Q&A of the Day – Is there A Connection in the Assassination Culture?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s entry: @brianmuddradio Assassination culture – Are there similarities between the assassination attempts on Trump, Minnesota Reps. Christian school children, United CEO & Kirk?
Bottom Line: It’s a good question as a greater focus on a culture of assassination has begun to come into focus based on research from multiple sources that pointed to a growing acceptance on the political left with assassinations. Also, because not all of these line up neatly along ideological lines.
Let’s start with a breakout of each of these events. I’ll break them down in order of when they occurred.
- March 2023, Tennessee: Covenant School shooting by 28-year-old Audrey Hale (a former student who identified as transgender) killed three children and three adults. Motivation cited as trans-grievances.
- July 2024 PA: 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired from a rooftop, shooting President Trump in the ear and killing one attendee before being killed by Secret Service. Motivation cited as Anti-Trump/Leftwing radicalization.
- September 2024 Florida: 58-year-old Ryan Routh was arrested after positioning himself with a rifle at the fence of Trump Intentional where the president was playing that day. Motivation cited as Anti-Trump/Leftwing radicalization.
- December 2024, New York: United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated by 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who used a silenced pistol. Motivation cited as Anti-the American healthcare system.
- June 2025, Minnesota: State House Speaker Melissa Hortman was assassinated with her husband and their dog by 57-year-old Vance Boelter who was impersonating a police officer. Motivation cited as radicalized prolife views.
- August 2025, Minnesota: Two children were murdered at the Annunciation Catholic School campus while attending mass by 23-year-old Robin Westman (a former student who identified as transgender changed his name from Robert). Motivation cited as anti-Catholic/Trans grievances
- September 2025, Utah: Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson (a former student) motivation cited as “hatred” of Charlie Kirk’s views/Leftwing radicalization
The first commonality is race. The perpetrators in all of these attacks were white. The second commonality is gender. The perpetrators were all biologically male or “transitioning” in the case of the Nashville school shooter – the only biological female. And that takes us to motives.
Notably all of these attacks were ideologically driven (towards religion and/or political ideas) by those said to have become radicalized with online influences factoring into growing hatred. As far as the political bend of the assassins and would-be assassin, six of the seven expressed left-wing views with one attacker expressing right-wing views. Notably, while the issues are different, there is one window of time in American history that’s similar – the mid-1960's. Consider these assassinations:
- 1963 Medgar Evers, Civil rights leader
- 1963 John F. Kennedy, President
- 1964 Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner, Civil rights workers
- 1965 Malcolm X, Political activist
- 1968 Martin Luther King Jr., Civil rights leader
- 1968 Robert F. Kennedy, Senator/Presidential candidate
Those assassinations were all ideological/political as well. Let’s pray that just as the era of assassinations in the 60’s passed. The current era of online radicalization and hatred will as well.