24 Years
24 years ago, we came together. I remember that day well. Today, we are a deeply divided country, and you know that.
I know who the Charlie Kirk fella was. No one deserves to die over their political views. I will say what I said a week ago about the local kid who was murdered for playing a harmless prank.
It is our culture, the gun culture in America.
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This is where we are 24 years to the day after September 11, 2001. See this from Time:
As friends and political allies, including Donald Trump Jr. and Vice President J.D. Vance, mourn the death of Charlie Kirk, some on the right have jumped on the conservative activist’s assassination to call for a crackdown on the left.
What was meant to be a moment of silence for Kirk on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening soon gave way to flashes of a vitriolic political divide that would escalate in the aftermath of the 31-year-old’s death.
As the moment of silence passed the 30-second mark, Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert called for a spoken prayer for Kirk, who at the time was reportedly in critical condition, saying, “I believe silent prayers get silent results.” The request was met with boos from some Democrats who pointed out that a Colorado school shooting on the same day had not received the same ceremony.
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, shouted above the commotion from across the room, “You all caused this,” to which one Democrat could be heard responding, “Pass some gun laws!”
“When a politician tries to blame words for an action, they need to look at their action and their record,” New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters outside the Capitol. “The assassination of Charlie Kirk risks an uncorking of political chaos and violence that we cannot risk in America.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have condemned the killing of Kirk and political violence more broadly, but while many Democrats have highlighted the lack of gun control measures in the U.S., a number of figures on the right, including President Donald Trump, have insisted that the left is to blame.
In an address about Kirk’s death, Trump claimed that “radical left” rhetoric of comparing “wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals” is “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
Trump didn’t just pin Kirk’s death on the political left—he also blamed the left for the attempt on his own life in July 2024, the killing of a healthcare CEO in New York in December, and the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice that injured Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. “Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives,” Trump said.
Commentary is not inclined to spend too much time on Trump’s remarks about the left other than to say he’s done the most to divide this country.
I also don’t even know what a crackdown on the left looks like.
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From Webster:
Assassination: murder by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons : the act or an instance of assassinating someone (such as a prominent political leader)
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I saw this tweet from former President George W. Bush yesterday:
@TheBushCenter
“Today, a young man was murdered in cold blood while expressing his political views. It happened on a college campus, where the open exchange of opposing ideas should be sacrosanct. Violence and vitriol must be purged from the public square. Members of other political parties are not our enemies; they are our fellow citizens. May God bless Charlie Kirk and his family, and may God guide America toward civility.”
I don’t think W has been paying attention to what Trump and MAGA are doing about opposing views on college campuses across the country, including Texas, being sacrosanct.
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When I learned about the Charlie Kirk shooting, I switched on NBC News. See the featured photo. Tom Winter, NBC’s National Law Enforcement and Intelligence Correspondent, is one of the best. When the first person of interest was taken into custody, Winter cautioned the national TV audience to reserve judgement because first persons of interest identified are often not the perpetrator. He was right.
When the second person of interest was taken into custody, Winter said that his sources were telling him that they were confident they got the perp. It turns out his sources were wrong.
This morning, on “Today,” Winter has been explaining the updates coming out of Utah. It looks like progress is being made on identifying the shooter.
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Back to September 11. There are three flicks that I like. “United 93,” “Windows on the World,” and “World Trade Center.”
Never forget.
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We won last night. So did the Mariners. The Rangers also won yesterday. We have a 2 pm start for the series finale in Toronto this afternoon.