The assassination of Trump supporter Charlie Kirk prompts calls for bipartisan cooperation and political reconciliation to combat rising violence.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have rightly decried political violence, specifically the senseless murder of an exceptional young man: Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was one of the most prominent and forceful advocates of the Trump administration’s MAGA policies. He was also, in large part, a key contributor to President Donald Trump’s election victory in 2024.
Violence – whether directed at Trump, Charlie Kirk, CEOs, Gov. Josh Shapiro, or state legislators in Minnesota – must stop.
It must stop now.
As a country, we need to do more to end the rising tide of political violence gripping the nation.
Let me be very clear: I have argued for as long as I have been in political and public life that we need to lower our volume, lower our temperature and unite.
We must do more to achieve our common purpose as a nation.
Never is that truer than it is today.
To be sure, it is misguided to blame the opposite political party for violence when it occurs. Doing so is destructive, divisive and weakens our social fabric at home as well as our standing globally.
But it does more than that.
As a nation, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to cooperate – to disagree, yes, but to have a loyal opposition and free debate, not wholesale attacks that may or may not lead to violence.
Moreover, whether certain rhetoric translates into violence or not, it has inevitably contributed to a toxic and divisive political culture we can no longer accept.
