President Barack Obama and Governor Andy Beshear on Charlie Kirk's Murder: Trump Is Missing the Mark on Unifying America

[00:00] Former President Barack Obama

[00:01] speaking out about

[00:02] political violence

[00:03] in the wake of the murder

[00:04] of Charlie Kirk

[00:04] and pleading for leaders

[00:06] to lead.

[00:07] Saying, quote, regardless

[00:09] of where you are

[00:10] on the political spectrum,

[00:11] what happened to Charlie

[00:12] Kirk was horrific

[00:14] and a tragedy.

[00:16] The former president

[00:16] also raised concerns

[00:18] over the escalating

[00:19] threat of more violence.

[00:23] We are certainly

[00:24] at an inflection point,

[00:28] not just around

[00:29] political violence,

[00:30] but there are a host of larger

[00:32] trends that we,

[00:34] you know,

[00:35] have to be concerned about.

[00:37] I think it is important for us

[00:40] at the outset,

[00:43] to acknowledge that

[00:46] political violence is not new.

[00:50] It has happened

[00:51] at certain

[00:52] periods in our history.

[00:56] But

[00:58] it is something that it is

[01:01] anathema to.

[01:05] What it means to be

[01:06] a democratic country.

[01:09] Joining me right now for

[01:11] to discuss is Democratic

[01:12] governor of Kentucky,

[01:14] Governor Andy Beshear.

[01:15] Governor,

[01:16] thank you for being here.

[01:17] And as we look

[01:18] kind of about

[01:18] on this question of leaders

[01:21] leading in the face of

[01:23] this rhetoric

[01:24] and this horrible tragedy,

[01:26] you are a Democrat

[01:27] who has won twice in a state

[01:28] that Donald Trump won

[01:30] by 30 points

[01:30] in the last election.

[01:31] You know what crossing

[01:33] party lines looks like?

[01:34] Navigating

[01:35] tough stuff

[01:36] between people

[01:36] of very different beliefs.

[01:38] What is needed?

[01:39] What is your assessment

[01:40] of how President Trump

[01:41] is navigating this?

[01:45] Well, I think right now

[01:46] leaders have a choice

[01:47] to condemn

[01:48] political violence

[01:49] and all violence

[01:50] against anyone at any time.

[01:52] Full stop period,

[01:54] or to only condemn violence

[01:56] against people

[01:56] that look like them, sound

[01:58] like them, or believe

[01:59] like they do.

[02:00] I think President Trump

[02:01] right now is missing the mark.

[02:04] Now is a chance

[02:04] to unify the country,

[02:06] to put our humanity

[02:07] above our political parties,

[02:10] to make sure that we are saying

[02:11] very loud

[02:12] and clear that violence against

[02:14] any human being is wrong,

[02:16] and to remind every American

[02:17] that we are

[02:18] all each other's neighbors

[02:19] and what binds us,

[02:21] what what makes us

[02:22] united, is much more important

[02:24] than the disagreements

[02:25] we may have.

[02:26] That should never escalate

[02:27] to something like

[02:28] we saw last week.

[02:30] Governor, one thing that many

[02:31] Republican I know

[02:32] many Republican politicians,

[02:34] are pointing to

[02:35] is a recent poll

[02:36] as evidence that it is more

[02:38] a left problem

[02:38] than a right problem.

[02:40] A YouGov poll

[02:40] that showed that Democrats

[02:41] were more likely

[02:42] than Republicans to say

[02:43] it's acceptable

[02:44] to celebrate the death

[02:45] of a public figure.

[02:48] 11% of Democrats saying

[02:49] always are usually acceptable

[02:51] to celebrate a death

[02:52] of a public figure, compared

[02:53] to 6% of Republicans, though.

[02:55] I mean, it really deserves

[02:56] saying that

[02:57] 9% of Americans

[02:58] said it was acceptable,

[02:59] while 78% in this poll

[03:01] said it was unacceptable.

[03:02] Just so we can keep it all

[03:03] in perspective here.

[03:04] But this is what

[03:05] I know

[03:06] many, many

[03:07] a Republican are pointing to is

[03:08] this is saying

[03:09] this is a more left problem

[03:10] than it is a right problem.

[03:11] What do you do with that?

[03:14] Again, they have the option

[03:15] to condemn violence

[03:17] full stop period,

[03:19] or try to create

[03:20] more of an us

[03:21] versus them

[03:21] that only

[03:22] makes this country boil

[03:24] that much hotter.

[03:26] Now is the chance

[03:27] to to have the opportunity

[03:29] for all of the American people

[03:31] to see that

[03:32] leaders believe

[03:33] that murder is not partisan

[03:35] it is just wrong.

[03:37] And when I think about

[03:39] all of the instances

[03:40] of violence

[03:41] we've seen against

[03:42] political figures,

[03:43] you know, the murder of Charlie

[03:44] Kirk,

[03:45] you have the murder

[03:45] of the former

[03:46] speaker

[03:46] of the House of Minnesota.

[03:48] You have the firebombing

[03:49] of the Pennsylvania governor's

[03:50] mansion, while Josh Shapiro

[03:52] was there,

[03:53] the plan to to kill Gretchen

[03:55] Whitmer,

[03:56] the mayor of Louisville,

[03:58] during his campaign

[03:59] three years ago,

[04:00] was was shot at in his office.

[04:03] This this occurs

[04:04] across the political spectrum.

[04:06] And the moment

[04:07] that we try

[04:08] to use it for

[04:09] politics is the moment

[04:11] we lose the chance,

[04:13] to declare our humanity,

[04:15] and to and to call on

[04:16] people to, to be better.

[04:20] Also happening today, governor,

[04:21] the former CDC director

[04:23] who was pushed out

[04:23] last month, is testifying

[04:25] on Capitol Hill

[04:25] and expected to lay out

[04:27] that she was fired,

[04:28] she says,

[04:29] for holding the line

[04:30] on scientific integrity and

[04:32] and point to RFK Jr

[04:34] as being the problem

[04:35] that trying to force her

[04:37] to rubberstamp

[04:37] vaccine recommendations

[04:39] for a panel that he stacked

[04:40] with vaccine skeptics before

[04:41] she'd even seen the science

[04:43] as a governor.

[04:45] How important is the CDC

[04:47] to public health in your state?

[04:48] What is pulling back

[04:50] on vaccine

[04:51] recommendations going to mean

[04:52] for the people of Kentucky?

[04:55] Pulling back on vaccine

[04:56] recommendations

[04:57] is going to make living

[04:59] in the United States

[05:01] more dangerous

[05:01] for every single American.

[05:04] It's going to make it

[05:05] more dangerous

[05:05] for our kids to go to school

[05:07] or to come home

[05:08] and to see their grandparents.

[05:10] I mean, we're just

[05:10] five years removed

[05:12] from a pandemic

[05:12] that in Kentucky

[05:14] killed more people than World

[05:15] War One, World War two, Vietnam

[05:17] and the Korean War

[05:17] put together.

[05:19] And it was a vaccine

[05:20] that got us out of it.

[05:22] RFK Jr is not qualified.

[05:25] Should not be that

[05:26] cabinet secretary.

[05:27] What he is doing is

[05:29] is dangerous.

[05:30] This is an area

[05:31] where we need experts.

[05:32] And again,

[05:32] science is not red or blue.

[05:34] It's just science.

[05:35] That's why

[05:36] we teach it in school.

[05:37] And we need the actual experts

[05:39] that will put it first

[05:40] to to lead that cabinet.

[05:42] And certainly the CDC.

[05:43] Yeah, these two topics

[05:44] actually do

[05:45] blend, blend together

[05:46] as you're saying.

[05:46] It's not left.

[05:47] It's not right.

[05:48] It is just the facts

[05:49] and just science.

[05:50] It's interesting,

[05:51] I think I saw that

[05:52] you have some travel plans

[05:53] to New Hampshire,

[05:54] which of course

[05:54] gets every political reporter's

[05:56] ears to perk up.

[05:58] Joe Manchin was just on

[05:59] and didn't say no

[06:00] when Berman pushed him on.

[06:02] If he's if he would

[06:03] consider running for president.

[06:05] What are you

[06:06] what are you weighing

[06:08] as you consider the question,

[06:10] if you should run for

[06:11] president in 2028?

[06:14] Well, right

[06:15] now I'm trying

[06:16] to be a voice of reason

[06:18] in the chaos,

[06:19] especially after last week,

[06:20] to be a voice of humanity

[06:22] over partisanship.

[06:24] Next year, head

[06:25] of the Democratic Governors

[06:26] Association.

[06:26] We've got a lot of races

[06:28] to to run.

[06:30] After that,

[06:31] though,

[06:31] we're going to sit down,

[06:32] my family and I,

[06:33] and we're going to

[06:34] look at whether or not,

[06:37] I'm a candidate

[06:38] that could heal this country.

[06:40] You know,

[06:40] there's a lot

[06:41] that's going

[06:41] to need to be repaired

[06:42] after this administration.

[06:43] But the most important thing

[06:44] to the United States

[06:46] is that we're able

[06:46] to turn down the temperature,

[06:48] to make sure that neighbors

[06:50] aren't yelling

[06:50] at neighbors anymore,

[06:51] to come back together

[06:52] as Americans,

[06:53] to live out

[06:54] that pledge of allegiance,

[06:55] where we pledge

[06:56] that we're not just one

[06:56] nation under God,

[06:57] but the next work

[06:58] word is indivisible.

[07:00] We've got a lot

[07:01] of healing to do.

[07:02] And if if I'm a candidate that

[07:04] can do that,

[07:05] then it's

[07:05] something that we will take

[07:06] a close look at.

[07:08] If it's someone else,

[07:09] I don't mind

[07:09] lining up behind them,

[07:10] because I care

[07:11] about this country

[07:12] a lot more than I care about

[07:13] any title.

[07:14] Much more to come, governor.

[07:16] Thank you very much.

[07:17] I appreciate your time.