'Wrong and dangerous': Karl Rove slams Trump for using Kirk's death to crack down on left

In the week since prominent far-right activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down, President Donald Trump has been consistently blaming the American left for the shooting despite the lack of a clear ideological motive. Now, longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove is calling out efforts to politicize Kirk's death.

Rove argued in a Wednesday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that while the person charged with shooting Kirk should be fully prosecuted, it's equally important to not blame groups of people for his death. While Rove didn't specifically invoke Trump's name, he notably cautioned against efforts to use Kirk's murder as an excuse crack down on members of the political opposition — something Trump did just hours after the activist's death was announced. He later told Fox & Friends that he "couldn't care less" about uniting the country, and dug in on his insistence that the left was to blame for the shooting.

"Using Charlie’s murder to justify retaliation against political rivals is wrong and dangerous. It will further divide and embitter our country. No good thing will come of it," Rove wrote.

Trump has only doubled down on his promises to avenge Kirk's slaying by carrying out state-sponsored persecution of left-leaning groups. NBC News reported Wednesday that the White House is "trying to move quickly" to target left-wing organizations by the end of the month. This could include anything from investigations to revoke the tax-exempt status of certain nonprofits. And while no organizations were named, Vice President JD Vance hinted that some targets could include organizations headed by liberal philanthropist George Soros and his son, Alex. This is despite federal law explicitly prohibiting the president and vice president from ordering investigations into tax-exempt nonprofits.

""Do you know they benefit from generous treatment? They are literally subsidized by you and me, the American taxpayer," Vance said while guest-hosting the Charlie Kirk show earlier this week. "And how do they reward us? By setting fire to the house built by the American family over 250 years.”

Rove expressed hope that a memorial service in Arizona this weekend to honor Kirk — which will be attended by Trump, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — will be free of vitriol and talk of retribution. He observed that what top administration figures say during the service could either further inflame the political climate or plead for cooler heads to prevail.

"What they say there will reverberate. Our political system could become even more dominated by deep, dark obsessions. Or Saturday could be a moment when Americans see people of prominence remind us that our republic’s continuance depends on debating important ideas with both passion and mutual respect," he wrote. "Above all, it needs to be repeated: Violence has no role in our country’s politics. Now or ever. Reasoned discourse is essential to our democracy. Charlie Kirk understood that. Let’s hope it’s a message his eulogists honor."

Click here to read Rove's full op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).