The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk marks a concerning new phase in America’s political violence, stated former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck during his “American Comeback Tour” at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. This incident occurs a year after two separate assassination attempts on the president.
Noonan reflected on this trend in her Wall Street Journal column, quoting Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’: “We like to say that something happened gradually and then suddenly.” She emphasized that political violence in America has been escalating throughout this century, with the 2024 assassination attempts on Donald Trump and Kirk’s murder representing the ‘suddenly’ moments in this disturbing pattern. “The reality continues while the dark tempo is picking up,” she noted.
Noonan expressed concern about the ongoing violence: “We know this can’t continue and we don’t know how to stop it. That is our predicament.” Now a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Noonan served as head speechwriter for former President Ronald Reagan from 1984 to 1986.
Kirk’s assassination is part of a broader trend of political violence or attempted violence. In July 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump during a campaign rally from a rooftop, grazing Trump’s ear with one of eight bullets, and killing Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, while injuring two others.
In another incident, Ryan Routh was charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024. His trial is ongoing. Additionally, Nicholas John Roske, 29, pleaded guilty in April to an assassination attempt against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in June 2022, as reported by the Justice Department.
On Friday, Trump announced on “Fox & Friends” that an arrest had been made in connection with Kirk’s assassination, confirming the suspect as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. “I hope he’s going to be found guilty, I would imagine. And I hope he gets the death penalty,” Trump stated. “What he did, Charlie Kirk was the finest person, he didn’t deserve this. He worked so hard and so well. Everybody liked him.”
