Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

The horrific murder of Charlie Kirk on Wednesday marks new ground for America. He was a young father, an optimistic figure, and a serious thinker. “His death is devastating not only because he was so young and had so much to live for,” Jesse Arm writes, “but because he proved that no audience is unwinnable when met with courage and a compelling message.”

Charlie Kirk represented the best of our country—and we as a nation are better for having had him.

Read Arm’s moving obituary here.

One of the nation’s most influential conservative leaders, Charlie Kirk had warned about the Left’s growing support for political violence. Now, he is its latest victim.

While we still know little about the murder, polling shows that an increasing number of Americans are comfortable with violence when it aligns with their political views. “Left-wing authoritarianism, which justifies upending hierarchies, tearing down the established social order, and enforcing strict censorship, has become a major political force,” Max Horder writes.

Read more about what he calls assassination culture.

Twenty-four years after the September 11 attacks, Americans have moved on. “To someone like me, who lived through 9-11 in Manhattan and spent years writing about what we learned from it,” Steven Malanga writes, “the extent to which we have forgotten the lessons of that day and discarded so many of the principles we developed to defend ourselves is shocking.”

Indeed, 2001 City Journal articles about our “leaky borders” and radicalized Muslim youth reflect how well we saw the threats back then—and how much we have ignored them since.

Read Malanga’s take on the lost lessons of September 11.

Robin Westman’s shooting rampage at a Minneapolis church last month left two children dead and led to questions about what kind of mental-health treatment, if any, he received. He was frequently sent to the principal’s office for disruptive behavior, he engaged in self-harm, and he fantasized in journals about shooting up his school.

“Residential treatment is one of the few settings equipped to help youth with significant mental health and behavioral challenges that cannot be addressed in outpatient care,” Christina Buttons writes. These programs offer individualized support for children and teens whose behavior has become dangerous and unmanageable.

Even so, access to this type of care has eroded thanks to staffing shortages and policy decisions. “Without renewed investment in intensive care,” Buttons writes, “more young people will fall through the cracks, and more communities will grieve preventable tragedies.”

John Tierney, Nicole Gelinas, Park MacDougald, and Isabella Redjai pay tribute to Charlie Kirk, assassinated as he gave a talk on a college campus. Kirk was murdered the day before the nation marked the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We share personal memories of that day, examine the city’s response, and discuss how the attacks reshaped American politics and culture. The conversation ends with a look at the day’s enduring lessons and prospects for American unity.

“Sure, and every two-year-old should have an opportunity to run the household, shopping decisions, dinner plans, bedtimes . . . Because equity and inclusion and stuff.”

Photo credit: Nordin Catic / Contributor / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images