Charlie Kirk saw the danger coming and said it out loud. He told his audience that a culture excusing violence would eventually target its political opponents, and he backed it with numbers. The country is living through the proof.

In a post on X, Kirk cited research showing shocking approval for killing public figures, including the president. The study found that large shares of left-leaning respondents said murder would be “somewhat justified” against prominent targets. He shared those findings to shake the country awake.

“Assassination culture is spreading on the left. Forty-eight percent of liberals say it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk. Fifty-five percent said the same about Donald Trump,” he wrote.

“The left is being whipped into a violent frenzy. Any setback, whether losing an election or losing a court case, justifies a maximally violent response.”

Kirk called the trend a “natural outgrowth of left-wing protest culture.” He said that movement tolerates “violence and mayhem,” and he blamed leaders who refuse to confront it. “The cowardice of local prosecutors and school officials have turned the left into a ticking time bomb,” he wrote.

He also highlighted a disturbing signal out of California—voters effectively elevating the name of Luigi Mangione in a ballot measure title after the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. To Kirk, that choice revealed a political culture that excuses the inexcusable when it serves an agenda.

The warning was not abstract. Conservatives and their institutions have faced waves of attacks in recent years—vandalism, arson, assaults, and targeted threats. Even this year, law enforcement has tracked arson at a state GOP headquarters and a string of politically tinged attacks on Tesla owners and facilities. Some Republican lawmakers pulled back public events after confrontations that required police to intervene.

Pro-life volunteers and journalists have been assaulted at street level, and campus chapters of Turning Point USA have been attacked while hosting peaceful debates. At one California campus, masked agitators smashed equipment and assaulted staff as they tried to shut down a lawful event. Earlier incidents saw conservative speakers swarmed, harassed, and physically trapped by mobs that treat speech as violence and violence as speech.

Kirk’s murder came amid that climate. He was a husband, a father, and a builder who believed debate beats intimidation. He warned that the country was nurturing a habit of justifying rage whenever the left loses in court, at the ballot box, or in the marketplace of ideas. The pattern he described is now obvious: normalize threats, excuse attacks, and then act shocked when the worst happens.

America does not have to accept this slide. The nation knows how to restore order: name the ideology that sanctions violence, protect the right to speak, and enforce laws without apology. That means prosecutors who charge assaults and arson, judges who refuse revolving-door outcomes, and police who are backed—not second-guessed—when they keep events safe.

This is also where national leadership matters. President Trump has emphasized peace through strength and a hard line against political violence. That approach aligns with what Kirk urged: stop pretending the threat is imaginary, and build real deterrence so mobs and lone actors know there will be consequences.

Kirk’s voice carried because it was rooted in facts and moral clarity. He did not call for censorship; he called for courage—the courage to confront a culture that winks at aggression when it targets the “right” people. He asked leaders to protect families, churches, campuses, and town halls so citizens can argue without fear.

Honor him by acting on the warning he gave. Demand justice for every attack, shield peaceful events, and end the excuses for “protest” that destroys and injures. Stand with the families of victims. Stand with those who refuse to be silenced. And make it unmistakable: in this country, ideas win and violence loses.