Former President Barack Obama condemned the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the recent wave of political violence that has swept the nation, while also rebuking President Donald Trump for politicizing the tragedy. Speaking in Erie, Pennsylvania, at a Jefferson Educational Society event, Obama called Kirk’s murder “horrific and a tragedy,” emphasizing that America’s democratic system is built on the idea that people can disagree without resorting to violence. He stated that political violence, even against those you oppose, is “a threat to all of us,” and we must be “clear and forthright in condemning them.”
Obama acknowledged that while he was aware of some of Kirk’s ideas and believed them to be wrong, he still mourns for his family. He also made it clear that a tragedy like this doesn’t mean people can’t debate the ideas promoted by the victims of political violence. He was critical of the Trump administration for immediately accusing the “far-left” of being responsible for the shooting before any details about the perpetrator had even been released.
According to NBC, the former president said that throughout his time in office, he always tried to focus on the “ties that bind us together.” He gave the example of the 2015 Charleston church shootings, where he purposefully avoided using the murders to attack his political opponents. He also praised Utah Governor Spencer Cox for his efforts to unite the country after Kirk’s killing.
Obama is tired of a president who divides and doesn’t unite
On the other hand, Obama said that Trump is not taking a similar approach. “When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents ‘vermin,’ enemies who need to be ‘targeted,’ that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now and something that we’re going to have to grapple with, all of us,” Obama said. He referred to the current political climate as a “political crisis” and said that there are “extremists” on both sides of the aisle.
Obama was quick to point out that these extreme views “were not in my White House. I wasn’t embracing them. I wasn’t empowering them. I wasn’t putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views.” He also added that “when we have the weight of the United States government behind extremist views, we’ve got a problem.”
Since Kirk’s death, Trump and his allies have said they plan to target “radical left” groups, even though Utah prosecutors have not found any link between them and the assassination. The former president said that the current administration and many Republicans in Congress have shown that they’re “OK with just breaking the rules, just breaking the system in certain ways.” He brought up Trump’s recent decision to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and their cooperation with immigration officials.
Obama said the norms and guardrails that he and his predecessors followed “no longer apply,” which “makes this a dangerous moment.” He added that citizens “have to pay attention,” and those “in positions of power need to stand up on behalf of these norms and these rules.” Obama is no stranger to pushing people in the right direction; he even admonished his own party after reminding Republicans how hard they were on him.
In response to Obama’s comments, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson released a statement saying, “Barack Hussein Obama is the architect of modern political division in America — famously demeaning millions of patriotic Americans who opposed his liberal agenda.”
Jackson’s statement went on to claim that Obama “used every opportunity to sow division and pit Americans against each other,” and that after his presidency, more Americans felt he divided the country rather than united it. “His division has inspired generations of Democrats to slander their opponents as ‘deplorables,’ or ‘fascists,’ or ‘Nazis.’ If he cares about unity in America, he would tell his own party to stop their destructive behavior.”
Published: Sep 17, 2025 03:40 pm