adminThe cold-blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk at a public event on the Utah Valley University campus shocked the nation and ripped the veil off a dangerous truth: conservative Americans are now being targeted for their beliefs. Video from the event showed chaos and a single fatal shot that killed a young father and conservative leader who spent his life bringing patriotism to college campuses.
Within days prosecutors charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder and a raft of related offenses, and Utah authorities announced they will seek the death penalty given the deliberate, targeted nature of the attack. The criminal filings make clear this was not a random act of violence — it was premeditated, political, and a horrific example of domestic terrorism that our prosecutors are right to treat with the utmost severity.
Worse still, a shocking undercurrent of celebration and callousness emerged online, where a small but vocal segment of the left publicly cheered the killing and mocked the family of the slain man. That abhorrent behavior prompted employers and communities to take action against those who celebrated, and it should be a national embarrassment that anyone would dance at the death of an opponent instead of condemning murder.
Conservative voices from across the country — including Rob Schmitt and other Newsmax hosts — were right to call this moment what it is: the enemy within has been emboldened by loathsome rhetoric, permissive institutions, and an unwillingness to call evil by its name. Americans who still believe in law, order, and free speech cannot be expected to sit quietly while campuses become recruiting grounds for extremism and while civic leaders reflexively excuse violence in the name of protest.
President Trump’s solemn Oval Office address calling it “a dark moment for America” was not mere partisan theater; it was a necessary wake-up call that the country must confront political violence wherever it springs up. We need federal, state, and campus leaders who will stop pretending that rhetoric has no consequences and who will prosecute political violence to the fullest extent of the law rather than offering excuses.
If anything good can come from this tragedy, let it be a national reckoning: parents should demand safer campuses, city leaders must stop coddling lawlessness, and Americans of every background ought to unite against the violent fringes that seek to silence dissent with blood. We must defend free speech without allowing it to become a shield for those who would use politics to justify murder, and we must strip away the toxic narratives—whether it’s cowardly “white guilt” or existential victimhood—that excuse violence.
This is about protecting ordinary Americans, our children, and the very idea of civil debate in this country. Patriots refuse to be intimidated; we will press for accountability, demand tougher penalties for political violence, and rebuild communities where disagreement ends at the ballot box, not at the barrel of a gun.
