Donald Trump has declined to call for national unity following the assassination of his close associate, rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, instead blaming 'the radicals on the left' for America's divisions. In an interview on Fox & Friends, the US president was asked how to heal the country after Kirk was shot dead on a university campus in Utah.
Trump responded: 'The radicals on the left are the problem – and they are vicious and horrible and politically savvy.' He listed grievances including transgender rights and open borders, refusing to acknowledge any role for rightwing extremism in the nation's polarisation.
The refusal marks a departure from traditional US presidential rhetoric calling for unity after national tragedies, as seen with Abraham Lincoln and Joe Biden. Trump instead adopted a hyper-partisan tone, threatening philanthropist George Soros with an organised crime investigation and accusing him of funding 'professional agitators'.
In a later Oval Office address, Trump vowed revenge against organisations that support political violence, laying blame entirely on the 'radical left'. His administration has already escalated investigations into Democratic fundraising and progressive groups, raising concerns about political retaliation.
