Donald Trump Says He ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ About Mending Political Divide After Charlie Kirk’s Death

Following the deadly shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, political tensions in the United States are higher than ever. President Donald Trump does not seem interested in bridging the divide.

During an appearance on Fox & Friends on Friday, Sept. 12, the 79-year-old president was asked about the political climate after Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked Trump how the country could “fix this” and “come back together” amid rising political tensions. Instead of directly answering, Trump pointed fingers at “the radicals on the left.”

“I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less,” Trump told Earhardt. He then talked about “radicals” on both the right and the left, as Earhardt had mentioned both.

“The radicals on the right, oftentimes, are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” he said. “They don’t want to see crime. … They’re saying, ‘We don’t want these people coming in. We don’t want you burning our shopping centers. We don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street.’”

Trump also said that “the radicals on the left are the problem,” adding, “they’re vicious, and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.”

These comments came a week after Trump gave a mixed message about political unity while speaking with some of his top allies at a dinner in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden patio.

During his Sept. 5 speech, Trump mentioned the “old days” when Republicans and Democrats were less divided.

“In the old days, Republicans and Democrats got together and they’d go out for dinner, and then they’d fight a little bit during the day, and a lot of times they’d get 20%, 30% of one or the other’s vote. And today that doesn’t happen,” Trump said. “It’s solid blocks one way or the other. And probably that shouldn’t be, but we’ll see what happens.”

Trump also said he might invite some Democratic politicians to the new White House patio space.

“We’ll say the Democrats are invited now. We’ll do that for about a week or two, and then we’ll find out. Well, it just doesn’t work perhaps. And keep ’em the hell out of here,” he said. “We’ll say, ‘You’re going to have to win the White House to get here,’ but maybe it will work. You never know. We’re going to give it a shot. We’re going to let Democrats come and we’re going to let Republicans come, and you’re going to mingle.”

Trump’s Fox & Friends comments reflect similar statements made by Vice President JD Vance after an assassination attempt on Trump during the campaign trail last July.

At that time, Vance, who had just been named Trump’s running mate, criticized then-President Joe Biden on social media.

“Today is not just some isolated incident,” Vance, 41, wrote on X two hours after the attempt. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

Trump also appeared on Fox & Friends to confirm that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of Kirk, is in custody.