‘They’re Out Of Control’: Trump Says ‘Radical Left’ Owns Uptick In Political Violence

President Donald Trump told reporters that he blames “the radical Left” for increasing politically-motivated violence in the United States, saying he was concerned that it would only get worse.

Trump took a number of questions during a Thursday briefing in the Oval Office — alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and he made it clear he believed the violence was dramatically overbalanced to one side.

WATCH:

REPORTER: Who do you hold responsible for the uptick in left-wing violence?@POTUS: “Radical Left rhetoric. The Radical Left is causing the problem. They’re out of control.” pic.twitter.com/HN8JHSBIcg

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 25, 2025

“Who do you hold responsible for the uptick in left-wing violence?” one reporter asked.

“Radical Left rhetoric. The Radical Left is causing the problem. They’re out of control,” Trump’s answer was immediate. “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.”

“But the radical Left is causing this problem,” he continued. “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. And I’ll give you a little clue. The Right is 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.”

“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 took a similar tone when speaking in North Carolina earlier in the week, blaming Left-leaning media outlets for amplifying leftist attacks on law enforcement in particular and arguing that anyone whose political rhetoric put law enforcement officers in danger could “go straight to hell.”