Anybody know?” before adding, “She’s against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house—which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”
The Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, was the subject of a kidnapping plot in 2020 by an extremist militia group. She specifically blamed Trump at the time for refusing to call out far-right groups.
In June this year, Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed in their home in Minnesota, with Governor Tim Walz calling the shootings “an act of targeted political violence.”
Their killer, Vance Boelter, had the names of 45 Democrats on his hitlist.
Trump did address the killings at the time, noting on social media they appeared to be “a targeted attack against State Lawmakers.” He went on: “Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”
