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The spiral of violence in the United States escalates with the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk. The 31-year-old ultra-conservative activist, known for his controversial debates and beloved by the MAGA movement, especially among the youth, died after being shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University (UVU). At present, there are no confirmed suspects and the killer remains at large.

In one of the many videos posted on social media, you can see Kirk's head jerking backwards, followed by streams of blood pouring from his neck. He was in the middle of giving a speech on campus for his The American Comeback tour.

Within hours, condolences poured in from the government and public figures. “Charlie's children will be raised with stories instead of memories, photographs instead of laughter, and silence where their father's voice should have echoed. Charlie Kirk's life should serve as a symbolic reminder that compassionate awareness elevates family, love, and country,” wrote First Lady Melania Trump. But the decorum of bipartisan condolences and prayers was short-lived.

Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert commented during a session on Capitol Hill: “Silent prayers get silent results.” In a speech delivered in the Oval Office, Donald Trump, after offering his condolences, immediately blamed “the radical left” for the shooting and promised an unspecified crackdown. The president listed a series of incidents of what he called “political violence by the radical left”, including the attempt to assassinate him last year. However, he omitted the January 6th's assaults, the murder of Minnesota Congresswoman Melissa Hortman, the assault on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other incidents of violence linked to growing polarisation in the United States.

The political rage

The web was flooded with posts and videos commemorating Charlie Kirk, but above all attacking the opposition, causing tensions to mount. Matt Forney, an ultra-conservative journalist known for his racist and misogynistic content, called Kirk's murder “the American Reichstag fire”, alluding to the 1933 fire at the German Parliament building, which the Nazi party used as a pretext to suspend constitutional protections and arrest political opponents. “It's time for a total crackdown on the left. Every Democratic politician must be arrested, and the party banned,” Forney posted on X. These words are unacceptable even for professional haters like Forney.

Alex Jones, a famous conspiracy theorist, posted a video in which he states bluntly: “Make no mistake: we are at war.” And Chaya Raichik, a well-known right-wing celebrity on X, reiterated: “This is war.” There is no de-escalation in sight, not even on the left, where thousands of comments have poured in applauding the death of the MAGA influencer. “He had it coming” is one of the most repeated comments on X or TikTok. It is a continuous spiral in which hatred only breeds hatred.

Extremist and anti-scientific rhetoric

Charlie Kirk labelled himself a “true patriot”. He was one of the most prominent conservative activists and media personalities in the United States, as well as a trusted ally of President Donald Trump. At the age of 18, shortly after Barack Obama's re-election, he co-founded Turning Point USA, aiming to spread conservative ideals in liberal colleges, challenging students in polarising and viral debates.

He was known for his anti-transgender views and scepticism about the Covid-19 pandemic. He supported the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. A great lover of guns, he went so far as to say that defending the Second Amendment for the free circulation of weapons was worth “a few unfortunate victims of gun violence.”

Among his favourite targets were environmentalism and climate change. Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA have for years mocked science in the name of “free thinking”. Man-made global warming? “A hoax, a left-wing ploy to expand control over citizens”, even in violation of the historic principle of nature conservation that originated within the Republican world.

In a video, Kirk explains that “climate change is the wrapper around Marxism. Marxism is at its core, and climate change is on the outside. Climate change activism, environmentalism, pseudo-paganism: it’s a Trojan horse, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It sounds like a cliché, but it’s absolutely true.”

Violent and anti-democratic ideas, certainly. But they should be defeated on a rhetorical and political level, not with a bullet in the head. However, it may be too late to close Pandora's box.

Cover: Charlie Kirk by Gage Skidmore, Flickr