Obama Warns Against Exploiting Charlie Kirk’s Assassination to Deepen Political Divides
Written by b87fm on 09/19/2025
Former President Barack Obama is urging Americans not to let the tragic killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk become another wedge in the nation’s already fragile politics.
Speaking at the Jefferson Educational Society’s Global Summit in Erie, Pennsylvania, Obama warned that the rhetoric coming from some political leaders — including language about “vermin” and targeting opponents — is only fueling the country’s divisions.
“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,” Obama told the crowd.
A Nation on Edge
Kirk was fatally shot last week during a university event in Utah. Prosecutors have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with the murder and announced they’ll seek the death penalty. Court filings say Robinson confessed in text messages, writing he had “enough of [Kirk’s] hatred.”
Obama condemned the killing as “horrific and a tragedy,” but also emphasized the need to separate ideas from violence. “We can disagree — fiercely — but we can’t turn disagreement into dehumanization,” he said.
Call for Leadership That Unites
The former president stressed that moments of crisis require leaders to step up as unifiers, not agitators.
“I think George W. Bush believed that. I know John McCain believed it. I know Mitt Romney believed it,” Obama said. “What I’m describing is not a Democratic value or a Republican value. It is an American value.”
Obama also warned that the U.S. is facing a “political crisis of the sort that we haven’t seen before,” urging people to resist the temptation to see tragedy as political leverage.
For Obama, Kirk’s assassination should be a reminder of the stakes: either America leans into division and hostility, or leaders step up to build bridges in a time when the country can’t afford to burn them.
