Politics
Trump adopts messenger-in-chief role after Charlie Kirk’s death
WASHINGTON: Since the US conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot in a brazen display of violence, President Donald Trump has embraced the role of spokesman in an extraordinary way.
Trump was first to confirm the news to a country in shock that Kirk was dead and first to announce that the latest suspect was in custody. He shared when Kirk’s funeral would take place and said he would attend.
Before a suspect was detained, Trump blamed, without presenting evidence the “radical left” for Kirk’s murder, with many of his followers repeating the accusation and calling for vengeance amid a wave of right-wing anger.
Kirk, a popular but divisive podcast host and author of a half-dozen books, left behind a wife, prominent friends and legions of followers after being gunned down on a Utah college campus on Wednesday where he was giving a speech.
Yet it is Trump who has taken on a central role in messaging after his political ally’s grisly public death, delivering information that typically would come from law enforcement or local officials rather than the nation’s top leader.
His actions contrast with the more cautious approach of past presidents. But they are very much in line with his penchant for direct communication, defying convention and putting himself in the middle of domestic and international issues.
“The one thing about Donald Trump is he is a very detailed individual,” said Mercedes Schlapp, a senior adviser to Trump in his first term. “Whether he is building the Rose Garden Club or we have this awful tragedy, he wants to be the one to break the news.”
Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff, said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom and saw his vice president accompany Kirk’s casket back to his home state on Air Force Two — all fairly unusual ways for the US government to honour a political operative who has never held office or served in the military.
Trump had a personal and political relationship with Kirk, the co-founder and president of the conservative student group Turning Point USA he credits with helping him appeal to young voters.
“Charlie had a magic over the kids,” Trump said on Friday on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” recalling how his teenage son Barron was awe-struck by the charismatic 31-year-old activist.
Kirk was also a sharply partisan figure whose combative style and and anti-immigrant rhetoric often brought him to clash with others online and in public. His far-right views on abortion, civil rights and gun control also garnered strong reactions from the groups his comments targeted.
Trump has called for a non-violent response from his supporters but sidestepped reporters’ questions over how to unify the country in the midst of its most sustained surge in political violence since the 1970s. Trump himself was the subject of two assassination attempts last year.
Trump downplayed the extremism from the political right, telling reporters on Thursday that “we just have to beat the hell out of them,” stoking his supporters’ calls for political revenge against the “radical left.”
Twenty-two-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah was arrested on Thursday night for the shooting. Motives remained unclear, with investigators closely scrutinising messages engraved into four bullet casings. Experts have said they could reference left- or right-leaning groups.
Defining the narrative
Schlapp said Trump, a former reality television host, has come to enjoy unstructured exchanges with the press and the bully pulpit that comes with the attention lavished on him.
She noted that his approach to communication has been more aggressive in his second term in office.
“He just really wants to drive the news, and who is better to drive the news than Donald Trump? And his strategy has worked,” she said. “His administration is on offense from a media standpoint like nothing I’ve ever seen. We were getting hit all the time in the first term. It has allowed the president to define a narrative.”
There have been no briefings by Trump’s aides since the shooting. Aides regularly defer to Trump on policy announcements or the administration’s thinking, declining to “get in front of the president.”
Trump’s in-the-moment, off-the-cuff style comes with the risk of influencing a law enforcement process or later being contradicted by a clearer picture of the facts.
“Presidents typically don’t release breaking news like that,” said Yu Ouyang, professor of political science at Purdue University Northwest. “They know the impact that their words would have.”
Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, took Trump to task for his remarks last week, ignoring that liberal and Democratic figures have also been the target of political violence in the US. Some commentators contrasted Trump’s repeated messaging on Kirk versus his relatively muted response to the assassination of Minnesota Democratic Representative Melissa Hortman earlier this year.
In a video message from the Oval Office on Wednesday, he said, “violence and murder are the tragic consequences of demonising those with whom you disagree” – but then only called out the rhetoric of the left.
“Even though [Trump] is trying to console at times, a lot of his rhetoric has also been very much ramping up — blaming a particular group before we even know who has done this,” said Denise Bostdorff, a College of Wooster communication studies professor who has studied presidential rhetoric.
The White House did not respond for comment. Trump’s staff touts the president’s accessibility, while many of his supporters relish his norm-busting, blunt communication style.
“Ronald Reagan was an orator,” said Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser, “but Donald Trump understands the speed of news and how to get a story out there.”
A double-digit combination set the social media sphere ablaze among teens in 2025, leaving parents and teachers befuddled — and now it has officially been crowned Dictionary.com’s “Word of the Year”: 67.
But even the organisation that unveiled the winning word — pronounced “six-seven” and never “sixty-seven” — admitted it was not exactly sure about its meaning.
“You might be feeling a familiar vexation at the sight of these two formerly innocuous numerals,” Dictionary.com said, addressing parents as it announced the winner this week.
Members of Gen Alpha, it added, might be “smirking at the thought of adults once again struggling to make sense of your notoriously slippery slang.”
Dictionary.com said the origin of the word might be traced to “Doot Doot (6 7),” a song by the US rapper Skrilla.
Use of the word went viral in schools and on social media this year. It can be taken to mean a variety of things, with context, tone and absurdity all playing a role in determining its definition in the moment.
“67” beat out some stiff competition from other words that were short-listed for “Word of the Year.” These included “broligarchy,” “Gen Z stare,” and an entry from the world of emoticons — the dynamite emoji.
Its use exploded online with news of the engagement between pop superstar Taylor Swift and American football star Travis Kelce, as it was used as shorthand to refer to the “TNT” couple.
Both sides escalated trade threats for leverage.
Fentanyl issue is a key topic for Trump in talks.
Taiwan tensions loom over US-China discussions.
US President Donald Trump met with China’s leader Xi Jinping at a South Korean air base on Thursday for discussions on a possible trade war truce between the world’s two largest economies.
The meeting in the southern port city of Busan, the first between the leaders since Trump returned to office in January, caps off the US president’s whirlwind trip around Asia.
“We are going to have a very successful meeting, I have no doubt. But he is a very tough negotiator,” Trump said as he shook hands with Xi, who showed little expression.
Trump has repeatedly expressed optimism about reaching an agreement with Xi during the talks, taking place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, buoyed by a breakthrough in trade talks with South Korea on Wednesday.
But with both countries increasingly willing to play hardball over areas of economic and geopolitical competition – which analysts see as a new Cold War – many questions remain about how long any trade detente may last.
The trade war reignited this month after Beijing proposed dramatically expanding curbs on exports of rare-earth minerals vital for high-tech applications, a sector China dominates.
Trump vowed to retaliate with additional 100% tariffs on Chinese exports, and with other steps, including potential curbs on exports to China made with US software – moves that could have upended the global economy.
“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY,” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly before landing in Busan to meet Xi at a South Korean air force base at Gimhae airport.
In a separate post, he said the US would step up testing of nuclear weapons immediately, noting China’s growing arsenal.
US expects Beijing to delay rare earth controls
After a weekend scramble between top trade negotiators, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected Beijing to delay the rare earth controls for a year and revive purchases of US soybeans critical to American farmers, as part of a “substantial framework” to be agreed by the leaders.
Ahead of the summit, China bought its first cargoes of US soybeans in several months, Reuters reported exclusively on Wednesday.
The White House has signalled it hopes the summit will be the first of several between Trump and Xi in the coming year, including possible leader visits to each country, indicating a protracted negotiation process.
But Trump wants some quick progress in talks being closely watched by businesses worldwide.
Trump said on Wednesday he expects to reduce US tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Beijing’s commitment to curb the flow of precursor chemicals to make fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that is the leading cause of American overdose deaths.
Trump has also said he might sign a final deal with Xi on TikTok, the social media app that faces a US ban unless its Chinese owners divest their US operations.
Beijing is willing to work together for “positive results”, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday.
Prior deals on tariffs and rare earths due to expire
Previous deals, which brought down retaliatory tariffs sharply to about 55% on the US side and 10% on the Chinese side and restarted the flow of rare earth magnets from China, are due to expire on November 10.
Bessent said China had agreed to help curb the flow of fentanyl precursors, but did not say whether the US had made any concessions in return.
Beijing has sought the lifting of 20% tariffs over fentanyl, an easing of export controls on sensitive US technology, and a rollback of new US port fees on Chinese vessels aimed at combating China’s global dominance in shipbuilding, ocean freight and logistics.
Trump’s meeting with Xi comes at the end of a five-day trip to Asia in which he signed pacts with Japan and Southeast Asian nations on rare earths, seeking to blunt China’s stranglehold on minerals used in everything from cars to fighter jets.
Tensions over Taiwan
Regional strategic tensions, particularly over Beijing-claimed Taiwan, a US partner and high-tech powerhouse, are an ominous backdrop to the summit.
On Sunday, Chinese state media said Chinese H-6K bombers recently flew near Taiwan to practise “confrontation drills.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Taiwan should not be concerned about the US-China talks, despite some experts expressing fears that Trump might offer concessions over the island. Washington is required under US law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
- Action taken ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi in South Korea.
- US tests last conducted in 1992 to assess weapon reliability.
- New tests seen as signal of American strategic dominance.
US President Donald Trump, ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, said he has instructed the Department of Defence to immediately resume testing nuclear weapons on an “equal basis” with other nuclear powers.
“Because of other countries’ testing programmes, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump said on Truth Social, ahead of the meeting with Xi in South Korea.
“Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,” Trump noted.
President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia had successfully tested a Poseidon nuclear-powered super torpedo that military analysts say is capable of devastating coastal regions by triggering vast radioactive ocean swells.
As Trump has toughened both his rhetoric and his stance on Russia, Putin has publicly flexed his nuclear muscles with the test of a new Burevestnik cruise missile on October 21 and nuclear launch drills on October 22.
The United States last tested a nuclear weapon in 1992.
Tests provide evidence of what any new nuclear weapon will do – and whether older weapons still work.
Apart from providing technical data, such a test would be seen in Russia and China as a deliberate assertion of US strategic power.
The United States opened the nuclear era in July 1945 with the test of a 20-kiloton atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico, and then dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 to end World War Two.
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