Trump's Trials - A look at recent acts of political violence in the U.S.

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

The killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday at a university in Utah is the latest in a string of acts of political violence in recent years that have spanned the political spectrum.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. We're going to be doing all sorts of things. Nobody ever thought was even possible. President Trump has brought back string to the White House. We can't just ignore the president's desires. This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode of Trump's terms, we bring you NPR's latest coverage of the 47th president.

With a focus on actions and policies he is pursuing on his own terms and in the process, taking the presidency into uncharted territory. Today's story starts right after this. I'm Michelle Martin. The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk yesterday at a college in Utah is just the latest in a series of politically motivated violent acts just in recent months. They've spawned the political spectrum. The killing of a Democratic state lawmaker and her spouse in Minnesota and the shooting of another and his spouse. The Democratic Pennsylvania governor's residence firebombed while he and his family slept. Two Israeli embassy staff were murdered after a.

an event at a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C., Tesla charging station set on fire, shootings at a campaign office for Democrat Kamala Harris in Arizona, and, needless to say, two assassination attempts of President Trump during the 2024 campaign. And as we said, that's just some of the incidents that we know about in just the past 14 months. We wanted to hear from NPR's senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro about what he makes of this political moment. And he's with us now. Good morning, Domenico. Hey, good morning, Michelle.

So what's happening here? You know, I mean, we're in a tremendous time of political volatility. You know, we should say we don't know the motivation behind this killing yet. But Kirk was someone who was provocative and eager to have all of the political debates. He was a key and prominent figure in Trump world and in helping get a lot of younger voters, especially younger men, to become Trump voters. And any politician or public person who puts themselves out there right now will tell you that they've faced increased threats over the last several years. So we're seeing that people in the public eye are saying that they're seeing increasing threats. But what about, let's just for the second argument, use the term average Americans, how are they viewing this and the viewing in the country's division? Yeah, I mean, from conversations I've had and our reporters have had during the last few campaigns in the Trump years, you know, people see their ways of life under threat. You know, conservatives chafed under what they saw as a liberal lurch under President Obama and they saw the culture, the media, whether it's the news, TV, movies, what have you, to liberal, weak, and enabling, and they feel too many talk down the good qualities of the country. Meanwhile, for those left of center, it's very different. I mean, they see threats to the

marginalized women, immigrants, minorities because of leaders who they see as having given license to meanness, intolerance, conspiracy. And they see democracy itself as under threat with Trump's strong man tendencies. So very strong feelings, but in very different directions. And there's a lot of hopelessness people feel for different reasons about this political time. And that can lead to violence even if it's a small few who might go that far. Do we have some polling that speaks to that? What does it say? It's interesting because you see this kind of dichotomy that emerges. Georgetown University poll found the overwhelming numbers of people say they want civility and compromise and believe respect for each other is the first step in having a government that

works. More than 8 and 10 felt that way on those things. But they also are very dug in in the same polling on what they believe. More than 8 and 10 said that they're tired of leaders compromising their values and ideals. What's more, 72% said that those personal values are under attack. When it comes to violence, three quarters of people in our NPR PBS News Marist poll from earlier this year said that political violence is a, quote, major problem. On acceptance of it, a University of Chicago survey that I looked at just before last year's election found 6% supported the use of force to restore Trump to the presidency. 8% supported it to prevent Trump from getting back to the White House. Small numbers, but it does represent millions of people.

And when you have that kind of environment, mistrust of the system and institutions, all of it, unfortunately, takes as a few radicalized people, as we've seen in either direction. Briefly, and we really need to talk more about this. But what is there a way out of this? You know, experts say there really needs to be a unified message from political leaders and influencers on social media to call for calm and stop dehumanizing each other. But too often, I've just seen the opposite. That's NPR's Domenico, Montanaro. Domenico, thanks.

You're welcome. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters

who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.