At 12:20 PM, September 10th 2025, a shot rang out across the United States as conservative media influencer and political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in front of a large crowd of college students at Utah Valley University. The shot was fired by 22 year old Tyler Robinson, a man who had become more political in the months preceding the assassination. According to Utah governor Spencer Cox, Robinson and an unnamed family member would talk about the viewpoints Kirk had that they disliked, with the unnamed family member remarking that Kirk was “spreading hate.” Ammunition fired at Kirk had “anti fascist” messaging on it, while Robinson’s parents are registered Republicans. The bullet casings said things like “Hey, fascist. Catch!” Another had the lyrics to the anti-fascist Italian song “Bella Ciao.” The death of Kirk led to significant despair on the right, and while some have called for forgiveness and peace, others have called for vengeance.
The Christian values of the right, mainly the values of forgiveness and not spreading hate, have been challenged significantly after Kirk’s death, as seen by the large-scale disagreement over any kind of response. Interestingly, the extremity of one’s politics did not necessarily show how vengeful they would be.
Before Kirk’s funeral, many famous people made public comments on social media, including Nicholas J. Fuentes. Fuentes is a self-proclaimed “Catholic Reactionary,” who is far right compared to mainstream Republicans. He is arguably the most prominent “dissident right” figure in American politics today. It should be noted that Fuentes was an ideological enemy of Kirk, with both disagreeing significantly on things like immigration, and Fuentes being banned from Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA). Despite his political extremities, his reaction to the assassination on his show, “America First,” was far more tame than most might have anticipated.
“What I am urging at the very outset of this, at the minimum, is caution. Let us not be hasty. If you are thinking about picking up arms, put them down, and if you can’t be convinced altogether, put them down today, put them down tomorrow.” Fuentes also called prominent liberal influencer Dean Withers a “good kid,” despite hostile interactions in the past because of Withers’ “reasonable” reaction to Kirk’s death (Withers cried when being presented with the news).
The wife of Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk, had a similar reaction based in Christian morality at Charlie’s funeral. Erika was the mother of two children who will now grow up without a father, and despite all the psychological pain the shooter inflicted on her, she forgave the shooter publicly on stage. She has also inherited Charlie’s mantle as the new CEO of TPUSA.
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did and it is what Charlie would do,” Mrs. Kirk said.
While many on the right have called for forgiveness or a de-escalation in rhetoric, others have seemingly fanned the flames and cast significant blame on all “leftists” for what happened. Prominent conservative commentator Matt Walsh, a member of an organization called the “Dailywire” and the host of the “Matt Walsh Show,” was one of these people.
In response to a tweet calling on him to refrain from using extreme rhetoric and demonization, Walsh sarcastically justified his words by peddling the idea that the left wanted to “shoot him in the head and dance on his grave.”
Billionaire Elon Musk backed up Walsh on the claim that the left wanted him dead, saying that this was “not merely speech.”
Walsh would also repost tweets saying the shooting was “carried out by a radical left-wing transgender terror cell,” further showing the hostility that was brewing in some sects of the right.
President Donald Trump also had a more provocative reaction to the death of Charlie. Donald Trump attended Charlie’s funeral and was also chosen to speak at the event. In contrast to Erika Kirk’s message of forgiveness, Trump called Charlie a “martyr,” and also criticized the idea of wanting the best for political opponents.
“He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them,” Trump said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also released a public statement on X, claiming hate speech that “crosses the line” into threats of violence is not protected by the First Amendment. This was especially significant because of the “free speech absolutist” mindset that many on the right have. President Donald Trump has also seemingly not taken issue with this position, and it almost looks like the Republican-controlled government wishes to seek retribution against the left in general, and potentially restrict freedom of speech in certain instances. This was made especially apparent when the President told an ABC reporter that “[Bondi will] probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly.”
Bondi’s statement garnered a lot of attention and backlash from people across the political spectrum, which is good news in the sense that there is still common ground between the left and the right, especially when it comes to some of the most fundamental rights of Americans.
The country continues to reel from the political divide that has seemingly been widened because of this assassination, and we are yet to see whether or not this event will cause a new wave of political violence and government overreach, or a potential return to normalcy.
