Trump sees himself as ‘avenger’ of Kirk’s killing, threatens to go after political opponents with ‘unrestrained power’

President Donald Trump has drawn criticism for his response to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, with the president blaming political opponents and threatening government action against them. Kirk, 31, was shot dead on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University during a campus tour event.

In a four-minute video recorded in the Oval Office, Trump paid tribute to Kirk but then used the moment to attack his political rivals. He made “wildly irresponsible assumptions about the still-unknown killer’s motives” and “explicitly threatened to bring down the force of government on his political opponents”, according to critics.

Trump positioned himself as Kirk’s avenger in his response to the killing. “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials and everyone else who brings order to our country”, Trump said in his video statement.

Trump uses tragedy to target political foes

“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 a video posted to Truth Social. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.” The president made these claims while the shooter’s motive remained unknown and the suspect was still at large.

The response marked a departure from how Trump handled similar incidents in his first term. Back in 2017, early in his first term, Trump approached the attack on Scalise with far more political restraint, delivering a two-minute speech that did not mention the political affiliation of the attacker, who had been a Bernie Sanders supporter.

Several of Trump’s key allies also made extreme statements following the killing. Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist with significant power within the White House, said the Trump administration must “prosecute every single leftist organization” in response to Kirk’s killing. Christopher Rufo, a prominent conservative activist, called for authorities to “infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.”

Law enforcement officials confirmed that a 22-year-old suspect named Tyler Robinson was arrested after his family turned him in. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he was turned in to authorities on Thursday night by family after making statements that suggested he was responsible for Kirk’s death. The shooting occurred during Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour” event, where he was answering a question about gun violence when he was struck by a single shot from approximately 150 yards away.

Democratic leaders have called for unity rather than political blame in the aftermath of the killing. However, concerns about Trump’s use of government power continue to grow as his administration pursues investigations into political opponents on various fronts.