Charlie Kirk assassination: Donald Trump blames 'radical left'; how he ignored his own rhetoric

In moments of political grief, nations often search for unity. But in the wake of Conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, America found itself staring at a familiar paradox: even tragedy becomes another site of division. US President Donald Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, did not summon reconciliation; instead, he sharpened the country’s divides, blaming the left alone for a cycle of political violence that has, in truth, scarred both sides of the spectrum.

After the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump released a four-minute video from the Oval Office. In the address, he condemned the killing as the "tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day."

But rather than calling for Americans across political lines to reduce tensions, Trump listed only violent incidents that targeted Republicans or were carried out by those he described as being on the left. He pointed to the assassination attempts against him, attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, the killing of a health care executive in New York, and the mass shooting at a congressional baseball practice that nearly killed Republican Rep Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

"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. "This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now."

On Sunday, speaking again to reporters, Trump repeated his earlier argument. "When you look at the problems, the problem is on the left," he said. "It’s not on the right."

It is relevant to examine the political motivations of the suspect in Kirk’s killing. There is some evidence linking Tyler Robinson, the accused, to the left.

At the same time, Trump and his allies are accused of focusing only on selective examples while leaving out other recent violent incidents.

Violence is not partisan in its toll
The recent record shows politically motivated violence across the spectrum, affecting both Democrats and Republicans. In June, two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota were shot, one of whom died.

In April, an arson attempt was reported at the home of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, another Democrat. In December 2022 and January 2023, a former Republican candidate in New Mexico paid others to fire shots at the homes of Democratic officials.

In 2022, Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer by a man who said he was searching for her. In 2020, a group plotted to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Another major act of violence came on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol in an effort to stop certification of the 2020 election results.

All of these episodes occurred in the last five years.

Questions were raised on Monday about whether Trump had considered the full scale of political violence in recent years. When asked about the assassination three months ago of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, Trump said he was "not familiar" with the case. Asked why he did not order flags to be flown at half-staff, as he did after Kirk’s killing, Trump replied that he would have done so if Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had requested it.

Even in the case of the assassination attempt against Trump himself in July, Trump and his allies have gone beyond the available evidence in claiming the left was behind it. The motivations of the suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, remain unclear. Crooks was a registered Republican.

Trump overlooks his own history of violent political language

Trump and his supporters have argued that violent acts such as the one against Kirk are linked to extreme rhetoric from the left. They have cited comparisons of Trump and Kirk to Nazis or to fascists.

"This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now," Trump said Wednesday.

But critics point out that Trump and his allies have also used aggressive or violent rhetoric themselves. Trump has for years called his political opponents fascists, both before and after attempts on his life.

The attack on Paul Pelosi is one example. It was treated as a joke by some on the right, including Trump. "How’s [Nancy Pelosi’s] husband doing, anybody know?" Trump said at one point. "And 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."

Last year, to pick one example out of hundreds, Trump accused Joe Biden of running a "Gestapo administration."

In 2020, Trump reposted a video of a supporter who said, "The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat."

Trump is "refusing to acknowledge that there is a major extremism problem on the far right in the U.S.," James J.F. Forest, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell School of Criminology and Justice Studies was quoted as saying by the New York Times. "He's done this consistently, and he's also been responsible for ratcheting up the very kind of rhetoric that he's now telling others that they shouldn't do."