An attack that shocked a nation

On September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated while doing an event on the campus of Utah Valley University. This event sent shockwaves throughout the world. It was especially felt in America. A nation plagued by political indecisiveness was stunned that such a terrible event occurred so publicly. Whether or not one agreed with Mr. Kirk didn’t matter; they were horrified at what had happened. All sorts of reactions were seen. There was a good deal of bipartisanship. Both sides condemned political violence and acknowledged his commitment to the freedoms of the 1st Amendment. The reactions from the very radical sides of the political spectrum were unusual. On the far right, conspiracy theories took off. There was a great range of topics. On the opposite end, there was something very tragic. There were, and still are, attempts to sadly justify this violence. This has led to firings across all professions. The FBI has ended contracts with specific organizations that allegedly labeled Turning Point a hateful organization. This situation is still evolving, and I had a conversation with a few people to understand the fallout from this attack better.

Embed from Getty Images

I sat down with Mason Speake ’28 to discuss these events.

He was at his house relaxing when he first heard the news. He initially thought it was a joke, but after seeing more posts, he turned on the news. He fully believes it was a horrible, unexplainable act of political violence and terrorism. He said that he believes that it will anger the right side of the political spectrum, as we’ve seen with the memorial service, but also split the nation, as we’ve seen with people celebrating his death. What was most surprising was the number of people who celebrated his death. He saw a lot of people online condoning the violence, while some far lefts were celebrating the shooter. As a young person who didn’t always agree with Charlie’s views, I believe he was a great speaker. He would have made a great leader, whether of the nation or as a public figure. Politics is no place for violence of this kind.

Embed from Getty Images

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Davis and chat about what has happened.

He was on campus, in the middle of coaching mountain biking. He is familiar with Kirk, and he’s not a big Kirk fan. When he first heard about the tragedy, it was shocking. He believes we will continue to be divided, and he hopes to be wrong about this; he thinks the divide will only grow.