Vice President Vance Helps Carry Casket of Charlie Kirk

Kirk’s casket was being transported from Utah—where the assassination took place—to the Kirk’s home in Arizona. Joining the Vice President was his wife Usha, their two young kids, Charlie’s widow Erika and their two fatherless kids (Red State; Fox News). Weep with those who weep.

TIME Magazine Declares: “Enough”

Eric Cortellessa reports for the TIME cover story, looking at the series of politically motivated violent attacks: In 2024, Trump himself faced two attempts on his life, including the history-bending afternoon in Butler, Pa., when he turned his head at the instant an assassin fired, the bullet grazing his ear instead of piercing his skull… This year the threat grew more insistent. The residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was set on fire by an arsonist; a gunman shot two Democratic Minnesota legislators and their spouses; two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.; a man shouting “free Palestine” tossed Molotov cocktails at a pro-Israeli demonstration in Boulder, Co., injuring multiple people and killing one; and a gunman who allegedly held anti-vaccine views opened fire at CDC headquarters in Atlanta. “I think the evidence is clear that we’re at a dangerous point of potential escalation,” says Shannon Hiller, executive director of Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative, which tracks political violence in the United States (TIME).

Political Violence Has Put the Nation in a Dangerous Place

And yes: Our nation has witnessed political violence both from the right and from the left. But that should not cloud the fact that the overwhelming problem is on the left. Matthew Continetti: Kirk’s murder did not happen in a vacuum. Political violence in America is on the rise. Some of it targets officials: the congressional baseball shooting, the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the two attempts on Donald Trump’s life, arson at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, the killing of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman. The rest is aimed at private citizens. Shooters attack Christian churches and schools. A Hamas sympathizer is accused of gunning down an American Jew and her German Israeli boyfriend outside a Jewish museum in Washington. Luigi Mangione faces trial for the murder of a healthcare executive…. anarchy has been loosed on the American left. In the throes of socialist ideology, climate apocalypticism, and anti-Zionist fervor, radicals have become untethered from reality and the rule of law. What their 19th-century ancestors called “propaganda of the deed”—riots, vandalism, harassment, assault, and worse—has returned to America’s campuses and city streets, with deadly consequences. Stopping its growth is no easy task (Free Press).

Ammo of Shooter Engraved With Transgender, Antifascist Messages

The key line from the Wall Street Journal: An early bulletin circulated widely among law enforcement officials said investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of “transgender and anti-fascist ideology” inside the rifle that authorities believe was used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk (Wall Street Journal). The public has learned this. It has been widely reported. But CNN presents this in the neutral language of “cultural phrases.” David Strom: CNN knows that, but doesn’t want its readers and viewers to know that the killer was a trans activist. Cultural phrases [from CNN:] “A range of phrases related to cultural issues were found scrawled on a rifle and ammunition found in the woods near where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was murdered on Wednesday, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.…” CNN…they must stick to The Narrative™, and despite this being the SECOND shooting by a transgender activist in two weeks, we are being told AGAIN that we may never know the motive. Whatever could it be? (Hot Air).

Outlets on Left Use Kirk’s Death as Opportunity to Remind Readers How Heinous They Thought He Was

Unfortunately, TIME magazine was an outlier. The pattern from established opinion outlets on the left used Charlie’s death as an opportunity to remind readers of how much they hated him. Joan Walsh, writing in the socialist flagship outlet The Nation responded to Ezra Klein’s compliment that Charlie did politics “the right way”: Author Mark Harris said it better than I could on Bluesky: “You can write this only if, by virtue of your income, identity, or both, you are utterly removed from the consequences of politics. To pretend that the racist, misogynistic, anti-gay vileness that Kirk spent his life spreading is secondary to the fact that he spread it ‘the right way’ is appalling” (Nation). Ana Marie Cox writes in The New Republic: Obviously, I am not advocating outright delight in someone’s demise. The tone I’m envisioning is callous, perhaps, but short of cruel. Something like, “I’m sorry his family is suffering. I wish his message would die with him.” Something like, “No one deserves to die an untimely death, even Charlie Kirk, a supporter of policies that have killed people far more innocent than him” (New Republic). Erin Reed writes in the LGBTQ outlet Advocate: [Charlie Kirk] even derided empathy itself as worthless, a sentiment that has since metastasized into a broader far-right project to strip empathy education from schools. This is not a man to be admired. This is his legacy…. Charlie Kirk was not “practicing politics the right way.” His work should never “be continued.” He embodied everything corrosive about American politics today…. And his rhetoric was not debate—it was violent, dehumanizing, and designed to put targets on people’s backs (Advocate).

Oxford Union Condemns President Elect Over Celebration of Kirk Killing

Breitbart Reports: The Oxford Union, the storied and historic university debating society has distanced itself from its own President Elect who allegedly wrote “let’s f****** go” in response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The present administration of the Oxford Union, the 1823-founded world-renowned forum for debate which attracts Presidents, Prime Ministers, and great thinkers, has condemned its own President-Elect after he was allegedly exposed as having celebrated the slaying of U.S. political campaigner Charlie Kirk. George Abaraonye wrote, it is stated by The Daily Telegraph, “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f****** go” and “Charlie Kirk got shot loool”. The paper states at least one of the messages was subsequently deleted (Breitbart).

President Trump Marks 24th Anniversary of 9/11 With Message of Renewed Resolve

Trump delivered remarks at the Pentagon: The building you see behind me, the War Department, was targeted in an act of savage evil. And today on these hallowed grounds we gather to honor those victims and heroes with the resolve to never forget. We gather to pay tribute to the first responders who charged into the flames and up the stairs (C-Span).From President Trump’s proclamation: The terrorist attacks of September 11 not only sparked fury but also a groundswell of patriotism, renewing our unity, reinvigorating American pride, and demonstrating that, in the wake of unimaginable evil, Americans will always stand united.  In the aftermath of the deadliest terrorist attack in recorded history, the goodness, grace, and unbreakable spirit of the American people prevailed. Twenty-four years later, we renew our resolve to ensure that we never again face such a ruthless attack.  My Administration is committed to upholding a foreign policy of peace through strength, and we proclaim without reservation that any enemy who seeks to strike our shores, endanger our citizens, and threaten our way of life will be met with devastation and crushing defeat by the fiercest, most lethal, and most formidable military on the face of the Earth. Today, we honor and remember the souls who perished on September 11, 2001, and those who succumbed to illness and injury in the days, months, and years that followed (White House).

Senator Leader Thune Moves on Nuclear Option to Advance Trump Nominees

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) obstruction is unprecedented. Wall Street Journal: GOP senators voted, 53-45, Thursday to set a new chamber rule that allows group confirmations of certain executive branch nominees, a move they say is necessary to combat Democratic obstruction. Past standoffs had already whittled down the minority party’s ability to block nominees. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) used a legislative procedure that allows a simple majority to override Senate rules and set a new precedent. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate (Wall Street Journal). Ward Clark: This is what we voted for: A GOP that will play hardball. And what’s more, the caucus seems to be holding together pretty well, as we might assume from the 53-45 vote… Proceeding is the right thing to do. The Democrats have, for months, been trying everything possible to hamstring not only the Trump administration but their Republican counterparts in Congress. That’s the way the game is often played, mind you. Politics is a dirty business, and has been even before Mark Antony had Cicero’s head and hands nailed to the Roman Senate rostrum (Red State).

Axios Decries MAGA’s “Siege Mentality”

Why would MAGA be feeling attacked? We witnessed the assassination of the movement’s most effective communicator to young Americans and it’s strange or ungrounded that many within that movement would feel—in their words—“the movement is under attack from leftist forces.” More from Axios: Within minutes of the shooting at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, MAGA leaders cast Kirk as the victim of an existential political battle. Trump called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom,” vowing to crack down on the “radical left” for fomenting violence with its “demonization” of conservatives (Axios).

Will Conservative Voices Continue to Step Out and Speak Up?

It’s not strange that veteran voices and those considering stepping into the public square have been forced to think about it. Should I place my life at risk? Gregory Lyakhov is a high school senior, deeply influenced and inspired by Kirk. Gregory writes: Kirk’s assassination raises difficult questions for me. This weekend I am scheduled to attend a rally where I will participate in an open debate modeled after his events. For young conservatives who aspire to follow in Kirk’s footsteps, the risks of speaking publicly are no longer theoretical. But abandoning those debates would be a betrayal of the mission he built (Wall Street Journal). There was a rumor that Ben Shapiro was going to cancel a number of events. Ben responds: Charlie’s voice is not silent. We’re going to pick up that bloodstained microphone where Charlie left it. And to those who would intimidate—who would seek to stop us, who would seek to end free discussion, who believe that they have ownership over public spaces and can violently threaten and kill people who speak freely—we are not going to stop. And I have two words: f*** ***. We will not stop telling the truth. We’ll never stop telling the truth. We will never stop debating and discussing. We’ll never stop standing up for what America is and for what she should be, and we will never let Charlie Kirk’s voice die (Shapiro).