Former Reagan speechwriter and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan wrote that the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk represents a worrying new chapter in American political violence, saying recent attacks have moved the country from a long, gradual rise in violence to sudden, high-profile incidents.
Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour” and later died, authorities and media reports said. Fox News and state officials reported an arrest in the case and identified the suspect as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.
In a Wall Street Journal column published Thursday, Noonan said political violence in the United States has been building “gradually and then suddenly,” invoking a line from Ernest Hemingway. She tied Kirk’s slaying to two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump in 2024 and said the incidents together reflect an escalation. “We know this can’t continue and we don’t know how to stop it,” she wrote.
Noonan, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s head speechwriter from 1984 to 1986, described the recent attacks as “suddenly” moments following a longer trend of rising political hostility. Kirk had warned months earlier in an online post that an “assassination culture” was spreading, according to media reports.
President Trump, speaking Friday on Fox & Friends, said an arrest had been made in Kirk’s killing and urged the harshest punishment. “I hope he’s going to be found guilty, I would imagine. And I hope he gets the death penalty,” Trump said. “What he did, Charlie Kirk was the finest person, he didn't deserve this. He worked so hard and so well. Everybody liked him.”
The attack on Kirk is the latest in a series of politically motivated shootings and plots that officials and legal filings say underscore a broader threat. In July 2024, authorities say a 20-year-old rooftop gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire at a Trump rally; prosecutors said one of the eight bullets grazed the then-candidate and the gunfire killed 50-year-old attendee Corey Comperatore and injured two others. In September 2024, Ryan Routh was arrested and charged in an alleged attempt to assassinate Trump at his golf club in West Palm Beach; those charges remain before a court. In 2022, Nicholas John Roske pleaded guilty to attempting to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Law enforcement agencies have increased security at political events in recent years and prosecutors have pursued charges in multiple high-profile cases, but commentators and some officials say the pattern of attacks and attempts has added urgency to debates over political rhetoric, event security and the enforcement of laws against threats and violence.
Investigators in the Kirk case have said they are pursuing motive and details of the shooting; court proceedings and any potential criminal charges against the arrested suspect are expected to follow established legal processes. The killing has renewed calls from lawmakers and commentators across the political spectrum for stepped-up protections for public figures and for efforts to reduce politically motivated violence.
Noonan’s column framed the incidents as part of a larger peril: a nation that has seen its political disputes increasingly resolved in the realm of violence. Her writing echoed widespread concern among officials and analysts that recent attacks represent an escalation that requires new attention from political leaders, law enforcement and the public.