Political scholars and ordinary people believe the slaying of the 31-year-old political commentator is a possible watershed moment for the nation.
The Sept. 10 death of Charlie Kirk—the highest-profile American political figure to be assassinated in nearly six decades—represents a tipping point for the nation, legal scholars and others told The Epoch Times. How leaders and the populace react to it could determine whether the tide of political violence continues to rise—or recedes.
The 31-year-old father of two was fatally shot in the neck as he spoke on a Utah college campus. As of Sept. 11, the gunman remained unidentified and on the loose; police detained two people but released both after questioning.
Susan MacManus, a Florida political scholar for a half-century, said Kirk’s slaying could spark important changes.
“But is it going to be a catalyst for the two parties coming together and saying, ‘Enough of this?’” she asked. “Or is it just going to be a catalyst for even further deepening the polarization in this country?”
She worries that it could be the latter, given that “right now, the two words that are most missing in our politics are ‘civility’ and ‘compromise.’”
MacManus told The Epoch Times that she sees another contributing factor: Americans are awash in a culture of violence, ranging from images in movies and news reports to video games “where you win if you ‘kill’ people.”
When Kirk was gunned down, he was answering an attendee’s question about transgender suspects committing mass shootings. Any possible significance of that timing remains unknown, along with the gunman’s motive. In addition, Kirk had posted on social media earlier this year that he was concerned about studies showing the glorification of “assassination culture” in America.
Many people, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, have labeled Kirk’s death as a “political assassination.”
The founder of the Turning Point USA conservative organization, Kirk influenced millions of people, President Donald Trump said in an address hours after the shooting. Trump called for an end to political violence and vowed that his administration will root out “each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence.”
As a candidate in 2024, Trump himself was the target of attempted assassinations in Pennsylvania and Florida.
High-profile mass shootings at schools and the targeted assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson have also rattled the American psyche and affected political discourse.
This year, an arsonist targeted the Democratic Pennsylvania governor’s residence in April. And in June, a gunman shot two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.
The Aug. 22 fatal knife attack of a young Ukrainian woman aboard a Charlotte train, captured on video, seems to have touched off the most outrage, MacManus noted.
Many other violent incidents have affected American politics, directly or indirectly, in recent years.
Asked to put Kirk’s assassination into context, Jeff Bloodworth, professor of American political history at Pennsylvania’s Gannon University, told The Epoch Times the nation has had “many, many moments of political violence,” far more than “our western cousins.”
He called Kirk’s slaying “another sad chapter in a ‘book’ that nobody wants to read.”
Looking at the current situation, he said, “It’s telling when you have to say, ‘Well, it’s not as bad as 1968, right?’”
That was the year Robert F. Kennedy, a Democratic U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were both assassinated. Those slayings followed the assassination of Democratic President John F. Kennedy (Sen. Kennedy’s brother) in 1963.
In the decades since, violence against other notable national figures has included the 2017 shooting of House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who survived despite serious injuries; the 1981 non-fatal shooting of President Ronald Reagan, a Republican; and a 2011 attack on Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords that left six people dead, 13 injured, and Giffords in critical condition.
Bloodworth and MacManus said many people who are only casually aware of politics had no idea who Kirk was until he was assassinated. But they also agreed that the big impact he had on American politics is part of his legacy.
“He was an important figure. You might even say he was a rock star in certain circles,” Bloodworth said.
Both political scholars said they were concerned about how the Kirk assassination could affect American politics.
MacManus said many would-be candidates for the 2026 midterm elections might not be willing to risk becoming targets for violence.
And Bloodworth says the political violence seems to be a symptom of deeper maladies in American society.
“Our politics is a barometer, and this violence is a barometer, and it’s telling us something,” he said. “I don’t think it’s telling us just how politically divided we are. I think it tells us something about kind of a deeper yearning.”
People feel “more disconnected” and sad, despite so many ways to “connect” online, he said, adding that social media is not “real life.”
Both he and MacManus said the human tragedy of Kirk’s death, which left his wife a widow and two small children fatherless, should bridge any political divide if people step back and see it from that perspective.
MacManus said the American people are looking to the nation’s leaders to set the tone. People need to “see Congress coming together and big leaders from both parties saying, “‘Here are things we’re going to do and we’re not going to do,’ and stick to it,” she said. “But the problem we were running into is the old problem of, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’”
On Campus
Those in attendance also raised concerns about how Kirk’s assassination will affect them and society.
Jeremy King, 45, and his wife, Amy King, 46, live near the site where Kirk was speaking, so they decided to attend, they told The Epoch Times.
Jeremy told The Epoch Times he heard “what sounded like a firecracker.” He wasn’t sure the shooting was real until he saw Kirk fall back in his chair, he said.
The attendee said he distinctly remembers standing over his wife, trying to understand if this was a mass shooting event, and if they should take cover or run. When they decided to leave, it was because Jeremy said he realized: “Charlie was being targeted. There’s no additional shots coming.”
“So we left the same direction Charlie was taken out,” Jeremy said, and he pulled out his phone to video because he was convinced that the moment needed to be recorded: “It felt very significant when they were carrying him out.”
Jeremy King took some of the most widely spread footage of Kirk’s security team rushing him into an SUV. Kirk then was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The couple had very different opinions about whether they would attend an event like this in the future.
Amy King said it was her first political event and might be her last.
She said that she doesn’t “really get into politics” and went because the event was close to home. She “just was really interested in some of the things that he said,” she told The Epoch Times.
Jeremy King volunteered that he came away from the event “the very opposite of Amy,” and that he wants to be “very involved” moving forward.
He said he would “absolutely go” to future political events.
“I think we need to do a better job of screening and [with] the security, but there’s been so many wonderful things that we can’t do anymore that we did in the ‘80s and ’90s and early 2000s and, unfortunately, I think that trend will continue,” he said.
Amy King’s voice faltered when she talked about what it will be like for Kirk’s children to grow up without him, and knowing that his death was so public: “Us being parents ourselves, knowing Charlie was a parent … my heart goes out to his family.”
She also addressed the “shock” the conservative commentator’s kids will go through, and even as they are older, seeing references to or footage of the event. “This will be on the news or at any time as they get older, and to grow up to see your dad, pretty much gunned down on live TV, it’s just not fair.”
Amy said she sees, now more than ever, the importance of respecting “every individual … and if you disagree, you disagree. But violence is not ever the solution.”
Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
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