What You Need to Know About Charlie Kirk’s Assassination...

Kirk was a close friend of Trump’s and a fixture in his administration. He spoke at Trump’s inauguration, helped vet appointees and frequently visited the White House. He was also a close friend of Donald Trump Jr. (the two recently took a trip together to Greenland) and an early backer of Vice President JD Vance. Kirk, a Christian, lived in Arizona with his wife and two children. Read his Times obituary here, and hear more about him on today’s episode of The Daily. Reactions to the shooting Trump posted a tribute to Kirk on social media, writing: “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”In a video address from the Oval Office, Trump said that liberal criticism of conservatives was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today,” and he vowed to go after groups that fund or support it.Democratic politicians condemned the shooting. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California called the attack “disgusting, vile and reprehensible.”Social media fell into a well-worn groove: Some users posted tributes, while others posted dark jokes. And many argued with each other along the usual partisan lines.Shortly after the shooting, many conservative and religious influencers began to refer to Kirk as a “martyr.”Speaker Mike Johnson paused the House mid-vote for a moment of silence. But afterward, when Representative Lauren Boebert called for a spoken prayer, several Democrats objected, pointing out that the House had not done the same for a school shooting in Colorado earlier in the day. Political violence Several politicians said yesterday that they were worried that political violence was becoming normalized in the United States. In recent years: Trump survived two assassination attempts. Rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attacking police officers. A masked man shot two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses in Minnesota, killing one couple and wounding another. A man attacked Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, with a hammer at their San Francisco home. A man set fire to the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. In a story on political violence for The Times Magazine, Charles Homans wrote that about a fifth of Americans believe political violence is at least sometimes justified, and at least half agree that it’s sometimes justified if the other political party committed violence first. At a speaking event four years ago, a man in the audience asked Kirk about when it would be justified to kill political opponents. Kirk shut him down. “We must exhaust every peaceful means possible,” Kirk said.