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Former President Barack Obama has described the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as "horrific and a tragedy," while warning that the United States is facing "a dangerous moment" marked by escalating political violence and deepening divisions.
Speaking Tuesday at the Jefferson Educational Society in Erie, Pennsylvania, Obama said the country was "at an inflection point" and stressed that "the central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resorting to violence."
Obama said he did not know Kirk personally and disagreed with many of his ideas, but insisted, "that doesn't negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family." He noted that Kirk left behind a wife and two young children, urging Americans to "extend grace to people during their period of mourning and shock."
The former president rebuked Donald Trump and his allies for politicizing the killing. He criticized the White House for rushing to blame the "radical left" before the suspect was identified, warning that the impulse to "identify an enemy" risks worsening polarization. "We're going to 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," he said.
Obama contrasted Trump's rhetoric with earlier presidents' calls for unity during crises, citing George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks and his own response to the 2015 Charleston church massacre. "Part of the job of the president is to pull people together," he said.
He praised Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, for showing that "it is possible for us to disagree while abiding by a basic code of how we should engage in public debate." He also lauded Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for his measured response to recent political violence.
Calling current conditions, a "political crisis," Obama cautioned against eroding democratic norms, pointing to the deployment of the National Guard and federal agents in U.S. cities. "What you're seeing, I think, is the sense that through executive power, many of the guardrails and norms that I thought I had to abide by as president ... suddenly those no longer apply," he said.