The assassination of Charlie Kirk: What response to pro-Trump icon's killing?
Description
If Charlie Kirk wasn't previously a household name internationally, he is now. Across the United States, flags are at half mast on government buildings after an assassination that bears the markings of a professional hit job. It was US President Donald Trump himself who broke news of the death of the 31-year-old MAGA influencer, on Truth Social.
We ask about the circumstances of the shooting at a university campus talk in Utah, measure the impact – Kirk's powerful messaging could made his masculinist, anti-woke, nationalist views seem hip and cool to young people – and the backlash in a nation where social media-fuelled vitriol has led to these real-life shootings, like the one targeting Trump himself.
Read moreTrump urges peace after Charlie Kirk killing as manhunt continues
The US president has evoked wartime powers to militarise his response to immigration and crime. What kind of response to expect to the killing of a figure from the front lines of America's culture wars?
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