Societal cancer

Dear Readers, There is a malaise in the United States and a mass nostalgia for simpler times, mirroring the Twilight Zone episodes “A Stop at Willoughby” or “Walking Distance.” This sense is that the past was a better time.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk deepens this angst. He had many detractors, but this did not deserve execution. Two young children are now fatherless.

The temptation is to politicize this murder.  In the early hours of the investigation, reports circulated that this despicable deed was performed by a trans “radical left” extremist, before there was even a suspect.

Tyler Robinson is a 22-year-old college student from a conservative, Republican, and religious family in suburban Utah. His father recognized him from the pictures being circulated of a possible suspect.  Robinson’s father convinced him to talk to a youth pastor who works with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the US Marshal’s Service. Together, they counseled Robinson to turn himself in to the authorities.

At this point, we don’t know exactly what prompted Tyler Robinson to publicly murder Mr. Kirk and elude capture. We know there were some “Discord” posts suggesting planning and forethought, and there was even engraved messaging on the ammunition/casings. After all, he escaped and was free for more than 30 hours.

There is some evidence that Robinson was “radicalized” and disapproved of Mr. Kirk’s extremist political views. On the other hand, he has no history of political activity and did not even vote in the last two elections.

We need to dial back the temperature a bit; we need to find common ground to address our pain, our collective social virus killing our souls. Consider some of what else has happened in the last 10 months.

On December 4, 2024, Luigi Mangione stalked and murdered Brian Thompson, a health insurance executive, in New York.  He was the child of an upper-middle-class New York family, who graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree. While this was not a political murder, per se, this assassination was presumably motivated by his anger at insurance coverage denials.

In Minnesota, on June 14^th, Melissa Hortman (Speaker Emeritus of the House), a Democrat, her husband, and their golden retriever were killed in their home by a masked gunman pretending to be a law enforcement officer. Vance Luther Boelter, a 57-year-old man, is charged with this murder. He had a “hit list” of Democratic politicians and an arsenal to carry them out. Indeed, earlier that same morning, he was charged with shooting a Democratic Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

Common denominators are “lone wolf,” white men (Boelter being older), seething with social anger and armed with killing machines. There is no partisan pattern, even if Boelter was clearly animated by animus toward Democratic politicians.

President Trump’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death is to lionize him, while condemning “the radical left” before even knowing anything about the shooter’s identity. The next day, he said, “We have radical left lunatics out there, and we just have to beat the hell out of them.” To date, we have no evidence that Robinson was an occupant of the “radical left,” yet war is declared against the left.

Unlike this reaction, when asked about offering Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz support because of the tragedy, President Trump said it would “waste time.” Nor did he express condolences and regret at these clear, politically motivated assassinations.

Such rhetoric is divisive at a time calling for national healing and understanding. Hatred and craziness are non-partisan; violence is neither a product exclusively of the right nor the left of the political spectrum. We live in a society where sick men occupy dark spaces on our social media.

We are raw from Charlie Kirk’s murder. We live in a free society and none of us should be killed because of political speech. President Trump plans to attend his funeral and award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Good. What about those killed in Minnesota?

With time, we may learn what radicalized Tyler Robinson; with time, we may learn what caused a soft-spoken young man to become a murderer. What we learn may lead to preventative solutions.

We need to take a step back. Instead of focusing on hating political opponents, invective and incendiary speech, we should focus on preventing another assassination. We can do this collectively; we can find solutions to our political cancer and label every political assassination as evil.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.