Here's What Obama Had To Say About The Charlie Kirk Shooting
Here’s What Obama Had To Say About The Shooting Death Of Charlie Kirk
On Sept. 16, former President Barack Obama sat down with broadcaster Steve Scully for an in-depth interview held at the Jefferson Educational Society in Erie, Pennsylvania. The conversation focused on the alarming rise of political violence in the United States, following the recent death of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month, and the June attacks on two Minnesota Democratic lawmakers that left Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, dead.
Obama, 64, cited both incidents as signaling “an inflection point,” not just in terms of political violence, but as reflective of “larger” and troubling trends that, he warned, could threaten “what it means to be a democratic country.” He described the deaths of both Kirk and the Hortmans as “horrific” and “a tragedy.”
“Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy,” he said around the 7:42 minute mark. “What happened, as you mentioned, to the state legislators in Minnesota, that is horrific. It is a tragedy and there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
The former president continued, “The central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence. And when it happens to some, but 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 have to be clear and forthright in condemning them.”
Obama said he strongly disagreed with Charlie Kirk’s divisive rhetoric.
In addressing Kirk’s divisive rhetoric, Obama acknowledged that he strongly disagreed with many of Kirk’s views, including the suggestion that his wife, Michelle Obama, or Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson lacked “adequate brain processing power.” Still, he argued that those views did not “negate the fact that what happened to Kirk “was a tragedy.”
Obama also spoke critically of what he characterized as the Trump administration’s pattern of targeting political opponents, describing it as part of a larger and more dangerous trend. He stressed that during his presidency, he “wasn’t putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views.” He pointed to how, after Kirk’s assassination, Trump and his allies quickly sought to blame the “radical left” for his death without evidence.
“There’s been some confusion, I think, around this lately, and frankly, coming from the White House and some of the other positions of authority that suggest, even before we had determined who the perpetrator of this evil act was, that somehow we’re going to identify an enemy,” Obama said, adding, “And so, 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 and something that we’re going to have to grapple with, all of us. Whether we’re Democrats, Republicans,[or] Independents.”
What happened to the Hortmans and Kirk?
According to the Department of Justice, in June, Vance Boelter, 57, was indicted on six federal charges in connection with the stalking and murders of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman on June 14. He was also charged with the stalking and shooting of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, as well as the attempted shooting of their daughter, Hope Hoffman.
“Vance Boelter planned and carried out a night of terror that shook Minnesota to its core,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “He carried out targeted political assassinations the likes of which have never been seen in Minnesota. We grieve with the Hortman family and continue to pray for the recovery of the Hoffmans.”
Meanwhile, Tyler Robinson, 22, appeared virtually in court for the first time on Sept. 16, after being arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Kirk on Sept. 10. At a press conference on Tuesday, the Utah County Attorney’s Office announced that Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and other offenses, according to footage obtained by NBC News.
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Leftists Or Groypers, What Does Tyler Robinson Believe In?
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Here’s What Obama Had To Say About The Shooting Death Of Charlie Kirk was originally published on newsone.com
