Donald Trump speculated that Charlie Kirk would change his views on hate speech if he were able to see what people were saying in the wake of his murder.

The president admitted to Fox News that he couldn’t watch the video of Kirk’s assassination and defended his decision to target groups he claims are using their freedom of speech to incite political violence.

The administration claims that ‘hate speech’ is not protected by the First Amendment and the White House is drafting an executive order that would crack down on speech it says escalates into violence or incitement.

Critics worry that this order would serve as a way for Trump’s Justice Department to prosecute political enemies and people who celebrated Kirk’s killing.

The order would also designate Antifa and other left-wing groups as terrorist organizations.

Kirk in his work mobilizing young conservatives consistently defended the First Amendment and railed against those who claimed that hate speech – especially online – needed to be regulated by the government.

In a post to X on May 3, 2024, Kirk wrote: ‘Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.’

Fox News host Martha McCallum pointed to this in her interview with Trump from the United Kingdom on Thursday, noting: ‘Charlie said, you know, that there was no such thing as hate speech. He obviously – no one anticipated what happened to Charlie.’

‘He might not be saying that now,’ Trump cut-in. 

President Donald Trump speculated that Charlie Kirk would change his opinion on ‘hate speech’ if he were able to see how people reacted to his brutal assassination

Kirk consistently defended the First Amendment and claimed there was no such thing as ‘hate speech’ – but now Trump is drafting an executive order to target groups he claims are using their freedom of speech to incite political violence

‘But you have always been in favor of free-speech,’ McCallum continued without taking a beat, to which Trump said: ‘Yeah, that’s true.’

‘So do you have concerns about some people look at this, and your critics will say this crackdown is a crackdown on free-speech?’ she pressed.

Trump responded by going on a tirade claiming that people say ‘crazy things’ that go beyond protection by the U.S. Constitution.

‘I see people saying things – they’re crazy,’ Trump said. ‘Maybe they are drugged out. Maybe there is some other problem… The kind of things that you hear are so unbelievable.’

‘This is a sickness,’ the president concluded.

Kirk was horrifically murdered during an open forum debate part of his America Comeback Tour on the Utah Valley University campus on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested and stands charged with his assassination. The suspected shooter, whose partner identifies as transgender, is believed to have had political motivations for allegedly shooting the conservative luminary.

In the wake of his death, liberals have flocked online and publicly to voice their indifference to his brutal assassination. And others have celebrated it.

This has led to a wave of public backlash and firings.

Even late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel felt the wrath when he had his show suspended by ABC.

‘We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,’ he said in a monologue.

Outcry ensued that Kimmel was attempting to characterize the left-wing shooter as aligned with the ideology that Kirk supported, and further divide Americans over the assassination.

The order would also designate Antifa and other left-wing groups as terrorist organizations as Trump railed against the burning of American flags and claims it incites violence and is not a protected demonstration

Trump told McCallum that he thought Kirk would one day be president.

He also divulged to the Fox host in the interview taped at UK Prime Minister’s country home of Chequers that he didn’t watch the assassination video that circulated online.

‘You know, when you look at the picture of Charlie – I didn’t see it, I didn’t want to see it, specifically. They told me what happened,’ Trump said.

‘I would have never made a good doctor,’ the president added. ‘I don’t like the blood and all of the things. Some people view that as ho-hum.’

The video of Kirk’s death is graphic and circulated online in real time from multiple different angles.

Clips clearly show a bullet ripping through the neck of the father-of-two and blood gushing onto his white shirt.

In remarks to the press earlier this week and repeated in his Fox interview on Thursday, Trump said that he thinks Kirk’s shooter was radicalized online and warned parents to watch what their children are doing online.

‘What would you say to parents who are worried about kids getting into deep holes on the internet, spending too much time gaming?’ McCallum asked.

‘They should be worried,’ he replied.

The FBI and those prosecuting the alleged shooter in Utah have confirmed leaks that Robinson was part of an online community called Discord, where chat rooms are dedicated to discussing gaming.