It has been more than a week since an assassin shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. Memorials for Kirk continue, as do near-universal denunciations of the murder. The alleged killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, appeared for his court hearing. Prosecutors produced evidence that the killing was politically motivated.
President Trump and Vice President Vance have implied the violence was the result of far-left rhetoric, and they promise to crack down on liberal groups.
To reflect more on why this happened and where we go from here, we turn to a panel of political observers: Signal statewide politics reporter Andrew Tobias, Democratic strategist Stanley Gates, and former state legislator and Republican Gene Krebs.
Snollygoster of the week
There was a fair amount of hypocrisy to spread around this week, as political figures and pundits who champion free speech looked to shut it down. And some responsible for pretty extreme positions accused their opponents of fomenting extremism. It’s the time we live in.
One example caught our eye. Ohio’s U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno took the floor of the Senate to passionately denounce people who compare others to Nazis, pointing to those who compared Charlie Kirk to a Nazi or fascist.
But it was Moreno himself, in April, who compared Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer to Hitler. Moreno said, quote: “Democrats are monolithic sheep that follow Fuhrer Schumer’s orders.”
Pot, meet kettle.