ABC This Week usually opens with some manner of editorial commentary from its rotating hosts. Today was not the exception. Jon Karl opened the broadcast by rightfully and poignantly condemning the brutal assassination of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk.
But there is one singular sentence that is a cause for concern and merits observation. Watch the statement below in its full context, with Karl saying: “The murder of Charlie Kirk was not a political act.”
JON KARL: Good morning. Welcome to This Week. Later today family, friends, and supporters of Charlie Kirk will gather in Glendale, Arizona, for his memorial. The 31-year-old activist's murder shocked the nation, and it was condemned by sensible and compassionate people and out of politics and across the political spectrum. It has also been senselessly celebrated by some, a small minority, who didn't like what Kirk stood for and thought it was somehow, therefore, justified. Celebrating or excusing violence is abhorrent. The murder of Charlie Kirk was not a political act. It was a gruesome crime. His alleged killer now faces the death penalty. Our thoughts this morning are with the Kirk family, especially his two young children, who will now grow up without their father. Whatever you think of his political views, and there are many who are deeply offended by things he said, Charlie Kirk was an unwavering advocate for free speech. On a personal note, he was always willing to engage with me and answer my questions. He welcomed debate with those he disagreed with. He did not try to silence his critics. He listened to them. And tried to change their minds.
Except that the assassination of Charlie Kirk was absolutely a political act. There is testimony of the shooter expressing alienation with his family’s conservative politics, particularly his father. There are the shooter’s multiple statements regarding “hate.” There are the scrawlings on the bullet casings, the shooter’s relationship with a transgender individual, and the multiple text messages between them.
All of these lead reasonable individuals to conclude that the shooter’s motive was inherently political. And in a political environment where speech is routinely labeled “violence” and where the left casts opponents as “threats to Democracy™”, “enemies of the State”, and “Hitler”, individuals are going to take it upon themselves to suppress or eliminate those threats through targeted acts of violence.
We’ve seen such acts of violence over the past few years. In the past 72 hours alone, a deranged leftist shot up the lobby of Sacramento’s ABC affiliate, and a man shouted “Free Palestine” among other things as he opened fire upon a country club in Hashua, New Hampshire.
In an ideal world and sane political climate, Jon Karl would be absolutely right. But we live in this world and in this political environment. Those acts were political. So was the assassination of Charlie Kirk- both a political act and a gruesome crime. To unmoor these assassinations from their underlying politics does nothing more than to silently affirm a permission structure for copycat acts in the future. While acknowledging the earnestness of his sentiment, we must respectfully disagree with Karl.
