WASHINGTON, USA — Former U.S. President Barack Obama has cautioned that the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk could ignite “a political crisis of the sort that we haven’t seen before,” urging Americans to resist deepening divisions.
Speaking on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, at an event in Pennsylvania, Obama described Kirk’s killing as both “horrific and a tragedy,” despite admitting that he disagreed with many of the activist’s views.
“He’s a young man with two small children and a wife who obviously – and a huge number of friends and supporters who cared about him. And so, we have to extend grace to people during their period of mourning and shock,” Obama said.
Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and a close ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, while hosting an event at Utah Valley University.
Obama stressed that America’s democratic fabric is under strain, warning against violent responses to political disagreements.
“There are no ifs, ands or buts about it: 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,” he said.
The former president criticised President Trump’s rhetoric, accusing him of fuelling division.
“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,” he warned.
Kirk’s assassination has intensified political tensions.
President Trump has vowed to “crack down on the radical left” in the aftermath of the shooting, while his allies portray the killing as evidence of escalating political violence.
The White House swiftly rejected Obama’s remarks, branding him “the architect of modern political division in America.”
