President Donald Trump on Thursday placed blame squarely on what he called “the radical Left” for the sharp increase in politically motivated violence across the United States, warning that the situation will only worsen if Democrats continue to inflame tensions.
Speaking during a press briefing in the Oval Office alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he believed the violence was “dramatically overbalanced to one side” and rooted in Democratic rhetoric.
“Radical Left rhetoric. The Radical Left is causing the problem. They’re out of control,” the president declared when asked who he held responsible for the recent surge in violence. “They’re saying things, and they’re really dumb people. I mean, I look at Crockett, I look at some of these people, they’re very low IQ people actually.”
Trump insisted that conservative groups were not driving the unrest. “But the radical Left is causing this problem,” he said. “Not the Right. The radical Left. And it’s gonna get worse and ultimately it’s gonna go back on them. Bad things happen when they play these games.”
The president also issued a pointed warning, suggesting that if conservatives were pushed too far, the results would not bode well for Democrats. “I’ll give you a little clue. The Right is a lot tougher than the Left, but the Right’s not doing this, they’re not doing it, and they better not get them energized, because it won’t be good for the Left. And I don’t want to see that happen. I am the president of all the people.”
Even as he emphasized his role as a unifying figure, Trump repeated his charge that Democrats were fueling the unrest. “But the radical Left is causing this,” he said again. “The radical Left Democrats are causing this problem and it’s — it gets worse. It gets worse. And it’ll be a point where other people won’t take anymore, and that will not be good for the radical Left, and we don’t want that.”
Vice President JD Vance, speaking earlier in the week in North Carolina, echoed Trump’s assessment. Vance singled out the role of liberal media outlets in encouraging hostility toward police officers, saying left-leaning commentators were emboldening attacks on law enforcement. “Anyone whose political rhetoric put law enforcement officers in danger could go straight to hell,” Vance said, drawing applause from the audience.
For the administration, the message is clear: political violence in America today is not a “both sides” issue. Trump and Vance argue that responsibility rests with Democrats and their media allies, whose incendiary rhetoric has left cities less safe and police officers under siege.
The president’s critics may bristle at his blunt language, but his warning carries a simple premise: if unchecked, the Radical Left’s tactics will eventually trigger the kind of backlash that could spiral beyond anyone’s control.
Trump, positioning himself as both a critic of extremism and a defender of law and order, made clear he hopes to avoid that outcome.
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