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September 11, 2025 — 5.05pm
The assassination of conservative luminary and fervent Trump supporter Charlie Kirk is the latest in a grim wave of political violence in the United States.
Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot while visiting Utah Valley University.Credit: AP
Adding to the horror were the circumstances of the murder; Kirk was shot in the neck while addressing a large crowd on a university campus in the state of Utah.
Following the tragedy, Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, spoke for many when he lamented the way Kirk had been gunned down while discussing political ideas with students, something he described as “foundational” for the United States.
“Historically, university campuses in this nation … have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated,” he said. “When someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas, or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened.”
Kirk’s assassination is not a one-off, but part of a disturbing trend fuelled by America’s toxic politics and entrenched gun culture. Political figures from both the left and right of US politics have been targeted.
Three months ago, a Democrat politician in the state of Minnesota and her husband were shot dead by a masked gunman. Only last year, US President Donald Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally which proved a pivotal moment in the 2024 election.
Trump shortly after the attempt on his life in July last year.Credit: AP
In a video address following the Utah shooting, President Trump condemned political violence and described Kirk’s murder as a “dark moment” for America.
“It’s long past time for all Americans, and the media, to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonising those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” he said.
That was an appropriate and insightful comment in the circumstances, the problem being that Trump himself makes a habit of denigrating those he disagrees with. He has become the demoniser-in-chief.
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Even yesterday’s video message, delivered from behind Trump’s desk in the White House, criticised only those on one side of America’s bitter political divide: and they happened to be his opponents.
“Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives,” he said.
Trump’s intervention was a reminder that he is a major contributor to the febrile and increasingly dangerous character of contemporary US politics.
It was encouraging that many other prominent political figures – Democrats and Republicans – expressed outrage at Kirk’s death.
No matter how deep or emotional the disagreement, political violence should never be a solution.
Now, in the aftermath of the latest US assassination, political leaders there must find ways to turn down the political volume.
And yet, Americans seem to be finding it harder to disagree peacefully. The New York Times has reported a recent opinion poll showing about 34 per cent of college students said they would support “using violence in some circumstances to stop a campus speech”.
In this forbidding moment for America, there is a real danger that political violence becomes contagious.
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