Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the spate of political violence that has gripped the country while rebuking President Donald Trump and his allies' for politicizing the shooting and not doing more to unite the country.
Speaking in Erie, Pennsylvania, at the Jefferson Educational Society, a nonprofit think tank, with moderator Steve Scully, Obama said that Kirk's murder was "horrific and a tragedy," adding that the nation's democratic system is grounded in the principle that people can disagree without resorting to violence.
"And when it happens to some, but even if you think they’re, quote, unquote, on the other side of the argument, that’s a threat to all of us," he said. "And we have to be clear and forthright in condemning them."
Obama added that he was generally aware of Kirk's ideas, and while he believed they were wrong, the conservative activist's death was a tragedy and he mourns for his family.
Still, that doesn't mean people can't debate ideas promoted by victims of political violence, Obama said. He criticized the Trump White House for immediately accusing the far-left of being responsible for the shooting even before details emerged about the perpetrator.
Obama also spoke about how, as president, he tried to focus on the "ties that bind us together." Following the 2015 Charleston church shootings, for example, he steered clear of discussing the racist motive or using the murders to attack his political opponents. Obama also praised Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, for his efforts to bring the country together after Kirk's killing.
But, he said, Trump is not taking that 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, calling what the U.S. is going through a "political crisis."
People have to recognize that there are "extremists" on both sides of the aisle, he said. "I will say that those 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 continued, adding that "when we have the weight of the United States government behind extremist views, we’ve got a problem."
Asked about Obama's remarks during a Fox News interview that aired Wednesday night, Vice President JD Vance said, "We're not exploiting Charlie Kirk’s death to do anything except for achieve justice."
"What we’re trying to do is understand how young people are getting radicalized, and who is funding all of these efforts of radicalization," he told host Jesse Watters.
In the days since Kirk’s death, Trump and his allies have said they plan to target “radical left” groups despite Utah prosecutors not making any link between them and the shooting.
The former president said the current White House and many Republicans in Congress have demonstrated that they're "OK with just breaking the rules, just breaking the system in certain ways." He referred to Trump's deployment last month of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and their cooperation with immigration officials.
Obama said the guardrails and norms that he and his predecessors abided in the White House suddenly "no longer apply."
"That makes this a dangerous moment," he said. "That’s why citizens have to pay attention. That’s why those who are in positions of power need to stand up on behalf of these norms and these rules."
Reached for comment, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement: “Barack Hussein Obama is the architect of modern political division in America — famously demeaning millions of patriotic Americans who opposed his liberal agenda.
"Obama used every opportunity to sow division and pit Americans against each other, and following his presidency more Americans felt Obama divided the country than felt he united it," she said. "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.”
