Will a total ban on all Democrats come next? I wouldn't be surprised

The coldblooded murder of Charlie Kirk evoked many emotions.

- Ivo Daalder

Here was a 31-year-old father of two, whose life was cut short by an assassin's bullet; thoughts went to his young family and those who loved and knew him. Some worried that this latest instance of political violence could only lead to more. A few, including Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, urged calm and prayer.

Not so many of the loudest voices on the right. Their reaction was to blame political opponents. Elon Musk denounced the left as "the party of murder". Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, shouted down Democrats on the House floor: "Y'all caused this. You fucking own this."

But the most worrisome statement came from the Oval Office, where President Trump used a rare formal address to blame the "radical left" for the killing.

It is this reaction - casting blame and seeking retribution rather than calming tempers - that has led many to ask whether the Kirk murder is a turning point in US politics. "Is this the end of a dark chapter in our history," Governor Cox asked, "or the beginning of a darker chapter?"