On September 10, 2025, conservative political commentator, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated at Utah State University during an event for Turning Point USA.  The killing takes place in a time of extreme turmoil and dissent in America, with many considering it to be a major turning point for political division in the nation.  

Politicians across the United States have been highlighting recent spikes in violence stemming from both sides of the political spectrum.  On June 14, 2025, Democratic Minnesota State Legislator Melissa Hortman was murdered in her home along with her husband in another politically charged attack.  A registered Republican committed the attack, illustrating that such incidents have been bipartisan. Democratic Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot by the same perpetrator, but survived.

Nationwide reactions to these events were starkly different.  In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, President Donald J. Trump released a plethora of statements condemning the attack, with one telling his base that the “left” is responsible for the “terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.” 

Trump also ordered all flags to be held at half-staff for 3 days following his passing and announced that Charlie Kirk would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Honour.

The reception to President Trump’s response has been varied across the right and left.  Some major political figures on the right wing agree with Trump’s dismay at the left.  White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recently stated how he would “utilize the full force of the Department of Justice” to “destroy leftist terrorist networks.”  

Vice President JD Vance agreed with the President on this matter, stating that “left-wing extremism” is a part of the reason Charlie Kirk was assassinated.  

On the other hand, many on the left claim that the president’s response to the tragedy was exaggerated and polarizing, citing that Trump’s outright condemnation of the left is unjust and politically incorrect.

Another criticism stemming from the left pertains to the president’s reaction to the murder of Melissa Hortman, the other case of political violence in 2025 that shares striking similarity with Charlie’s Murder.  Unlike he did for Kirk, Trump never federally mandated that flags be lowered in honour of Melissa’s death. While he did post on Truth Social condemning the attack, he never delivered a eulogy or a speech criticizing political violence as he did for Kirk’s death.  The president also did not attend Hortman’s funeral, despite former President Joe Biden making an appearance. 

These polarizing and somewhat hypocritical responses to equally unjust tragedies are pushing an even greater divide between the left and right in America. 

According to Gallup, the political ideologies within both the Republican and Democratic parties have shifted dramatically away from each other.  This political divide leaves less and less room for across-the-aisle negotiations, building an increasingly unbridgeable gap between Americans who often share only slightly different views on fundamental issues.

“I think the bipartisan politics that we are subjected to really ruins a lot of things, it makes us think we are being pitted against each other,” said Grady Rodgers, a Junior.

And this feeling of “being pitted against each other” perfectly encapsulates the thoughts of most Americans, and the President’s selective condemnation of these aforementioned tragedies only adds to the divide.  

However, Donald Trump’s history of divisive rhetoric goes beyond just speeches and eulogies. The president has been substantiated to grant political clemency to those who show loyalty to him.  The most prominent example of this took place in the aftermath of January 6, 2020, when swarms of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol building, causing injury and death. In response, on the President’s second inauguration day, he announced that nearly 1200 individuals arrested in response to their involvement in the insurrection would be pardoned.  Many opponents of these pardons viewed them as possible endorsements of political violence by the president himself.

Donald Trump has an extremely loyal following, meaning that any divisional rhetoric spoken by him or his cabinet members only adds to the divide between right and left.  The ability to differentiate between hard facts and misinformation meant to frame either side of the aisle as “wrong or right” is necessary in keeping the United States united.