When the fight over children, family, citizenship, religion, and human nature ends, politics ceases to be a negotiation over marginal tax rates.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a devastating blow to conservatives, but almost as shocking was the response from parts of the left. Major figures issued expected denunciations, yet ordinary progressives celebrated the violent death of a father and husband or mocked his memory online. Conservatives learned that some neighbors were perfectly willing to cheer the murder of a political opponent.
Since then, trade wars, foreign wars, and the usual daily controversies have offered convenient distractions from a much darker realization: Something about American politics has changed. The old assumption that nearly everyone still accepts the same basic rules can no longer be taken for granted.
Conservatives did not choose existential politics by themselves, and they cannot end it simply by wishing for a return to normal.
Denial is a common response when a problem is too large to contemplate. The possibility that a substantial number of Americans now see political violence as acceptable has implications the conservative movement would rather avoid. Yet reminders keep appearing.
Recent videos again showed people mocking Kirk’s death, including a drag performance and comments from streamer and democratic socialist Hasan Piker. It is much easier to argue about tactics, personalities, or the latest outrage than to ask what kind of political order produces people willing to celebrate an assassination.
