For all of us who love our country, it was a memorable moment. On the evening of Sept. 11, 2001, hours after fleeing the Capitol because of the fear of an airliner hijacked by terrorists striking the building, members of Congress assembled on the steps of the Capitol.
Senators stood next to representatives, Republicans next to Democrats, leaders next to backbenchers. Then, after an opening prayer and a moment of silence, they broke out in an impromptu chorus of “God Bless America.” It was moving, inspiring and the perfect way to show the world that, despite our differences, when we are suffering, we stand together as Americans. We support each other. We are united.
The senseless assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk could have been another such 9/11 moment. Even though his death is especially tragic because he was such a young man with a wife and two young daughters who was killed only for exercising his freedom of speech, Kirk’s murder is just the latest in a wave of political violence.
It has been leveled against politicians on the left. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot and wounded in 2011, Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home in 2022. There was a kidnapping plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. An alleged arsonist targeted the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in April, and Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated in their home.
It has also been leveled against the right, as when a man opened fire on House Republicans on a baseball field, nearly killing Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) in 2017. And of course there were two assassination attempts against Donald Trump in 2024 before Kirk was shot and killed.
This moment demanded another show of national unity. This could have been another time for Republicans and Democrats to stand together and say: Enough is enough. The cycle of political violence must stop. There is no justification for letting political differences sink to the point of violence. And we must all agree to tone down the rhetoric to avoid giving anyone the slightest hint that violence is okay.
But, sadly, that’s not what’s happening. While the vast majority of Republican and Democratic leaders did condemn Kirk’s assassination, too many high-profile conservative voices seized on his assassination as an excuse to spill even more political poison.
“The left-wing political violence must stop now,” tweeted Rep. Derrick van Orden (R-Wis.), before a suspect was known or arrested. “The left is the party of murder,” Elon Musk posted on X, again before the killer’s identity was known. Enrique Tarrio, one-time leader of the Proud Boys pardoned by Trump, posted on X: “I’m labeling half the country murderers because that’s exactly what they are.” Fox News host Jesse Watters asserted: “They are at war with us. Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us.”
And nobody has been more partisan or vitriolic in his comments following Kirk’s assassination than Trump himself. Without any evidence, he immediately blamed Kirk’s murder on “radical left lunatics.” In a videotaped address from the Oval Office that evening, he blamed liberals for a wave of violence, charging that the “radical left” is “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
Trump also announced that his administration had already begun an investigation into any organization they believe encourages violence — but, notably, only against organizations on the left. According to Trump, there’s no problem with violence on the right. “The radicals on the right,” he told “Fox and Friends,” “are radical because they don’t want to see crime.”
At one point, Trump did say that he hoped people would respond to Kirk’s killing with non-violence, but this sounds hollow coming from a man who routinely calls his political opponents “evil” and “vermin,” who last week called people on the left “vicious” and “horrible” whom we have “to beat the hell” out of, and who pardoned some 1,500 supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, including those who assaulted police officers.
Indeed, Trump seems to treat the murder of Charlie Kirk as an excuse to ramp up his use of presidential powers to go after his political enemies. While law enforcement officers were still looking for Kirk’s alleged killer, Trump demanded that liberal philanthropist George Soros be “locked up” for funding violence.
With this country so deeply divided, it is the responsibility of the president to calm the waters. Instead, Trump continues to fan the flames.
Bill Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”
