Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said President Donald Trump \u201ccherry picks which political violence he\u2019s going to condemn,\u201d after the president delivered remarks on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk Wednesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need to be universal in condemning all political violence,\u201d Shapiro, <\/b>a Democrat, told ABC News in an interview Thursday. <\/p>\n
Trump, in his remarks Wednesday evening, cited various instances of political violence from recent years, including the attempt on his life last year in Butler, Pa., to say \u201cradical and political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.\u201d <\/p>\n
He did not mention attacks against Democrats, including the assassination of a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker or the politically motivated arson on the Pennsylvania governor\u2019s mansion this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a responsibility of all elected officials, Republicans and Democrats. We cannot allow any political violence to be viewed as acceptable,\u201d Shapiro added. <\/p>\n
Kirk, a Trump ally and <\/b>the founder of Turning Point USA, a youth conservative movement, was fatally shot Wednesday while holding a large outdoor event in conjunction with his \u201cProve Me Wrong\u201d tour<\/a> at Utah Valley University. The suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, is in police custody<\/a>.<\/p>\n His death has been widely condemned by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Shapiro. The governor said he\u2019s seen \u201cdark rhetoric either celebrating [Kirk\u2019s] death or dark rhetoric calling for vengeance against our fellow Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe talk of celebrating this man\u2019s death, no matter how profound a disagreement over a policy should be, he left behind a wife and two children,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one should be celebrating that. No one. I think that kind of rhetoric is unhelpful on every level.\u201d<\/p>\n In accordance with a proclamation from Trump, Shapiro ordered flags in Pennsylvania to be flown at half-staff<\/a> until sunset on Sunday in honor of Kirk.<\/p>\n Political violence has been rising in the United States in recent times, Johns Hopkins University reported in June<\/a>. <\/p>\n Shapiro said in the interview that he worries about what will happen to the U.S. without the curbing of political violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes us all less safe, it makes it harder to achieve the things that we all want to achieve in this nation,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes it harder for us to make progress.\u201d<\/p>\n In April, an arsonist set the Pennsylvania governor\u2019s mansion aflame<\/a> while Shapiro and his family slept, having just celebrated Passover at the historic residence the night prior. The state\u2019s first family was able to escape to safety. <\/p>\n The arsonist, Cody Balmer, said Shapiro, who is Jewish, was a \u201cmonster\u201d<\/a> and that Balmer would \u201cnot take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n