The assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University stunned the nation and exposed the dangerous consequences of political hate. Conservatives across America watched in horror as a young leader who spent his life fighting for free speech and patriotic values was gunned down on a college stage, and lawmakers moved quickly to honor his memory. The country is grieving, and the call for accountability is loud and justified.
President Trump’s announcement that he will designate Antifa as a “major terrorist organization” is a bold response to that outrage and exactly the kind of leadership the country needs right now. He made the declaration amid reports tying the suspect’s actions to anti-fascist rhetoric and the broader pattern of left-wing political violence, and he has every right to push the federal government to use all lawful tools available to protect Americans. For too long the radical left has been treated as a street movement with impunity while conservatives were blamed or silenced for demanding order.
Law enforcement investigators have recovered disturbing messages and engravings on ammunition that suggest the killer was steeped in anti-fascist imagery and terminal online subcultures, but that does not change the urgent need to disrupt the networks — real or informal — that radicalize and inspire such attacks. Early reporting shows references and memes etched into casings and an online trail of extremist baiting, even as some in the media urge caution about overinterpreting every symbol. Those facts make plain that the threat is not abstract and that government action is not political theater.
Critics will howl about legal technicalities — and they should be answered directly. There is no doubt that federal law today lacks a neat mechanism to label a decentralized domestic movement in the same way the State Department lists foreign terror organizations, but that is a legislative problem, not an excuse to do nothing. Congress should act immediately to create clear statutes and bipartisan tools to freeze funding, pursue material-support charges, and target the financiers and enablers of political violence, while courts sort out constitutional questions in short order.
Patriots should demand more than talk: insist that the Justice Department prosecute violence to the fullest extent, pressure governors and state attorneys to follow through, and make sure our campuses and streets are safe for Americans of every persuasion. We can defend civil liberties and still be ruthless against violent extremism; that balance is the conservative duty in a time of lawlessness. The bipartisan resolution in the House honoring Kirk shows this is not merely a partisan moment — it is a national call to restore order and protect those who speak for America.
