Following the killing of the conservative political organizer Charlie Kirk, the Opinion national politics writer Michelle Cottle talks to the Opinion columnists Jamelle Bouie and David French about how to remember Kirk honestly and rising political violence in the country.
Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYT Audio app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Michelle Cottle: I want to jump right into the big story of this week, which is heartbreaking. The influential young conservative Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Now, Kirk is well known for his conservative political organization Turning Point USA and his podcast, “The Charlie Kirk Show.” President Trump has said of Kirk, “No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”
So I want us to talk today about not just Kirk, but also the rising political violence in the country. And to note: We are taping on Thursday, so events will almost certainly have changed by the time everybody hears us. So first off, Jamelle, what did you wake up thinking this morning?
Jamelle Bouie: I’ve had two thoughts, two main ones. One regarding Kirk and one regarding political violence. The one regarding Kirk is that it’s quite easy to condemn the circumstances of his death. I don’t think anyone thinks anyone should be shot and killed and we don’t really have a motive or anything. So I hesitate to say Kirk was shot and killed for his speech; we don’t really know. But a political figure being killed is a terrible tragedy.
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The post The ‘Fork in the Road’ After Charlie Kirk’s Death appeared first on New York Times.
