Jimmy Kimmel used his Thursday night monologue to criticize President Donald Trump’s response to the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, saying the president failed to rise to the moment.
Kimmel, who opened Jimmy Kimmel Live! by condemning Kirk’s killing as “senseless,” said he was disturbed by what he described as “extraordinarily vile responses” from people on both sides of the political aisle. But he saved his sharpest criticism for Trump, accusing him of pointing fingers instead of trying to unify the country.
“With all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together, but he didn’t,” Kimmel said. “President Obama did. President Biden did. Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric.”
The late-night host argued that Trump has long escalated tensions with his own rhetoric, pointing to past comments he made about Hillary Clinton, the media, and Republican critics. “The man who unleashed a mob on the Capitol… blames the radical left for their rhetoric,” Kimmel charged.
Kirk, just 31 years old, was shot in the neck while addressing a large crowd under a white tent at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. He was rushed to the hospital but later died of his injuries. He leaves behind his wife Erika and their two young children.
Trump, who announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social, issued a statement Wednesday condemning the “demonization” of conservatives, warning that years of hateful rhetoric from the left had fueled an environment of violence. “It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” he wrote.
The White House also defended Trump after Kimmel’s remarks. Spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital that the late-night host was the one dividing Americans. “Every single night Jimmy Kimmel gets on TV and divides the American people by fueling hatred and spreading lies… The only thing he should be doing on air is apologizing,” she said, calling him a “ghoul” for attacking Trump so soon after Kirk’s murder.
Although Kimmel did not address the shooting on Wednesday’s show — likely because the news broke too close to taping — he did share a message online. “Can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” he wrote on Instagram. “On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”