Featured Image Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Britt Jones
Topics: Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Donald Trump has blamed the ‘radical left’ for the assassination of Charlie Kirk at a school campus during a debate, and his comment has riled up a few social media users.
Kirk was a well-known right-wing political activist and the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organisation Turning Point USA.
The 31-year-old was shot yesterday (10 September), while speaking at Utah Valley University (UVU) as part of his tour named 'The American Come Back Tour', where he'd planned to speak at college campuses across the US.
In video footage of the horrific incident shared on social media, a single shot could be heard before Kirk could be seen recoiling in his seat after the bullet appeared to pierce his neck.
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According to the Utah Department of Public Safety’s commissioner, Beau Mason, the shot came from the rooftop of a nearby building, with the suspected shooter remaining 'at large'.
Before his death, Kirk was chatting to the crowd of 3,000 about gun violence. President Donald Trump confirmed Kirk's death on his social media platform, Truth Social, and later shared a video message calling it a 'dark moment for America'.
Trump called Kirk a 'patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country that he loved so much, the United States of America', and that he fought for 'liberty, democracy, justice and the American people'.
However, he went a step further and said that the 'radical left' was to blame for the shooting, as he continued to say: "For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.
"This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.
"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."
He then went on to name incidents which he described as 'radical left political violence', such as his attempted assassination last year, as well as the death of United Healthcare's CEO, Brian Thompson, and the shooting of Republican congressman, Steve Scalise, in 2017.
However, he didn't mention any attacks against Democrats, such as the killing of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, or the shooting of another Democratic lawmaker and his wife in June (via The Guardian).
He has not laid blame to either political side regarding those instances either - something which online users were quick to pick up on.
One person wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “We have zero information about the shooter, and it’s both on brand and completely irresponsible for him to be speaking about it until we do.”
Another said: “Unbelievable where was his statement on tbe [sic] dead democrat Senator when she and her husband were gunned down in cold blood.”
Someone else wrote: “It's a shame he couldn't rise to the occasion to promote unity rather than division.”
Two people were arrested following Kirk's death; however, they were later released. An investigation into finding the suspect is currently active, with the FBI recently issuing a major update in a press conference.