President Donald Trump gave a rambling answer when pressed about free speech concerns after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was killed last week.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News’s Martha MacCallum on Thursday from Chequers, the U.K. Prime Minister’s country home. Trump has since departed the U.K. following a two-day state visit, which included a star-studded state banquet and a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump and MacCallum spoke extensively about Kirk, who was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10. Investigators have since arrested and charged Tyler Robinson, 22, in connection with the shooting.
Since then, Trump’s allies — including Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — have decried left-wing groups. Attorney General Pam Bondi also said Monday the Justice Department will “go after you if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.” Bondi and another Justice Department official later clarified she was referring to speech that incites or threatens violence.
MacCallum asked Trump if he’s concerned about critics who say “this crackdown is a crackdown on free speech.”
In response, Trump rambled about “crazed lunatics” who say “really bad” things.
“I watch your show, and I watch others, and I see people saying things, they’re crazy. These people are crazed lunatics, even the way they’ll answer, you know, it’s like, you’ll see them, and the things they say are really bad, but they look crazy,” Trump told MacCallum. “They’re almost crazed. Maybe they’re drugged out. Maybe there’s some other problem.”
“But the kind of things you hear…are so unbelievable, you wouldn’t think — you’re a very regular person, I am too, I’m a regular person — who would make the statements that they make?” Trump continued.
MacCallum also asked Trump if he believes there is a “vast terrorist movement” in the U.S. that’s responsible for Kirk’s death, as well as the previous attempts on his own life.
“You never know. And we’ll find out, maybe,” Trump responded.
The president went on to reference his recent announcement that he plans to designate the left-wing movement antifa — which stands for anti-fascist — as a “major terrorist organization.” It’s unclear what legal standing or practical effect this designation could have, given that experts say antifa is not an organization, but rather an ideology or movement.
Trump’s remarks come as right-wing activists also advocate for companies to fire or sanction employees who allegedly celebrated Kirk’s killing online. A Texas football coach, an Oregon teacher and a Secret Service agent are among the several Americans who have been disciplined, investigated or terminated by their employers for their social media posts about Kirk.
ABC also announced Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show would be pulled off-air indefinitely following his recent remarks about Kirk’s shooting.
“We had 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 with everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said on his talk show Monday.
The move to suspend Kimmel’s show prompted a public outcry, including from former President Barack Obama.
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote on X.
“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it,” he added.
Democrats and Republicans alike have also criticized the wider crackdown. Conservative media personality Tucker Carlson even criticized Bondi’s comments on Wednesday, arguing that Kirk was a free speech champion who would have objected to a crackdown on “hate speech.”
“This is the Attorney General of the United States, the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, telling you that there is this other category… called hate speech,” Carlson said. “And of course, the implication is that’s a crime. There’s no sentence that Charlie Kirk would have objected to more than that.”
MacCallum similarly noted that Kirk believed there was “no such thing as hate speech” in her interview with Trump.
“Charlie said that ‘there was no such thing as hate speech,’” McCallum said. “He obviously, you know, no one anticipated what would happen to Charlie —”
“He might not be saying that now,” Trump interjected.
