For presidents of both parties, one of their primary roles has always been consoler-in-chief, healing wounds, lifting hearts and unifying the nation in times of tragedy. Think of Ronald Reagan, comforting the country after the Challenger disaster in 1986. Or Barack Obama, singing “Amazing Grace” at the funeral of a murdered Black pastor in 2015. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in 1863 stands as our history’s most memorable consoler-in-chief moment.
After the assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump took exactly the opposite course. Instead of preaching unity and forgiveness, he advocated rivalry and retribution. Instead of closing wounds, he ripped them open. Instead of extolling one America, he emphasized differences and divisions:
Red vs. Blue, Left vs. Right, Us vs. Them.
When Trump appeared on Fox News, host Ainsley Earhardt noted that there were “radicals on the right,” just as there were “radicals on the left,” and asked, “How do we come back together?” The president immediately rejected any notion of consensus or consolation. “The radicals on the left are the problem,” he thundered.
“And they’re vicious and they’re horrible.”
His reaction was no surprise. Trump has based his whole political career on exploiting grievance and outrage. He campaigned that way, an approach summed up by the tagline in one of his most noteworthy TV ads:
“Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.” And he’s governed that way, summoning the immense powers of the presidency to hamstring any institution or individual that stands in his way.
“Mr. Trump has long made clear that coming together is not the mission of his presidency,” writes Peter Baker, the White House correspondent for The New York Times. “In an era of deep polarization in American society, he rarely talks about healing. While other presidents have typically tried to lower the temperature in moments of national crisis, Mr. Trump turns up the flames. He does not subscribe to the traditional notion of being president for all the people. He acts as president of red America and the people who agree with him, while those who do not are portrayed as enemies and traitors deserving payback.”
Since taking office, Trump has pursued “payback” against those “enemies,” from judges and universities to law firms and media companies. Now he’s seizing on the Kirk murder to escalate his campaign of revenge.
“They’re already under major investigation, a lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left,” Trump told reporters.
His targets could include any force that opposes his policies: publications, attorneys, advocates, donors. And he has lots of weapons at his disposal, including tax audits, lawsuits and regulatory challenges. An early fusillade: a lawsuit accusing The New York Times and Penguin Random House publishers of “defamation” and seeking $15 billion in damages.
His deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, is even more explicit about the coming crusade to crush Trump’s enemies. “We are going to do what it takes to dismantle the organizations and the entities that are fomenting riots, that are doxxing, that are trying to inspire terrorism and that are committing acts of wanton violence,” he said, without providing any evidence about any “entities” that are advocating terrorism or violence.
This thirst for vengeance is reinforced by right-wing media allies who further inflame the core supporters of MAGA Nation. A good example is Fox News’ Jesse Watters, who said on air, “They are at war with us. Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us. And what are we going to do about it?”
Trump yearns for this war; he welcomes the fight. After the failed attempt on his life during the last campaign, he cast himself as a soldier who was saved by God. Now he’s turning Kirk into a martyr, a hero slain on the battlefield of righteousness who must be avenged.
A few lone voices in the Republican Party are trying to play the consoler role that Trump rejects, to lower the temperature. Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, the state where Kirk was slain, has been the most forceful, saying:
“We can return violence with violence. We can return hate with hate, and that’s the problem with political violence — is it metastasizes. Because we can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point, we have to find an off-ramp, or it’s going to get much, much worse.”
But Trump does not want an off-ramp away from political violence; he wants an expressway toward it. He wants to point fingers and punish foes. He is the Divider-in-Chief.
Steven Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University. He can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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