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OPINION OCTOBER 03, 2025 | The Indian Eye 10

Charlie Kirk’s Killing Bares Rising

Extremism in the US Body Politic

Charlie Kirk’s killing has exposed deep fissures between and within the Republican and Democratic parties
and uncovered a grim culture of hate afflicting the US political system. Some experts fear that the present

US dispensation might use Kirk’s killing as a pretext to muzzle legitimate, non-violent political opposition.

DR ADIL RASHEED

n 10 September 2025, the
popular right-wing political
Oactivist Charlie Kirk, a close
ally of US President Donald Trump,
was shot and killed in broad daylight
while speaking at a public debate
event organised at the Utah Valley
University campus. It is ironic that at
the time of being shot, the 31-year-old
Kirk was beginning to reply to a Utah
Valley University undergraduate,
Hunter Kozak, who asked: “Do you
know how many mass shooters there
have been in America over the last 10
years?” In response, Kirk’s last words
before being fatally shot in the neck
were “Counting or not counting gang
violence…”.
There is no denying that in an
increasingly polarised US social and
political landscape, Kirk was himself
a highly controversial figure. One of
the most prominent exponents of
Trump’s MAGA (‘Make America
Great Again’) movement in the Re-
publican Party, Kirk strongly opposed
abortion, gun control, DEI (Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion) programmes, US Vice President J.D. Vance spoke a Leftist, way before a precise deter- make requests for the lowering of the
illegal immigration and LGBT rights. of dismantling what he called “this mination of the sniper’s identity was flag, and oftentimes you have to say
Critical of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 incredibly destructive movement of made. The question of double stan- no, because it would be a lot of low-
and Martin Luther King Jr., he is al- left-wing extremism that has grown dards was raised as threats of violence ering.”
leged to have sent buses of students to up over the last few years, and I be- against Left-wing activists on the In- Political violence in the US has in-
the rally leading to the 6 January US lieve is part of the reason why Charlie ternet, even against members of the creased in recent times, starting from
Capitol attack. was killed by an assassin’s bullet.” Democratic Party, were ignored, and two assassination attempts on Trump
Thereafter, Trump’s MAGA sup- the blame for a recent spate of polit- in 2024, followed by the firebombing
THE WIDENING WEDGE porters filled the social media with ical violence across the country was of the residence of Governor Josh
incendiary rhetoric not only against placed squarely at the door of one Shapiro in Pennsylvania early in 2025,
he response to Charlie Kirk’s the Democratic left-wing, but also di- side of the political divide. the killing of aforementioned Minne-
killing, even before the de- rected against the ethnically diverse When Trump was questioned sota legislator Melissa Hortman and
Ttermination of the identity immigrant population, with some go- by a journalist over his order to fly her husband and the shooting down
and motive of the killer, was highly ing to the extent of claiming that the the US flag at half-staff in honour of of Trump supporter Charlie Kirk.
vituperative and divisive across the country was in a state of war. Thus, Charlie Kirk, even though the same It is also curious to note that fis-
US political spectrum. US President former White House chief strategist honour was not accorded to assas- sures are developing within the Re-
Trump himself did not take a bipar- Steve Bannon said on his War Room sinated Democratic speaker of the publican Party, even inside Trump’s
tisan approach, calling on citizens of podcast: “Charlie Kirk is a casualty of Minnesota House of Representatives MAGA movement. Trump came to
all political denominations to refrain war. We are at war in this country. We Melissa Hortman and her husband power on the backing of paleo-con-
from hate speech after the trage- are!!!” in June 2025, the President replied: servatives within the far-right Re-
dy. Instead, he singled out left-wing For their part, the opposition “I wouldn’t have thought of that, but publican constituency, who largely
groups for the growing radicalism and Democratic Party members object- I would’ve, if somebody had asked view the US more as a constitution-
violence in the country. As if on cue, ed to presuming that Kirk’s killer is me.” He then continued: “People Continued on next page... >>

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