Jimmy Kimmel sharply criticized President Donald Trump on his late-night show Thursday for the president’s response to the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, saying Trump had blamed Democrats for political rhetoric that can fuel violence.
Kirk, 31, was shot while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, according to news reports. The founder of the conservative group was shot in the neck as he addressed a crowd from beneath a white pop-up tent. The killing prompted vigils and widespread reaction across the political spectrum.
Kimmel opened Thursday’s broadcast by condemning the "senseless" assassination and the "extraordinarily vile responses" to it from "both sides" of the political aisle. He said that, in contrast to responses from former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Trump had not sought to unify the country.
"Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric," Kimmel said on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," and accused Trump of escalating political tensions over the last decade. Kimmel recounted several past remarks by Trump, saying: "The man who told a crowd of supporters that maybe the Second Amendment people should do something about Clinton. The man who said he wouldn't mind if someone shot through the fake news media. The man who unleashed a mob on the Capitol and said Liz Cheney should face nine barrels shooting at her for supporting his opponent, blames the radical left for their rhetoric." Kimmel added that the shooting was "horrible and monstrous" and urged people to condemn political violence.
A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, responded to Kimmel in comments to Fox News Digital, saying, "President Trump speaks the truth. Every single night Jimmy Kimmel gets on TV and divides the American people by fueling hatred and spreading lies about the President, his supporters, and any American who doesn’t agree with his worldview. The only thing he should be doing on air is apologizing for his divisive rhetoric — and Kimmel is an absolute ghoul for pointing fingers at President Trump following the tragic assassination of his dear friend, Charlie Kirk."
Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday, warning 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." In the same post, he said those on the "radical left" had for years compared "wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals."
Kimmel, who had posted on Instagram earlier in the day before the show aired, wrote: "Can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence." He also told his television audience that he found the responses to the killing from across the political spectrum to be "extraordinarily vile."
The killing of Kirk prompted public mourning and vigils in multiple cities. Images from a candlelight vigil in Seattle circulated on social media and in news coverage as supporters and opponents alike expressed sorrow and concern about the level of political rhetoric in the country.
Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization. News accounts described him as a husband and father of two. Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting, and investigations by local law enforcement were ongoing.
The exchange between Kimmel and the White House highlighted broader national debate over whether political rhetoric contributes to real-world violence. Critics of Trump pointed to his past statements as examples of incendiary language, while the president and his allies said that violent acts are the product of extremism on the left as well as the right and that public figures across the spectrum should condemn dehumanizing rhetoric.
As authorities continue their investigation into the killing, public figures on both sides of the political divide called for restraint and criticized language they described as dehumanizing or inflammatory. Kimmel’s on-air criticism of Trump underscored how the assassination has further intensified disputes over the relationship between political speech and political violence in the United States.