Former President Barack Obama made it clear Tuesday night that the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was "horrific" and "a tragedy" — "regardless of where you are on the political spectrum," he added.
But Obama, a Democrat, also said the June shootings of Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman should be seen the same way — and that "when tensions are high," the "job of the president is to pull people together" rather than stoke division.
"There are no ifs, ands or buts about it: The central premise of our democratic system is that we he to be able to disagree and he sometimes really contentious debates without resorting to violence," Obama said during a conversation with journalist Steve Scully at the Jefferson Educational Society in Pennsylvania. "When it happens to some — even if you think they're, quote, unquote, 'on the other side of the argument' — that's a threat to all of us. And we he to be clear and forthright in condemning them."
The former president went on to question Trump's decision to blame "the radical left" for Kirk's killing — along with his vow to crack down on liberal groups in response.
"When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who he a history of calling political opponents 'vermin,' enemies who need to be 'targeted,' that speaks to a broader problem that we he right now," Obama said. "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. I think George W. Bush believed that. I believe that people who I ran against — I know John McCain believed it. I know Mitt Romney believed it."
At one point, Obama mentioned Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine Black people in 2015 at a church in Charleston, S.C.
“As president of the United States, my response was not: ‘Who may he influenced this troubled young man to engage in that kind of violence? And now let me go after my political opponents and use that,’” he said.