The killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was a turning point in a wave of political violence in the U.S. Some experts worry that t...
The killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was a turning point in a wave of political violence in the U.S. Some experts worry that this wave will make the country even more divided and cause more trouble.
A researcher at the University of Maryland named Mike Jensen said, "This event is horrifying and alarming, but not necessarily surprising." The university has been keeping track of acts of terrorism in a database since 1970.
Jensen said that there were about 150 politically driven killings in the U.S. in the first half of the year, which is almost twice as many as in the same time last year. Sen. Jensen said, "I think we are in a very, very dangerous spot right now that could very easily turn into more widespread civil unrest if we don't get a hold of it." "This definitely has the potential to be a spark that leads to more of it."
Domestic terrorism experts say that the rise in violence in the U.S. is caused by a number of things coming together: economic uncertainty, worry about changing race and ethnic demographics, and the increasingly hostile tone of political debate. Ideological differences that used to be based on disagreements about policy have turned into deeper, more personal hatred. A mix of social media, conspiracy theories, and personal grudges make people even more angry.
As of last year, Reuters had found at least 300 cases of political violence in the U.S. between the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the 2024 presidential election. This was the biggest and longest-lasting rise in this kind of violence since the 1970s.
"Extreme political violence is becoming the norm in our country," said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. "The shooting of Charlie Kirk is an example of a much bigger and more pervasive problem: acts of violence are becoming more common, even when there is no clear ideology or motive."
"People are really worried about what will happen when something like this is done."
Other people who study violence in politics agreed. There is a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University named Lilliana Mason who said, "People are reluctant to use violence first, but they're much more willing to use violence in response." "No one wants to start it, but everyone wants to finish it."
Kirk is a close friend of U.S. President Donald Trump and the head of the conservative student group Turning Point USA. He was speaking to a crowd of about 3,000 people outside at Utah Valley University when a gunshot went off, sending Kirk flying off his chair and the crowd running away in fear.
By Wednesday evening, almost six hours after the shooting, the police had not yet named a suspect in public. Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, said that a nameless "subject" had been questioned and then freed.
Kirk, who is 31 years old, was one of the first people in the right movement. He also used social media to bring millions of young Americans into Trump's MAGA group.
In a social media post about Kirk's death, Trump said, "No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States better than Charlie."
Two attempts were made to kill Trump himself last year. In one, the shooter was killed by police just seconds after he opened fire. In the other, a man was caught with a gun and scope close to a golf club in Palm Beach where Trump was playing. This week, he went to court.
Besides those, two high-profile attacks this year by right-wing conspiracy theorists also shocked politicians and government workers all over the country. A Christian nationalist killed a senior Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota in June and hurt another Democrat. In August, a man who was crazy about COVID-19 theories opened fire on the Atlanta offices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing a police officer. At least 21 people have been killed in political violence since January. Fourteen of them were killed in a car bomb attack in New Orleans early on New Year's Day by a terrorist who said he was faithful to the Islamic State group.
Two workers of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., were killed by a pro-Palestinian activist in May. After being caught, the activist told police, "I did it for Gaza."
The Justice Department said that in July, at least 11 terrorists dressed in black military-style clothes attacked an immigration holding center in Texas. The group set off fireworks and wrote "traitor" and "ICE Pig" on cars. One of them shot and hurt a responding police officer in the neck, and another shot at prison guards, according to the FBI.
Since taking office again, Trump has cut back on efforts to fight internal terrorism. Instead, he has put more resources into enforcing immigration laws and called the southern border the biggest security threat.
Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland who works for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism and tracks violence, said the future doesn't look good.
"This government has made big changes to this country in the eight months it's been in power, whether you agree with them or not," he said. "Some people like it, some people don't." People who hate it are beginning to act out. The people who love it will act out against the people who don't, and it will turn into a loop that could end in something really, really bad.