Former President Barack Obama calls Charlie Kirk’s murder “horrific” and “a tragedy,” emphasizing that Americans must be able to disagree and push back against ideas they do not agree with while respecting the right of others to hold those opinions.
In remarks to journalist Steve Scully at the Jefferson Educational Society in Pennsylvania Tuesday night, Obama acknowledged that the shootings of Democratic Minnesota state legislators Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman were also tragic.
“Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy,” he told reporters. “What happened to Minnesota’s state legislators was horrific. It’s a tragedy. And there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it; the central premise of our democratic system is that we must be able to disagree and engage in sometimes heated debates without resorting to violence. And when it happens to some, even if you believe they are, quote, unquote, ‘on the other side of the argument,’ it poses a threat to all of us. And we must be unequivocal in condemning them.”
He went on: “So, obviously, I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I was generally familiar with some of his ideas. I believe those ideas were incorrect, but that does not change the fact that what occurred was a tragedy, and I mourn for him and his family.
Obama also praised Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox’s handling of the aftermath of Kirk’s murder.
“I’ve been impressed with Governor Cox of Utah and how he’s handled some of these issues. I suspect Governor Cox and I disagree on a number of issues. He is a Republican, a self-described conservative Republican, but in his response to this tragedy, as well as his history of engaging with political adversaries, he has demonstrated, I believe, that we can disagree while adhering to a basic code of public debate.”
Obama also suggested that the Trump administration’s desire to target political opponents is part of a larger issue, emphasizing that when he was president, he “wasn’t putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views.”
“And so, when I hear not only our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents’vermin’, enemies who need to be ‘targeted,’ it speaks to a larger problem that we are currently facing and will have to deal with as a group. Whether we’re Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, we must acknowledge that there are people on both sides who are extremists and say things that contradict what I believe are America’s core values,” he stated.
“But I will say that those extreme views did not exist in my White House. I was not embracing them. I was not empowering them. I was not putting the weight of the US government behind extremist viewpoints. “When the US government supports extremist views, we have a problem,” Obama stated.
He stated that the role of the president is to unite, not divide, saying, “But my view was that part of the role of the presidency is to constantly remind us of the ties that bind us together.”
“And I’m not alone in that belief,” he added. “I think George W. Bush believed it. I believe that the people I ran against, including John McCain, believed it. I know Mitt Romney believed it. What I am describing. Is not a Democratic or Republican value. It’s an American value. And I believe that when tensions are high, it is part of the president’s responsibility to bring people together.
