The assassination of 31-year-old Charlie Kirk — Donald Trump’s ally and a person with a vast and growing following among conservative youth in the US — is an inflexion point. It marks a rupture, an attack on America’s body politic, the consequences of which will be felt over the coming weeks and months. At the same time, Kirk’s murder by a sniper on a university campus is part of a broader story of a shrinking of the middle ground and space for dialogue, and the increasing coarseness, even abuse, in public conversations. Kirk’s death can lead the US further down this dangerous path. It will take mature leadership and statesmanship on both sides of the political divide to prevent such a spiralling, and bring people together.
Kirk was one of the moving forces behind Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organisation, which he co-founded in 2012. His popularity on campus and social media is arguably a backlash against the threat, real and imagined, of “cancel culture” in the American university. Part of Kirk’s appeal was that he wasn’t merely an armchair warrior putting out reels and TikToks. Rather, he engaged with his detractors on campus, through tours that covered much of the country. His ideas were controversial and divisive. To many, he seemed to target the weak with his rhetorical flourish. The pathology of the current moment in America, in its most extreme form, is symbolised by his murder. Because in a country known to be the strongest champion of the democratic right to free speech, words must be met with words, not violence.
Since the January 6 Capitol Hill attack in 2021, there has been a growing sense of chaos, a seeming acceptance of violence among sections of US society and polity. Before Kirk’s murder, the killing of Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, on a metro train in North Carolina, reportedly by a mentally ill assailant, invited a political reaction from President Donald Trump. In Zarutska’s death, he said Democrats “have blood on their hands”. After Kirk’s assassination, Trump blamed the “radical left” for “demonising” those who disagree with their point of view. On social media, many posted about Kirk’s support of guns after his death. Others have expressed fears of copycat crimes. A divided society cannot heal overnight. But there is a way forward through conversation and, more importantly, listening. For that to happen, the US needs its current leadership on both sides of the aisle to step up and for a new one that is up to the challenge in the long run to emerge.
