Our new book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration is has been full of ominous developments. Yesterday, a gunman murdered Charlie Kirk.
Mr. Trump had a close relationship with Mr. Kirk, whose ability to galvanize young conservatives with his criticisms of the left had been crucial to rallying support among a new generation of voters. Mr. Kirk was also close friends with several people in the president’s orbit, including his eldest son, Donald Jr.
But by Wednesday evening, Mr. Trump’s shock had turned to fury. In a video address from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump declared it a “dark moment for America” and faulted the media and the “radical left” for language used to describe people like Mr. Kirk.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” said Mr. Trump, who one day earlier had been face-to-face with protesters in Washington who called him Hitler. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
Trump routinely refers to his opponents as communists.
