Former President Barack Obama commented on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during remarks Tuesday night in Erie, Pennsylvania, calling the killing a “horrific” tragedy.
“Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy,” Obama said, according to a transcript his office released. “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.”
Obama noted Kirk was a young father with two children and a wife, and stressed the importance of showing compassion. “We have to extend grace to people during their period of mourning and shock,” he added.
The former president was the featured speaker at an event for the Jefferson Educational Society, an Erie-based nonprofit. He warned that the U.S. is at an “inflection point” as political violence escalates. Referencing the June killing of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Obama said, “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.”
Obama praised Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox for his handling of Kirk’s death and the ensuing manhunt. “He has shown, I think, that it is possible for us to disagree while abiding by a basic code of how we should engage in public debate,” Obama said, also commending Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for a similar approach.
Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, Obama has used public appearances to speak out more directly about Trump’s leadership. On Tuesday, he criticized the administration’s rhetoric, saying, “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.”
Earlier this year, Obama chided Trump for threatening universities and law firms, calling it “unimaginable,” and over the summer warned the U.S. was “dangerously close” to autocracy.
In Erie, he also condemned Trump’s crackdown on crime and immigration in major cities. “In Washington, DC, right now, you have National Guard folks deployed who are setting up checkpoints. And they’re working with ICE, and you have ICE agents who are checking people’s IDs and stopping traffic. That’s not something that we’ve seen before in a non-emergency situation,” Obama said, calling it a “dangerous moment.”