The Troubling State of American Politics
Political violence in America is escalating—here's why.
When I checked Twitter on a Wednesday afternoon and discovered that Charlie Kirk had been shot, I was shocked—but I shouldn’t have been. America is slowly entering a new era of politics, and extreme violence seems to lie at the center of it.
The murders of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband last June. Two assassination attempts against Donald Trump. An assassination attempt on a Democrat Josh Shapiro and his family. And now, the brutal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, horrifying millions.
Despite what Donald Trump wants the American public to believe, this extreme political violence isn’t the “radical left” acting out of line; it’s universal. “We are going through what I call an era of violent populism,” said Robert Pape, a UChicago specialist in political violence and national affairs. “[Recent violence brings] a historically high era of assassination, assassination attempts, violent protests, and it is occurring on both the right and the left.”
Hate reminiscent of the most bitter eras in American political history, like the assassination-filled 1960s, is back. Princeton recorded over 600 incidents of threats and harassment against local officials in 2024, a 74% increase from 2022; somehow, extreme enmity is now a regular feature of American political violence.
But why? It isn’t difficult to pinpoint the driving force behind this new epoch. Unlike the acidic 1960s, generations today have a multitude of social media services to choose from. And unbeknownst to casual social media users, these services are financially fueling negativity.
Modern social media platforms reward outrage, promoting controversial opinions that bring views to their sites. Twitter pays users who get large numbers of replies, impressions, and likes—in other words, the loudest, angriest voices are paid to spread hate or even worse, disinformation, posting purely for clicks. Hateful voices can reach tens of millions of people in mere hours, politicized in the blink of an eye.
Following Charlie Kirk’s death, statements from public officials—like AOC, former President Biden, Kamala Harris, and Gavin Newsom, for example—consisted of activism against political violence and condolences for Kirk’s family. But behind such positive, PR-focused posts, which formed a good façade for social media, accusatory, hateful speech was brewing, gaining traction on the internet.
This isn’t just about one shooting; it’s about a national pattern of conspiracy, misinformation, and polarization. Contrarianism is profitable, and neither society nor corporations want to escape it right now.
Unfortunately, neither does the current administration. What was Biden’s response to Trump’s assassination attempt? Condemning the attack, urging Americans to settle disputes with ballots instead of bullets, and stating, “Political violence is a sickness.”
What was Trump’s response to Kirk’s assassination attempt, on the other hand? Blaming the “radical left,” sending ad hominem attacks at Democrats, stating that the Republican Party has been “winning very big,” and later, commenting on how happy he was about the White House’s new ballroom.
And anyone active on social media since the start of Donald Trump’s reign is familiar with spirited arguments between Trump and other political figures like Gavin Newsom or Elon Musk.
Society is already seeing the impact of Trump’s words. When a pastor at a ReAwaken America rally says, “I have come ready to declare war on Satan and every race-baiting Democrat that tries to destroy our way of life here in the United States of America,” he’s imitating Trump, not Christ. Trump is helping MAGA justify vexing and hostile speech, and it’s unsettling.
Ending all hateful speech isn’t the answer. In 2026, free speech is in a poor state. But politics is undoubtedly in a disturbing condition—not just because of the violence present in it, but because of how used to it we’ve become. Society can either watch as extremism surges or fight against this dark cycle before it’s too late.