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Former President Barack Obama sharply criticized Charlie Kirk during an event in Erie, Pennsylvania, where his remarks were met with applause from the audience. Speaking at the Jefferson Educational Society shortly after Kirk’s assassination in Utah, Obama condemned the early attempts to politicize the tragedy.
“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, we’re gonna suggest that somehow that enemy was at fault, and we are then going to use that as a rationale for trying to silence discussion around who we are as a country and what direction we should go. And that’s a mistake as well,” Obama stated.
While expressing his condolences for Kirk’s wife and two young children, Obama made it clear that he disagreed with many of Kirk’s views. “Look, obviously I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong. But that doesn’t negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family,” he remarked.
Obama then systematically addressed several of Kirk’s public statements, critiquing his conservative positions. He asserted, “I can disagree with some of the broader suggestions that liberals and Democrats are promoting conspiracy to displace whites and replace them by ushering in illegal immigrants.”
The audience responded with applause during this segment. Obama emphasized the importance of civil discourse, stating, “Those are all topics that we have to be able to discuss honestly and forthrightly, while we still insist that in that process of debate, we respect other people’s right to say things that we profoundly disagree with.”
He praised Utah Governor Spencer Cox, highlighting that even a self-identified conservative can demonstrate that disagreement can occur within a respectful framework. Obama compared this to how President George W. Bush responded to the September 11 attacks, noting, “After 9/11, the most horrific thing to happen to the United States during the course of my lifetime, in my memory, in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy, [Bush] made a point, we are going to go after the people who perpetrated this, but he explicitly went out of his way to say, we are not at war against Islam.”
However, Obama directed his strongest criticism toward the Trump administration. “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,” he said.
He warned that such rhetoric from those in power is harmful and corrosive. “We have to recognize that on both sides, undoubtedly, there are people who are extremists and who say things that are contrary to what I believe are America’s core values. But I will say that those extreme views were not in my White House. I wasn’t embracing them. I wasn’t empowering them. I wasn’t putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views. And that is when we have the weight of the United States government behind extremist views, we’ve got a problem,” Obama emphasized.
Obama characterized the nation as being at a “point of inflection,” cautioning that the response to political violence and heated rhetoric will have lasting implications for America’s future. He urged that while compassion should be extended to Kirk’s family and supporters, it is crucial to resist the urge to let political leaders exploit the tragedy.
