Partisanship Divide Contributes To Charlie Kirk's Incidence

Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist, and social media personality, was assassinated. On the afternoon of September 10th, Kirk was shot and killed while debating a student about mass shootings at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Kirk, co-founder of conservative organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was at the university on his first stop of his American Comeback Tour with TPUSA, a speech and debate tour aimed at discussing and debating politics. The assailant, Tyler James Robinson, shot Kirk in the neck from a university building about 430 feet away using a bolt-action rifle and fled the scene. President Donald Trump announced Kirk's death to the public on his conservative platform, Truth Social, about two hours after the shooting. Later that evening, Trump made a statement from the Oval Office giving his condolences to the Kirk family and condemning political violence from the "radical left."

After a 33-hour search and multiple arrests, Robinson was caught when a family friend told local authorities that Robinson confessed to the murder to his father. The initial investigation by the FBI and local authorities found both the murder weapon and ammunition with various engraved messages on the bullets. As information about the suspect is still coming out, there has been a lot of misinformation about the motive and political views of the shooter.

However, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Robinson, and legal proceedings are underway. Kirk's assassination sparked a national discussion about gun violence, American division, and their respective roles in political violence, with major participants in politics speaking out in response.

While I personally disagreed with most, if not all, of Kirk's stances, his murder is a symptom of a larger problem within American politics that we should address: partisan division. While political violence and assassinations are not exclusive to Charlie Kirk, his death is one of many that stem from the poisoned seeds of the two-party system and the division that comes with it. With President Trump immediately jumping to blame the "radical left" alongside the misinformation about the assailant being "so far right that he shot Kirk for being too moderate," the partisan finger-pointing and blaming not only unsettles me, but also unsettles our political system. The polarization of the American political climate affects our political elections, how Americans vote, and even the ease of passing legislation. 

In witnessing the impact of political demonization and division on a day-to-day basis, I can only ask that as participants in this country, we stay aware. Be aware that Charlie Kirk is not the only or last casualty of political violence; stay aware that Americans are statistically more inclined to vote for a candidate they know nothing about if they are of the same political party as them; and stay aware of the information you choose or choose not to trust.

Graphic from Canva | Partisan divide fuels current political landscape.