CHARLIE KIRK'S TRANSITION TO MARTYRDOM

Charlie Kirk's assassination on the Utah Valley University campus on September 10 forcefully reminded us of a macabre American ritual featuring the combination of gun violence and toxic politics. The right-wing political activist, founder of the youth organization "Turning Point USA" had not been elected to any political office. However, given his status as a prominent supporter of President Trump's MAGA movement he touched a chord of nearly biblical dimensions, to some degree resembling the response traditionally anticipated after the assassination of prominent political personalities. It is uniformly understood that, in civil society, regardless of political affiliation, deadly violence generated by political viewpoints, can never be tolerated or justified. But, as a country, we have periodically cycled through times of upheaval, discord and division which, unfortunately, have culminated in a spree of politically motivated killings. During the 1960s we witnessed the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. During the early part of this century we experienced deadly encounters and assassination attempts of former Representative Gaby Gifford, Representative Steve Scalise, Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her husband, an attempt on the lives of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, an arson fueled attempt on the life of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and family, and multiple attacks on, then candidate, Donald Trump. A significant difference between the toxic environment of the 1960s and today is the influence of social media. Its reach not only helps to amplify extreme viewpoints, it can also be used to positively prevent adverse responses. To his credit, President Trump's initial reaction to Charlie Kirk's unconscionable execution was commendable and presidential. He pointed out that "It's long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequences of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most despicable way possible." This could have been the beginning of an attempt at proactively calming an anticipated national response. However, he could not help putting his foot in his mouth. Before any motive for this abhorrent act was even apparent, he reverted to his established mantra, and continued by accusing "those on the radical left [who] have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop now!" The president appeared unwilling to acknowledge that he was part of the problem. He routinely refers to his opponents as "vermin" that need to be rooted out. He calls judges "monsters," and identifies those who oppose his policies as "scum," radical left thugs that lie and cheat on elections, and will do anything to destroy America and the American Dream. He threatened to put Liz Cheney, "a radical war hawk," in front of a firing squad, shoot protesters "in the legs or something," and so on. In the mean time he spearheaded the public veneration of Charlie Kirk and "the American values for which he lived and died. While largely ignoring to acknowledge the recent threats, violent attacks and killing of Democrats. He similarly ignored the myriad of highly controversial hate filled viewpoints espoused by his "deceased" supporter. He ordered the American flag to continue to be flown at half staff past the remembrance of 9/11 "in honor of Charlie Kirk." He sent Vice President Vance to escort Kirk's remains from Utah to Arizona on Air Force 2. And he posthumously awarded Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our highest civilian award. Many conservatives view Kirk's death as a galvanizing force for years to come, an opportunity to supercharge the movement he started and to cement conservative Christian values into American life. Jackson Lahmeyer, a pastor in Oklahoma, founder of the "Pastors for Trump" network, contributed: "Charlie died for what he believed in, he died for something greater than just himself. The shooter's motive could have been political, religious or something else. Regardless, he was a martyr." Politically, leading figures on the far-right now feel empowered to call for a crackdown on their ideological opponents. Many call for the administration to "prosecute every single leftist organization." On the defensive, many others now fear that Mr. Trump and his allies will use Kirk's killing as a pretext to attack their political opponents, suppress liberal political activity and suspend democratic rights. Lilliana Mason, political science professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is one of many who worry that to the extent that leaders are framing this assassination as something that needs to be retaliated against creates a huge opportunity for bad things to happen. "If the cycle of retaliatory violence gets started, it's really hard to stop it." Both sides in our polarized political world will need to lower the temperature of our agitated discourse or find an off ramp before it gets worse. Designating a "chosen one" and elevating him to "MAGA Sainthood" won't solve our perennial problem. Theo Wierdsma