Where does the US go after the Charlie Kirk shooting?

On Wednesday night, Charlie Kirk, an influential rightwing activist and Donald Trump ally, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/charlie-kirk-death-political-violence-aftermath" rel="nofollow">was shot dead</a> at a university campus in Utah. The US president immediately blamed the ‘radical left’ but failed to mention <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/sep/10/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-tariffs-immigration-crime-us-politics-live-news-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-68c226f98f08d80fd0f11cb7#block-68c226f98f08d80fd0f11cb7" rel="nofollow">rising violence against Democrats</a>. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, about the increase in political violence in the country