The Murder of Charlie Kirk
The MAGA movement leader was known for inviting debate with opponents.
By The Editorial Board
Charlie Kirk Photo: Jeffrey Phelps/Associated PressThe killing of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two and a prominent political leader on the right, is another horrifying scene in a country that is heartsick of witnessing them.
Kirk was appearing at a public event Wednesday in a courtyard on the campus of Utah Valley University when he was shot in the neck.
As we went to press, news reports said no suspect was in custody, and the killer’s identity remained unknown.
A university spokesman had said the shooter fired from a building about 200 yards from Kirk’s speech.
Given the pattern of such events, it would not be surprising to learn that the assassin was disturbed and mentally ill.
Given Kirk’s celebrity as a MAGA movement leader, it would not be surprising to learn that the killer had a political motivation.
This is all the more tragic because Kirk built his movement, Turning Point USA, the old-fashioned way: through political debate.
His method was to appear on college campuses and welcome all comers to take him on with questions and opposing points of view.
He did this amid the height of cancel culture and the worst of screaming mobs on campus who wanted to shut down conservative speakers.
This is a now dangerous moment for the country, which could descend into a cycle of political violence that would be hard to arrest.
President Trump survived two assassination attempts.
In June two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota were shot, one of whom was killed.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home was firebombed in April.
Three years ago a contemplated assassin gave himself up outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house.
Rep. Steve Scalise was shot in 2017 and Rep. Gabby Giffords in 2011.
The perpetrators of these attacks range in the degree of their mental illness and delusion, but American society has steadily dismantled the civil and social guardrails that used to prevent such troubled minds from straying so disastrously from civilized social norms.
The rise of the internet instead means there’s a content niche for almost everything, including obscene narratives in which Luigi Mangione is a folk hero for allegedly assassinating Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two and a health-insurance CEO, on the New York street.
What will social media’s ghouls say about Kirk?
At the same time, the political rhetoric is at a pitch that could hardly be higher.
Losing the next election means the end of America, each side says, and the political opposition is often portrayed as not merely profoundly wrong or mistaken but intentionally trying to destroy the country, shred the Constitution, institute fascist rule.
The crazy rage on the political left is especially acute at the moment given Mr. Trump’s polarizing Presidency.
To some, this is all part of the partisan game.
Disturbed listeners are less capable of separating rhetoric from reality.
Political figures from both parties denounced the attack on Kirk Wednesday, as they should.
But for Mr. Trump, while this is a moment of personal sadness, it is also an opportunity for leadership.
As the President, as a survivor of a near-assassination himself, and especially as Kirk’s political ally and friend—he can help the country rise above this madness.
He can say that this is the moment when the descent into political violence must stop, not least in honor of Charlie Kirk’s willingness to win by debate, not a resort to thuggery or violence.
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