WASHINGTON WEEK: The assassination Charlie Kirk, conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, has raised new questions about escalating political violence in the country. Join moderator Jeffrey Goldberg, Peter Baker of The New York Times, Laura Barron-Lopez of MSNBC, Susan Glasser of The New Yorker and Tom Nichols of The Atlantic to discuss this and more.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG, ‘WASHINGTON WEEK’ HOST, ‘ATLANTIC’ EDITOR: Laura, how important was he to the MAGA movement? LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, MSNBC: Oh, he was incredibly important. I mean, as Peter laid out, the president, the vice president, and a number of people across the White House credit Charlie Kirk, for the increase that Donald Trump got in the 2024 election when it came to young voters, and more specifically young men, because he was out there engaging them online and in spaces where they felt like they needed to be engaged. The reason that he is seen as a divisive figure, and why the left has had a reaction as well in this is because he has been known to make racist statements, to say that, you know, if he were to see a black pilot, he wouldn’t necessarily trust their ability to fly a plane. He has also said that it was a mistake to pass the Civil Rights Act, and has definitely lobbed a number of attacks on transgender individuals. And so there’s a lot across the LGBTQ advocacy space who are opposed to him. And I think you’re seeing right now in the aftermath of his horrific and tragic killing that there are two things that are happening, which is the rightful condemnation that political violence across the board is wrong, should never happen, but then the administration and the White House and the Republican movement, essentially trying to revise a bit of the history of his legacy. And that is something that is also being talked about right now.

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