Opinion: Why We Cannot Allow Charlie Kirk’s Death to Rip America Apart

The death of Charlie Kirk is a watershed moment for the United States.

A death in the family can bring people together. It can also rip them apart. The same goes for countries.

It is often the older among us, those entrenched in their opinions, who refuse to learn the lessons of violence. It is as easy to buy a gun now as it was when 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, and shot dead 26 people, 20 of them children.

Much has been made of Kirk’s ability to connect with young conservatives. To his credit, he was just as willing to debate with young liberals.

It is this spirit that must prevail as his death is mourned in the days and weeks to come. A campus shooter took the opposite course in Utah on Wednesday. The path of violence that could lead to ruin.

Much of Kirk’s appeal lay in his everyman enthusiasm. The son of an architect living in a plush Chicago suburb, he dropped out of community college and failed to get accepted into West Point.

And yet he was comfortable debating everything from post-modernism to geoengineering. He didn’t have a college degree but addressed the elite Oxford Union earlier this year. He also debated at Cambridge University and Brown. The point of the Turning Point USA student organization, which he founded at 18 in 2012, was to spread his right-wing gospel through left-leaning schools. Not by force. By Debate.

His views were strong, sometimes questionable. He was convinced the 2020 election was stolen and was barred by Twitter because of his evangelism about unconventional—some would say bizarre or even dangerous—COVID treatments.

“If you disagree with me, please move to the front of the line,” was his mantra at the college rallies he held across the country.

Kirk, 31, could make a compelling argument that his get-out-the-vote movement, aimed at bringing young new voters to the polls, contributed to Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election. He was certainly pivotal in flipping Arizona and was rewarded with regular trips to the White House.

He was married to podcaster and former Miss Arizona Erika Frantzve, with two small children. He knew the importance of family.

Even before the president announced his passing on Wednesday, politicians of both parties were already calling for an end to political violence.

“I am just going to state the obvious here,” said Speaker Mike Johnson. “Political violence has become all too common in American society. This is not who we are. It violates the core principles of our country… and it must stop. We need every political figure, we need everyone who has a platform, to say this loudly and clearly.”

“Let me be clear,” posted former Vice President Kamala Harris. “Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.

I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah. Doug and I send our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family.Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 10, 2025

But Johnson and other lawmakers are missing the point.

The United States is polarized down the middle. The families we treasure are being ripped apart. Friends are not talking. Politicians certainly aren’t working together.

And some of the blame for that must lie with Charlie Kirk’s president.

Trump has engendered hatred during the eight months he has been back in the Oval Office. He doesn’t debate; he bullies. He blames. He harangs. He attacks. He never admits he is wrong.

He runs a White House that calls people names and picks on those who cannot answer back. Billionaires are always welcome; penniless immigrants are picked up off the street and thrown into jail.

“If you disagree with me, then leave,” is the president’s position. Any lawmaker or journalist who dares to question him is disparaged or insulted.

Across the aisle, Democrats sit around their dinner tables, pouring out their spite for Trump while failing to recognize how out of touch they have become. Gavin Newsom drops to Trump’s level with corrosive social media posts to win support and sell his soul. He did, at least, feature Kirk on his podcast.

Republican Governor Spencer Cox dared to speak about the elephant in the room after Kirk’s assassination. He challenged anyone who would “celebrate” the shooting to look at themselves in the mirror and hope there is “a better angel out there somewhere.”

“Is this what 250 years has wrought for us?” he asked at a press conference in Orem, Utah.

Americans hating Americans.

Bret Baier on Fox News conceded there was “a lot of vitriol” around the country.

Hatred breeds violence. This is the crossroads we find ourselves at.

A death in the family is a time to forgive any grievances and find a way to live together. The United States must do the same and start living up to its name.

We can agree and disagree. It is the fundamental rock upon which this nation is built.

We must move forward together after this tragedy.

Or all may be lost.

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