Pete Buttigieg accuses Trump of trying to ‘exploit’ Charlie Kirk’s death

Sep 16
Written by Alastair James

Pete Buttigieg has called out President Trump for exploiting the death of Charlie Kirk. (Getty)

Pete Buttigieg has accused the Trump administration of attempting to “exploit” the death of Charlie Kirk.

Right-wing podcaster Kirk was shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (10 September). He died later in hospital. Tyler Robinson, 22 was arrested two days later and was due to appear in court on Tuesday (16 September).

In the aftermath of the shooting, president Trump promised that his administration would “find each and everyone one of those who contributed to this atrocity”. He also pledged to target “organisations that funded and supported [political violence] as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials and everyone else who brings order to our country”.

Charlie Kirk speaks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention — Charlie Kirk was shot dead last week. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday (14 September), former secretary of transportation Buttigieg said the conversation shouldn’t be about the “left or right” but about who and what was “helping or hurting”.

Trump’s comments were an example of something that was damaging America, he added.

“We’re not getting the leadership we need to bring this country together from the White House. In order to turn the tide of political violence, yes, we have to reject those who commit political violence. Yes, we have to reject those who celebrate or promote political violence. but also, in order to deprive political violence of its power, we have to reject anyone who would try to exploit political violence.”

Pete Buttigieg. (KC McGinnis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) — Pete Buttigieg has slammed president Trump’s reaction to the shooting. (KC McGinnis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The response to Kirk’s shooting should not be a crackdown on the administration’s political opponents purely “because they challenge the government politically”, Buttigieg went on to say. “We need to have free and open political debate and a healthy political process.”

The majority of Americans didn’t want the government to crack down on political opponents just because they were opponents, he said. “Social media,” which Buttigieg described as a sickness, “is clearly part of the problem in a big way.”

A particular concern, he added, was the high number of young men, who “seem to spend more and more of their time in dark and twisted corners of the internet”, before carrying out mass shootings.