Trump blames rhetoric from the left after Kirk dying : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4446x2964+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc2%2Ffb%2F43fa331940d288ab304517dad840%2Fap25254008410269.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4446x2964+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc2%2Ffb%2F43fa331940d288ab304517dad840%2Fap25254008410269.jpg" class="img" alt="Well-wishers pay their respects at a makeshift memorial at the national headquarters of Turning Point USA in Phoenix after the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the organization, during a Utah college event Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025." fetchpriority="high"/> Properly-wishers pay their respects at a makeshift memorial on the nationwide headquarters of Turning Level USA in Phoenix after the taking pictures dying of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the group, throughout a Utah school occasion Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. Ross D. Franklin/AP disguise caption

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Ross D. Franklin/AP President Trump condemned the left and the media for "demonizing" these they disagree with in a video message from the Oval Workplace after his shut ally Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a Utah school campus occasion on Wednesday.

Trump praised Kirk, who he has credited for serving to him win the 2024 election, for his conservative activism and dedication to open debate. He then mentioned what occurred to Kirk is a consequence of individuals demonizing these they disagree with "in essentially the most hateful and despicable manner attainable," and turned his ire to the political left.

"Radical left political violence has damage too many harmless folks and brought too many lives. Tonight, I ask all People to commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died," Trump mentioned.

A suspect within the taking pictures had not been named and remained at massive on the time of the video's launch late Wednesday

President Trump shares a message on the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

“I ask all People to commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived & died. The values of free speech, citizenship, the rule of regulation & the patriotic devotion & love of God.” pic.twitter.com/3fBSgs4Zxa

— The White Home (@WhiteHouse) September 11, 2025

"For years, these on the unconventional left have in contrast great People like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This sort of rhetoric is immediately chargeable for the terrorism that we're seeing in our nation in the present day, and it should cease proper now," Trump mentioned.

Trump mentioned his administration would discover "those that contributed to this atrocity and to different political violence, together with the organizations that fund it and assist it, in addition to those that go after our judges, regulation enforcement officers and everybody else who brings order to our nation."

Trump drew a throughline from the assassination try at his marketing campaign rally final 12 months to the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the 2017 taking pictures of Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise at a congressional baseball observe.

Trump didn't embody any examples of political violence in opposition to Democrats, such because the June assault in Minnesota that killed a state lawmaker and left one other wounded or the 2022 hammer assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She wasn't dwelling on the time, however was the meant goal.

Trump paid tribute to Kirk's work with younger People and requested People to decide to "free speech, citizenship, the rule of regulation and the patriotic devotion and love of God," values he mentioned that Kirk espoused, calling him a "martyr for reality and freedom."

Again in 2017, early in his first time period, Trump approached the assault on Scalise with way more political restraint, delivering a two-minute speech that didn't point out the political affiliation of the attacker. The shooter, who was killed by police, had been a Bernie Sanders supporter.

"We will all agree that we're blessed to be People," Trump mentioned after the 2017 taking pictures. "We're strongest once we are unified and once we work for the widespread good."