In the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting, political tensions in the United States are running hotter than ever. But President Donald Trump made it clear during a recent Fox & Friends appearance that bridging the divide is not his priority.
Speaking on Friday, September 12, just two days after Kirk was killed at an event at Utah Valley University, Trump dismissed a question about national unity.
“I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less,” Trump said, shifting blame toward “radicals on the left,” whom he described as “vicious” and “horrible.”
When Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt asked how the country might “come back together,” Trump contrasted what he views as radical factions on both ends of the spectrum. He argued that those on the right are motivated by a desire to prevent crime, while insisting that the true threat comes from the left.
“They don’t want our shopping centers burned. They don’t want people shot in the middle of the street,” Trump said of right-wing activists. “The radicals on the left are the problem.”
The president’s stark remarks followed a different message he delivered just a week earlier at a White House Rose Garden dinner with close allies. There, he nostalgically recalled a time when Republicans and Democrats could share meals and occasionally cross party lines on votes — something he admitted is far less common today.
Trump even floated the idea of inviting Democratic lawmakers to the newly renovated Rose Garden patio, though he quickly undercut the suggestion with a trademark jab: “We’ll say the Democrats are invited now. We’ll do that for about a week or two, and then we’ll find out. Well, it just doesn’t work perhaps. And keep ’em the hell out of here.”
Trump’s combative stance mirrors comments made by Vice President JD Vance after the July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump, then still a candidate. At the time, Vance accused then-President Joe Biden of fueling the environment that led to the attack, citing Biden’s campaign rhetoric that painted Trump as a threat to democracy.
On Friday, Trump also confirmed that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s killing, has been taken into custody.
