Political violence in America is nothing new. Its long history is a bipartisan concern and it’s up to both sides to end it
Charlie Kirk rose to fame when he was just 18. Kirk was only 31 when he was shot and killed at Utah Valley University Wednesday, Sept. 10.
His murder adds to a grim and rising toll in the United States. In far too many cases, political differences are settled with a bullet, not a ballot.
On June 14, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband Mark were killed at their home by a gunman who authorities say also shot and wounded state Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife Yvette.
Trump refused to call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to express his sympathies and did not attend the funeral. Compare that to his reaction to Kirk’s murder. He has fanned the flames of anger after Kirk’s shooting. That’s not what we have expected from presidents, but it’s to be expected from Trump.
Last summer, there were two attempts on the life of Donald Trump, a Republican. In the first, the once and future president was slightly wounded; his life was spared by a fraction of an inch.
Presidents are always in danger. Four have been murdered — Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901 and John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Several others have been targets before, during and after their presidencies, including Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan — who was wounded and nearly died — George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Notice how the threats have increased in recent decades. Since 1969, only Jimmy Carter was not targeted for murder.
Other public figures and government employees have been killed recently.
Two Israeli embassy staffers were murdered in May while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and his family were home when an arsonist set it on fire.
In 2022, Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, was assaulted by an intruder armed with a hammer in their San Francisco home. Kirk, it should be remembered, called for a “patriot” to bail out the attacker.
On Jan. 6, 2021, an insurrectionist mob stormed the US Capitol, threatening to hang government officials in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Hundreds of people were injured and the deaths of five people were linked to it.
On June 14, 2017 — there’s that date again — U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, now the majority leader of the US House of Representatives, was shot and wounded at a congressional baseball practice.
On Jan. 8, 2011, U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords was talking with constituents at an event in a supermarket parking lot. A deeply disturbed 22-year-old man walked up and shot her in the head. He then turned the gun on others, killing a federal district court chief judge, one of Gifford’s staffers, three other adults and a 9-year-old girl. Thirteen people were wounded and a 14th injured in the melee after the shooting.
I remember talking with former Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin that day. Herseth Sandlin had just ended her service and had formed a close connection with Giffords. She was appalled and deeply saddened by the attack.
These attacks are not restricted to one party or the other. They have one thing in common: Senseless violence. It must cease.
Kirk was a controversial figure, a conservative hero and role model for young people who was bitterly criticized by liberals who often disagreed with his words and writings. But no matter how you felt about him, he deserved the opportunity to speak and express his views.
That’s how he lived and, sadly, how he died.
We must lower the volume of the political discourse and elevate the level of exchange. We are all Americans, all human beings, all people with families and friends who dearly love us.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has been particularly eloquent in urging Americans to end this deadly war of words — and, at times, bullets.
“We can return violence with violence; we can return hate with hate. That’s the problem with political violence. It metastasizes,” Cox said. “We can always point the figure at the other side. At some point we have to find an off ramp, or else it’s going to get much worse.
United we must stand against this hatred and violence. Divided, we can only endure more blood and death.
Which will it be? It’s our choice.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: Memorial tray commemorating the assasination of President William McKinley, public domain, wikimedia commons.
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