On Sept. 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and Arlington Heights native, was assassinated at Utah Valley University while on his American Comeback Tour, where he would go to college campuses and host political debates. Kirk was only 31 years old. He left behind a wife and two young children.
On Dec. 4, 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was assassinated by Luigi Mangione in broad daylight in New York City. Thompson was 50 years old and left behind a wife and two children.
Though these may seem like randomly targeted attacks, they are all part of the same problem: the rise of “assassination culture.” This was first seen with Mangione’s murder of Thompson, who was only guilty of being a CEO of a health insurance company. Mangione was praised as a hero on social media, with the hashtag “FreeLuigi” going completely viral and Mangione receiving over $1 million in donations, according to NBC News. This glorification of Thompson’s assassination—and of Mangione himself—marked a change in American society: assassinating someone you disagree with is now acceptable.
This celebration of assassinations was also seen with the two Trump assassination attempts. MSNBC host Alex Witt reacted to the shooting, saying that, “[Trump should be] toning down the rhetoric, toning down the violence.” Joy Reid, after the attempted assassination, went online and accused the shooting of being a photo-op so that Trump could get the “iconic photo” with his fist in the air for his campaign. Many people online celebrated the shootings and shared disappointment that the bullet missed him. This desire for politicians to be killed for their beliefs is widespread.
According to NCRI’s national survey, 39% of all respondents said that the murder of Trump would be morally justified. The number increases among only left-wing respondents with 55 percent saying Trump’s murder would be justified. This trend for violence being justified is not just seen with Trump. The same poll showed that 32 percent of all respondents said that the murder of Elon Musk would be justified (the number again moving up to 49 percent among left-wingers) and 40 percent of all respondents saying that the destruction of Tesla dealerships is morally justified (being 58 percent among left-wingers). These numbers are not just coincidental. There has been a trend, especially on social media, of people celebrating the murder of the people they disagree with.
Although the murder of a young father in front of his wife and kids might be seen as a cause for unified outrage across the political spectrum, many people, both online trolls and politicians, have actually celebrated Kirk’s assassination. Thousands of people came out online joking about Kirk’s murder, singing joyously in the streets, and even making gruesome T-shirts celebrating him being shot in the neck. The MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd justified Kirk’s murder on air saying, “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.” Dowd also downplayed the shooting saying, “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration. So we have no idea about this.” The floor of the House of Representatives also showed no respect for Kirk’s murder, going so far as to shout during a moment of silence that was meant to honor Kirk.
It is not normal—this response of cheering and celebrating a person’s murder. At one point in history, an example being the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, murders like these brought about a somber mood in America. When JFK was assassinated, people of all political views mourned. Walter Logan from UPI said of the events after the assassination that, “women wept in the streets and men cursed in helpless anger…outrage gripped [the] nation.” This could not be further from the truth today. Grief is now contained to one side of the political spectrum, while the other side celebrates.
These two murders lay out a chilling truth about where this country is going—an anarchy where the murder of people is justified if you villainize those with whom you disagree.
