When Our Divisions Get Even Deeper - 9/15/25

Even as the debate over the tragic death of Charlie Kirk rages, there are other notable occurrences for us to observe this week:

On Tuesday, there will be a special election to fill the seat of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, who was murdered in her home by an intruder last spring.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and former US Representative Gabrielle Giffords are being forced to relive their own near-assassinations. Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania will go to work each day in their respective state capitols, despite the planned kidnapping attempt against Whitmer and the arson against Shapiro’s home that were plotted by their political opponents. US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and President Donald Trump will also continue to serve, although the memories of the attempts against their lives can never be far from their minds.

Each of these leaders was targeted by a deranged extremist motivated by a misguided conviction that disagreements can not be resolved by discussion and debate, but only by violence and death. That’s not normal, in the most terrifying way. It’s dangerous not only to those individuals under siege but also for all of us who live in a society in which we rely on the underpinnings of democracy to help us peacefully resolve our disputes.

Anyone who reads a column like this one has learned enough about Kirk in recent days that there is nothing left for me to say about his beliefs and his goals, or about his wife and young children, that you didn’t already know. But whether you happen to agree or disagree with him on political matters should be less important than what his death signifies as the latest step on this long, descending path toward cruelty, viciousness, and barbarism. Whether you consider yourself a strong ally or equally committed opponent to a young man who died because he incorrectly assumed he could safely voice his beliefs in public, the bigger questions here have nothing to do with those beliefs and everything to do with his right to state them. 

Some things shouldn’t change. Kirk’s foes should be just as determined to defeat his political goals as they were last week, but perhaps they can grieve his death while still redoubling their efforts to thwart the agenda that his allies carry forward. And if you are one of Kirk’s supporters, you should keep pushing forward too. But perhaps you can take a moment to remember that the overwhelming majority of your political opponents had no more to do with his fate—or the violence directed toward Trump, Kavanaugh, and Scalise—than you did with the attacks against Hortman, Giffords, or Shapiro.

Our natural reflex in these circumstances is to look to our elected leaders for guidance. But too many of our politicians seem more invigorated than repulsed by the heightened rhetoric we’re hearing since Kirk’s death. Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, is an exception. He has made several eloquent appeals toward comity and mutual respect as he guides his state through such a devastating time. But Cox is only one of fifty governors, and he leads a state of 3.5 million people, which represents approximately 1.03 percent of the U.S. population.

For the rest of us, it may make more sense to look to each other for answers than to elected officials. Very few of us command a mainstream media platform or the authority to pass laws. But most of us are members of community organizations and neighborhood groups, gatherings where people come together because of a common interest or goal. If we invite new members to join our group, including some who might not agree with us on everything, then perhaps we can begin forming connections and building bridges at a person-to-person level. 

Step by small step, we can begin setting an example for Washington that while there will always be small numbers of haters to resort to weapons to settle political differences, most of us know there is a better way.

This is obviously much easier said than done. Even after the assassinations of two Kennedys and King, it took the end of a long and divisive war and a constitutional crisis before the anger of that era began to subside. But the alternative to a long path is no path at all and simply settling for a blood-soaked status quo. Whether you mourn Charlie Kirk as your ally or your opponent, that is not nearly good enough.