The shocking assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week was part of a wider, horrific trend: the rise of political violence in America. But Kirk’s murder also seemed to reveal something even darker. Before a suspect was found—when facts were scarce—the race for political retribution was already well underway.
On Tuesday, Utah prosecutors charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with seven counts related to Kirk’s death, including aggravated murder. The charging documents say Robinson described Kirk as someone who “spreads too much hate.” According to prosecutors, Robinson’s mother told investigators her son had started to lean to the left politically and that he was “becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.” She said her son was in a relationship with his roommate, and that the roommate was transitioning. Prosecutors also released a text exchange between Robinson and that roommate shortly after Kirk’s death, in which Robinson confesses to the crime.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump and other top White House officials threatened to crack down on what they describe as a coordinated movement of left-wing organizations that are inciting violence against conservatives. So far, there is no evidence that Robinson was part of a larger plot targeting right-wing activists. But the political rhetoric coming from the White House is part of a scenario that experts have long warned about: using public tragedy to accelerate political division.
Trump “is immediately casting blame on his political opponents, demonizing and turning the heat up,” Mother Jones National Affairs Editor Mark Follman tells More To The Story host Al Letson. “And that is a recipe for more violence. The very top of our political leadership is stoking a political and cultural war.”
Reveal listeners might be familiar with Follman’s reporting from the episode “Lessons From a Mass Shooter’s Mother,” where he re-investigates a 2014 mass shooting in Isla Vista, Calif., through conversations with the shooter’s mother. On this week’s episode of More To The Story, Follman examines America’s spiraling political discourse, why early explanations of motive in gun violence incidents are almost always misguided, and why the Trump administration is cutting federal funding for programs meant to prevent violent incidents like Kirk’s assassination.
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