As Americans learned of Charlie Kirk’s death, the nation was once again confronted with the abhorrent political violence that’s become far too common in the United States. The list is heartbreaking but familiar.
Indeed, in recent months and years, we’ve seen so many examples that they almost blur together, creating a gutting mosaic. The recent murder of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband. The assassination attempts targeting Donald Trump. The arson at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence in Pennsylvania. The attack on Paul Pelosi. Jan. 6. Rep. Steve Scalise’s shooting. The kidnapping plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The 2018 explosive devices that targeted Democratic officials and veterans of the Obama administration.
There’s room for discussion about what precipitated these examples and the kind of reactions they generated, but the bottom line remains the same: The sheer volume of incidents, and the frequency with which they’ve occurred, is both overwhelming and emblematic of a societal scourge.
If the United States is going to do something about political violence and pull the nation back from a dangerous cliff, it’s going to take sustained, sober and responsible leadership.
There is no reason to believe the incumbent American president intends to provide that leadership. NBC News reported:
While politicians of both parties largely coalesced to mourn Charlie Kirk after he was shot and killed Wednesday at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University, President Donald Trump blamed the ‘radical left’ for the conservative activist’s death.
As of this writing, no one has been arrested for Kirk’s slaying. By all accounts, there remains great uncertainty as to who was responsible and what motivated the deadly shooting.
But that didn’t stop the president from telling the nation, “For years, those on the radical left 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 right now.”
Trump — who has spent much of the year telling the public that Democrats are “evil,” guilty of “treason” and worthy of his “hatred” — went on to urge “all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree.” He then quickly referenced “radical left political violence,” without acknowledging recent examples in which Democratic politicians and their families were targeted.
Looking ahead, the Republican vowed that his administration “will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”
This was an opportunity to deliver a unifying message that lowered the temperature. Trump chose a different path.
Just two weeks before the 2018 midterm elections, 10 Democratic officials and veterans of the Obama administration were targeted with packages containing explosive devices. Soon after, Trump complained that media coverage of “bomb stuff” was interfering with the Republican Party’s election season messaging.
Asked whether the mail bombs, which were sent by one of his Trump’s radicalized followers, might lead to a shift in his political tone, the president replied, “Tone down? No. Could tone up.” Nearly seven years later, too little has changed. The New York Times’ David French noted earlier this year that Trump “is at his absolute worst in a crisis.” The columnist, whose observation was unrelated to deadly gun violence, added in reference to the president, “He is not a man who is ready to meet important and dangerous moments.” The Republican keeps proving the point. When there was a deadly hurricane in North Carolina, he flunked a leadership test. When there was a deadly attack in New Orleans, he flunked again. When responding to deadly fires in California, he flunked again. In the wake of the Flight 5342 crash, he flunked again. In the wake of the recent murders in Minnesota, he flunked again. And in the aftermath of Kirk’s death, nothing, in fact, has changed. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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