Podcaster Megyn Kelly eviscerated a young college student who attempted to blame President Donald Trump for the fatal shooting of Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk.
The exchange occurred during a TPUSA event on Wednesday. “I want to know why you support a president who contributes to the rhetoric that got your friend Charlie killed,” the student asked.
The student brought up comments Trump made during Kirk’s memorial on Sunday, in which he said, "He didn’t hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.”
The student asked, “How can you support him when he contributed to what got Charlie killed?”
“What you said is not true,” Kelly replied, to which the student yelled, “70 percent of political violence is committed by Republicans! Look it up! DOJ just pulled it. The DOJ just pulled it from their website.”
Kelly responded, “Let me take on the first premise of your question, that it was President Trump’s rhetoric that led to an assassin killing our friend Charlie Kirk: That’s a blatant lie.”
The student claimed he was only stating that Trump contributed to the atmosphere that led to Kirk’s assassination.
“Well, then you have no point,” Kelly said. “Then your point is utterly empty. Contributing to the atmosphere? No, let’s just make clear. Let’s just make clear. This guy was motivated by leftist ideology. We know it from the bullet casings, we know it from the Utah governor, we know it from his own mother. Yes, we do! Let’s be really clear on that.”
The student shot back, “Let’s say this guy’s a leftists, even if that’s true, does that make it okay for the sitting President of the United States to incite violence against liberals?”
Kelly pointed out that Trump “has not incited violence against liberals” and characterized Trump’s comments as “funny and self-deprecating.” She also noted that after he made the comment, Trump indicated that he needs to “do better” in this regard, referring to Erika Kirk’s declaration that she forgives the individual who killed her husband.
“And by the way, Trump has every right to loathe his enemies. They tried to put him in jail for the rest of his life,” she added.
Donald Trump would rather shut down the government than work with Democrats to lower healthcare costs.
— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) September 24, 2025
ACA premiums will rise for 20 million Americans and Republicans aren’t doing anything about it. We are.
Via @SenAmyKlobuchar pic.twitter.com/fPu51mur9Y
The student’s arguments reflect the problems the left has explaining away Kirk’s assassination. At first, they simply lied, claiming the individual suspected of shooting him was on the right. Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from his show for peddling this lie.
But now that more information has emerged about the killer, it is clear that pretending he was a conservative isn’t going to work — except on the people who already want to believe that narrative anyway.
So now, they wish to point the finger at Trump and other Republicans. This still isn’t going to work. Yes, there has definitely been more incendiary rhetoric in political discourse from both sides over the past decade. But we are not going to see an end to this political violence until people stop lying about it whenever it happens.
In this case, the violence clearly came from the left. Instead of quibbling about it, perhaps it would be better to figure out how to lower the temperature.
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
Help us continue exposing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member