News24 | Charlie Kirk murder a grim reminder of US political violence

Officials are treating the gunning down of Charlie Kirk, 31, at a university in Utah as a politically motivated assassination.

• Charlie Kirk’s politically motivated killing marks escalating political violence in the United States, shaking conservative politicians deeply.
• Donald Trump condemned political violence but blamed the “radical left,” intensifying polarisation after Kirk’s assassination.
• Rising tensions in Congress highlight extreme divisions, evident even in moments meant for solemnity like tributes to Kirk.

The killing of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, an ally of President Donald Trump, marks a new milestone in an increasingly violent political scene in the United States.

Officials are treating the gunning down of Kirk, 31, at a university in Utah as a politically motivated assassination - something that Trump has called a “dark moment for America”.

The US president himself, known like Kirk for his divisive rhetoric, was targeted by a would-be assassin in July 2024 during an election campaign in Pennsylvania.

He escaped with just a minor injury to his right ear, but the attempted killing shook the United States, which has a long line of murdered presidents, politicians and activists.

It’s a violent history that does not discriminate on either side of the political aisle.

In June, a masked shooter killed Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband at their home. Another elected official and his wife were also targeted and seriously injured.

READ | Rifle used to kill Charlie Kirk has been recovered, FBI says

And Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro - touted last year as a presidential hopeful - had his home set alight in April in an alleged assassination attempt.

Kirk’s death in front of a crowd of hundreds has particularly shaken conservative politicians.

Trump, whose own supporters attacked the US Congress in 2021 after his election loss, condemned political violence in a video address late on Wednesday.

But rather than calling for unity, he took aim at the “radical left” for rhetoric that Trump said “is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”

And listing recent instances of political violence in the US, he notably did not mention the killing of Melissa Hortman.

Trump’s finger-pointing was repeated by other conservative figures, including Elon Musk, who wrote on X: “The Left is the party of murder.”

In the House of Representatives late on Wednesday, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson observed a silent prayer in tribute to Kirk.

But even that led to conflict, as a loyal Trump lawmaker, Lauren Boebert, whose request that the prayer be said aloud was rejected by Democrats, cited another shooting at a high school in Colorado on Wednesday.

“You all caused this,” shouted Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, in apparent reference to Kirk’s murder.

That dramatic scene seemed to show how Congress, much like American politics, has tipped into more extreme polarisation, even on such a sombre night.