The president redirected a call for unity into criticism of “radicals on the left,” labeling them “vicious” and “horrible.”

In the wake of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, political tensions in the United States are running at a fever pitch. Yet President Donald Trump has made clear that he has little interest in easing the divide.

During an appearance on Fox & Friends on Friday, Sept. 12, the 79-year-old president was asked about the national atmosphere following Kirk’s killing at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Co-host Ainsley Earhardt pressed Trump for his thoughts on how the nation could “fix this country” and “come back together” amid such heightened division. Trump responded bluntly, brushing past the notion of unity and instead targeting “radicals on the left.”

“I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less,” Trump replied. He then shifted to address Earhardt’s mention of radicals on both ends of the political spectrum.

“The radicals on the right, oftentimes, are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” he said. “They don’t want to see crime. … They’re saying, ‘We don’t want these people coming in. We don’t want you burning our shopping centers. We don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street.’”

But when it came to the left, Trump struck a sharper tone: “The radicals on the left are the problem. They’re vicious, and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.”

The president’s latest remarks stand in contrast to comments he made just one week earlier at a dinner party with allies on the newly renovated White House Rose Garden patio. On Sept. 5, Trump had struck a more nostalgic note, recalling a time when Republicans and Democrats were less entrenched in political warfare.

“In the old days, Republicans and Democrats got together and they’d go out for dinner, and then they’d fight a little bit during the day, and a lot of times they’d get 20%, 30% of one or the other’s vote. And today that doesn’t happen,” he said. “It’s solid blocks one way or the other. And probably that shouldn’t be, but we’ll see what happens.”

Trump even suggested that Democrats might soon be invited to the new Rose Garden patio. “We’ll say the Democrats are invited now. We’ll do that for about a week or two, and then we’ll find out. Well, it just doesn’t work perhaps. And keep ’em the hell out of here,” he joked. “We’ll say, ‘You’re going to have to win the White House to get here,’ but maybe it will work. You never know. We’re going to give it a shot. We’re going to let Democrats come and we’re going to let Republicans come, and you’re going to mingle.”

Trump’s rhetoric on Fox & Friends also echoed sentiments expressed by Vice President JD Vance following the assassination attempt on Trump last July during his campaign. At that time, Vance — still a senator and newly chosen as Trump’s running mate — publicly criticized then-President Joe Biden, sparking backlash.

“Today is not just some isolated incident,” Vance, 41, wrote on X within hours of the attempt. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

Trump also used his Fox & Friends appearance on Friday to confirm that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect arrested in connection with Kirk’s assassination, was now in custody.