Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated during a college event in Utah on Sept. 10, was known for holding wide-ranging political debates on college campuses, and had succeeded in starting 3,500 chapters of his organization Turning Point USA on campuses across the country. In an address to the nation that same evening, U.S. President Donald Trump praised the life and work of Kirk, calling him “a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country.” Trump called out the instigators of political violence, saying: “It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible. 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.”
Trump then turned to those who perpetrate violence, and made vague but broad threats against them. “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,” the President said.
