At the memorial service for the late conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump stood in sharp contrast to Kirk’s widow Erica, who — to loud praise from Republicans and Democrats alike — said she forgave her husband’s assassin, an act of mercy that was widely interpreted as courage and seen as a call to lower the temperature of the increasingly dangerous political divide in America. Trump noted Erica Kirk’s offer of forgiveness with astonishment and said he felt a very different way. “I hate my enemies. I don’t wish them well,” Trump said, articulating what has long been clear from his rhetoric and actions.
Many were reminded of the Kirk moment on Saturday, when the President responded to the death of Robert Mueller at age 81. Trump wrote on social media: “Good I’m glad he’s dead.”
Trump celebrates Robert Mueller’s death: pic.twitter.com/i9RUE2a9kF
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 21, 2026
Mueller, the Republican former FBI director who led the investigation about Russian meddling in the 2016 election that Trump repeatedly decried as a hoax, released a 2019 report that failed to bring charges against Trump, though Mueller’s work produced seven guilty pleas and charges against Trump allies Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, as well as 32 other people.
The President’s claim that Mueller’s report “exonerated” him were also widely disputed, as the Mueller report “detailed 10 instances in which President Trump may have obstructed justice, but did not reach a conclusion on if he had done so,” as CBS News wrote.
Mueller’s long public career included 12 years of running the FBI in the aftermath of 9/11 and a stint as U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s criminal division. Mueller also served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer, leading a rifle platoon in Vietnam. He was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals.