AMERICAN CRISIS

The killing of Charlie Kirk and the political violence that haunts the nation

- ERIC CORTELLESSA

CHARLIE KIRK WAS DOING WHAT HE SO OFTEN did—working a college crowd, prodding and provoking students in debate. The 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA was at Utah Valley University near Salt Lake City on Sept. 10, surrounded by thousands of students gathered in an outdoor courtyard. It was the first stop of Kirk's fall campus tour, and he was seated beneath a tent emblazoned with the words THE AMERICAN COMEBACK. Kirk became a star in these settings. Since founding his right-wing advocacy organization at 18, he proved peerless at channeling youthful discontent into political energy, shaping a movement with national reach.

As Kirk fielded questions from the audience, a shot rang out, striking him in the neck. Panicked students scattered. Kirk was rushed to the hospital. Grisly footage of the shooting rocketed across social media. Inside the West Wing, staff sat in shocked silence, scrolling their screens to see the latest updates. At 4:40 p.m., Donald Trump announced Kirk's death on Truth Social. “No one,” the President wrote, “understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.” He leaves behind a wife and two young children.

In recent years, the prospect of a political assassination like this, carried out before a stunned crowd in broad daylight, has hung over a nation riven by factional fury. Elected officials whispered about it in green rooms and on campaign buses. When the moment arrived, it unfolded with chilling precision: a campus stage, a microphone, a single gunshot. Where it will lead now is an ominous question with no obvious answers.