Charlie Kirk (right) appears on stage with President Donald Trump at America Fest 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 22, 2024. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

In the days since the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump has ramped up his attacks on “the radical left,” whom he blames for his friend’s death and for broader political violence — a sharp contrast from his responses to violence against Democrats.

Speaking to NBC News on Saturday, the president said he wants the nation to “heal,” but added: “We’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did.”

Trump’s Saturday comments echo remarks he made Wednesday in a video from the Oval Office hours after Kirk was fatally shot. The president said in the v

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