For a moment that was all too brief, Republicans and Democrats put their partisan divisions aside on Wednesday to condemn political violence and root for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was shot at an event at Utah Valley University and later died.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, there was an outpouring of support for Kirk from across the political spectrum, and it was impossible to distinguish which message came from Republicans and which from Democrats.

“There is no place in our country for political violence. Period, full stop,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). “Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk.”

His counterpart released an almost identical statement.

“Political violence has no place in America,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “This shooting is horrifying, and I’m praying for Charlie Kirk and his family.”

This was the third high-profile act of political violence in as many months.

In June, Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband Mark were killed, and a state senator and his wife were shot by a man who had planned to kill even more politicians.

Last month, a man, who blames the coronavirus vaccine for his ailments, killed a police officer at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition, the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) was the target of an arson attack in April.

And, of course, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt last year.

It should go without saying that acts of political violence will not solve anything. Instead, they will only result in more division and more violence.

Therefore, for a fleeting moment, we were encouraged that Democrats and Republicans alike (for the most part) kept their respective agendas out of their statements of support for Kirk and condemned political violence with one voice.

That doesn’t mean that we can’t acknowledge how we got to this point and who is fomenting this kind of behavior with their rhetoric.

But not today, when a young mother of two is grieving for her dead husband.

And, in spite of knowing better, whenever something like this happens – and it is happening with increasing frequency – we hope that maybe another senseless killing could trigger something positive and bring people together instead of dividing them further.

Sadly, that seems unlikely.

Even in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, not everybody managed to show restraint.

The Left is the party of murder https://t.co/qN1oToUHNc

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 10, 2025

That isn’t just an insane and factually incorrect thing to say (see the examples above), it’s also exactly the kind of rhetoric that will cause the next extremist to take matters into his own hands.

Sadly, the moment of comity among elected officials, who are supposed to be adults and know better, also didn’t last long.

On the floor of the House of Representatives, a moment of silence quickly devolved into a shouting match when Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), whose state was the site of yet another school shooting on Wednesday, demanded a spoken prayer.

This led to jeers from Democrats and an expletive-laden tirade from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL).

And just like that, things went back to a “normal” that is bad for the country.