Recent events have demonstrated a dangerous convergence of heated political rhetoric and the easy availability of powerful weaponry. The targeted assassination of political figures and commentators is rising. The impact of such acts on society's sense of safety and democratic norms is profound. As fear and fury increasingly mix with firearms, it's critical to examine how we got here and how we can respond.
"This political violence is not a series of isolated incidents and does not emerge organically," Trump wrote in a new executive order. "A new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies - including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them - is required."
I wanna go big picture and I don't wanna scare the public out there, but I do wanna talk about the current threat, Jones continued. There's a real threat; there should be people concerned? Yeah, usually I say, the chances of the general public being targeted like this, or don't go out of your house type of warning, I don't do that, Swecker replied. But in this case, we are starting to see a real threat.
First of all, let me take on the first premise of your question, that it was President Trump's rhetoric that led to an assassin killing our friend Charlie Kirk. That's a blatant lie, said Kelly, before calling the suggestion defamatory and inappropriate in this setting. The argument continued: Student: That's not what I said. Kelly: Yes it is. Student: No, I said he contributed to the political atmosphere, the tension. Kelly: Well, then you have no point. Then your point is utterly empty.
Yes, Jimmy got emotional. So what. He's emotional for himself because he almost torched his entire career. Kimmel is an unrepentant liar who tried to blame Charlie's assassination on the part of the country that just spent the last 2 weeks praying and holding vigils. What he's really saying is that he still thinks it's fair game to slander conservatives. He would rather advance his own political and cultural agenda than confront the truth.
Racial minorities bear the brunt of US political violence, but only white Americans hold the power to stop it. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk's shocking murder at a Utah speaking event, which has sent shockwaves through the nation, is further evidence that political violence is now a distinctive feature of modern American politics. Although the shooter was eventually identified as a white 22-year-old
The misogyny and toxic masculinity that Jamie discovered in online communities fuel his radicalization toward violence. Most internet communities are not inherently dangerous, and yet it's fair to ask whether a specific online culture could have influenced the assassin who gunned down conservative activist Charlie Kirk. It is a culture, cultivated on social networks and messaging platforms, where killing seems performative and where human life has no intrinsic value.
A US man has been found guilty of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump last September near Trump's Florida golf course, United States Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media. A jury found that Ryan Routh, 59, intended to kill Trump, then a former president and Republican presidential candidate, when he pointed a rifle through a fence while Trump was golfing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated this month in Utah, the state's governor, Spencer Cox, delivered a response that ought to be taught in leadership courses for years to come. "I think we need more moral clarity right now," Cox said during a powerful press conference two days after the shooting. "We hear all the time 'words are violence.' Words are not violence. Violence is violence."
I apologize without reservation to [Scott Jennings], Olbermann wrote in a Tuesday post to X. Olbermann said his messages related to Jennings and late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel could be misinterpreted as a threat. Yesterday I wrote and immediately deleted 2 responses to him about Kimmel because they could be misinterpreted as a threat to anything besides his career. I immediately replaced them with ones specifying what I actually meant, he wrote.
I just wanted to follow up quickly on something that the president had said yesterday. So we heard from Erika Kirk. She said she forgives the man who shot and killed her husband, Landers began, adding: And then right after that, we heard from the president who said, I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them. How does that square with bringing down the temperature of political violence in this country?
The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month on a college campus in Utah was the latest and perhaps most graphic example of a disturbing trend of recent political violence in the United States. The murder of Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in June. An arson fire at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's house in April. The shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York sidewalk in December.
The murder of Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in June. An arson fire at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's house in April. The shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York sidewalk in December. Before that, the hammer attack that nearly killed Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul, at their San Francisco home, and two attempted assassinations of President Trump. The events have shaken people on the left and the right.
Last week I did something unusual for me. I temporarily deleted the Facebook app from my phone and told my friends I'd be taking a break. Not forever, just long enough to clear my head. That decision wasn't about Facebook itself so much as what was happening in the country. The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk left me stunned, saddened and a bit scared.
We can disagree with Charlie and come together as a country to denounce the horror of killing. That is a bedrock American value. She declared House Republicans reckless for bringing forth a bill she said was meant to further divide Americans at such a delicate time in the country's history. The resolution brings great pain to the millions of Americans who endured segregation, Jim Crow, and the legacy of that bigotry today,
Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is not a singular, specific organisation but instead refers to a broad movement of left-leaning organisations and grassroots groups which oppose fascism and far-right ideology including white supremacy and neo-Nazism. The Anti-Defamation League states the label Antifa is "often misapplied to include all counter-protesters" and "persistent disinformation campaigns have dramatically affected the public perception" of the movement.
McMahon began by praising those who have honored Kirk's memory and the "values he held so dearly," but she quickly turned her attention to denouncing the "small but vocal fringe" that has "sought to excuse, justify and even celebrate his murder." Many of these individuals, the secretary claimed, work at America's colleges and universities or K-12 schools. "Alarmingly, many of these advocates of political violence are teachers, professors and administrators," she said.
Are we approaching a turning point in political violence, or is this simply another flashpoint in a long, uneven history of partisan conflict? Political scientists and commentators appear divided. Some warn of a spiraling wave of tit-for-tat violence, fueled by incendiary rhetoric and amplified by online echo chambers. Others emphasize that such acts are rare, often the work of lone actors rather than coordinated movements, and that the broader public overwhelmingly rejects violence as a political tool.
Look, obviously, I didn't know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong; but that doesn't negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family. He's a young man with two small children and a wife who and a huge number of friends and supporters who cared about him and so we have to extend grace to people during their period of mourning and shock.