September 26, 2025

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America Must Reclaim the Center Before Political Violence Becomes the Norm

AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

On Wednesday morning, a gunman opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Dallas, Texas, killing one detainee at the facility and injuring two more critically before turning the gun on himself. As the investigation unfolds, reporting suggests that the alleged perpetrator was a 29-year-old man. According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the phrase “ANTI ICE” was scrawled on unspent shell casings located at the scene. This attack comes just days after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, another act of political violence, which underscores the crisis that the United States is currently facing. Different targets, different ideologies, same story: political grievances escalating into bloodshed, an all too familiar incident as political assassinations and political violence continue to cascade. The September attack was not an outlier for the Lone Star State. On the Fourth of July, ten individuals were allegedly part of an organized attack involving vandalism and shooting more than 30 rounds at an ICE detention center, resulting in an injury to an officer.

Charlie Kirk’s murder should have been a moment of reckoning for the entire country. Instead, it became yet another partisan spectacle that revealed America’s deeply tribal politics. Within minutes, voices across the political spectrum—on both left and right— rushed to frame the tragedy as proof of the other’s depravity, pointing fingers and leveling accusations. What connects these incidents is not a single ideology but a dangerous trend of radicalization that knows no boundaries. Sometimes it borrows the rhetoric of the far left, other times it echoes conspiracies of the far right. What unites it all is grievance, disillusionment, and a culture that rewards outrage. Political violence in America is no longer an aberration. It is becoming a pattern.

There is also the online element to the uptick in political violence. Assassinations are celebrated, mocked, and made into memes, while legions of fans laud the alleged perpetrators of these acts on the Internet. Luigi Mangione is charged with assassinating a United Healthcare CEO in cold blood on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk, reminiscent of mafia hits in similar locales. Yet online, he’s revered, having been canonized among the far left for his opposition to capitalism and corporate malfeasance. Making martyrs of terrorists is not simply the domain of violent jihadists, but is a phenomenon that spans the ideological spectrum, from Elliot Rodger to Anders Breivik.

At the heart of this challenge is free speech. It is not only the cornerstone of democracy—it is its lifeblood, and in many ways is emblematic of the values we hold dear as a nation. Without it, there is no accountability, no debate, no common ground. Yet today, free speech is under siege from two directions. On one side, calls to cancel or silence those with whom we disagree erode the principle that ideas must be confronted, not suppressed. On the other hand, technology platforms exploit speech for profit, amplifying the loudest and most extreme voices while drowning out rational discourse. In both cases, the result is the same: division deepens, and democracy weakens. Americans are pitted against Americans in a country that is becoming increasingly angry, anxious, and violent.

But even in the midst of this darkness, one voice reminded America of another path. Erica Kirk, speaking after the murder of her husband, stunned the nation when she chose forgiveness. “I will not let hatred have the last word,” she said, offering grace even to the man who had taken everything from her. In a time when rage has become our national language, her words showed the power of compassion and the possibility of healing. Will Americans take note of her words, or will they fall on deaf ears?

Our center has long warned that political violence intensifies when divisions harden and narratives of fear prevail over narratives of hope. Today, those warnings are no longer theoretical. They are a lived reality. The shootings of Charlie Kirk and at the Dallas ICE facility are not isolated events—they are symptoms of a nation at risk of accepting violence as a legitimate form of political expression.

The truth is, there are no immediate remedies or ‘quick fixes’ to the ongoing spasm of political violence. The current juncture in U.S. politics is the result of several overlapping and reinforcing trends, some of which Americans have been watching unfold as if it were a slow-motion train wreck. Hyper polarization, the erosion of trust in our institutions, and social media algorithms that encourage partisan echo chambers and the adoption of the most extreme positions have led us to this place. “Clickbait” fuels rage and distorts facts, as Americans retreat into their partisan corners.

The choice before us is stark. Either we recommit to free speech—robust, responsible, and protected from both suppression and manipulation—while finding the courage to forgive and unify, or we allow the extremes to define America’s future. Unity does not mean erasing differences; it means refusing to let them define us. If we fail to remember that, bullets will continue to replace ballots, and tragedy will continue to beget tragedy. But if we do remember, we may yet prove that forgiveness, truth, and free speech are still stronger than fear and hate.