Former President Barack Obama has condemned what he called the “horrific” killing of Charlie Kirk, but says he was in broad disagreement with the founder of Turning Point USA — and Americans should be free to criticize his political views.
Obama, speaking at an event Tuesday in Pennsylvania, suggested that President Donald Trump and his allies are using the killing to heighten polarization by stifling debate about what Kirk advocated in his podcast and appearances on college campuses.
The former president ticked through several of Kirk’s past comments, noting he disagrees with each of them.
“I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn’t negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family,” Obama said at the Jefferson Educational Society in Erie.
“We can also, at the same time, say that I disagree with the idea that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mistake,” he continued. “I can say that I disagree with the suggestion that my wife or Justice Jackson does not have adequate brain processing power. I can say that I disagree that Martin Luther King was awful.”
Utah prosecutors charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder for allegedly killing Kirk during a Turning Point event at Utah Valley University last week. Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted. In their indictment of Robinson, prosecutors presented evidence that Robinson targeted Kirk out of hatred for Kirk.
In the aftermath of Kirk’s death, Trump and other Republicans close to Kirk blamed the “radical left” for the shooting. Some Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi, suggested Americans should be punished for making inflammatory comments about Kirk’s death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has initiated a suspension process for service members viewed as making negative comments about Kirk.
Obama said the Trump administration’s incendiary rhetoric is creating “an inflection point” for the country and urged the White House to not give credence to “extremist views.”
“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,” Obama said.
“When we have the weight of the United States government behind extremist views, we’ve got a problem,” he added.
