Charlie Kirk Assassination Raises Fear of Surging Political Violence NYT | Top Stories By: Richard Fausset, Ken Bensinger and Alan Feuer 11 September 2025 at 10:49 Initial expressions of grief and shock were overtaken by open calls for reckoning and vengeance, as some proclaimed the country was on the brink of civil war. © Kim Raff for The New York TimesAmong those studying the public’s appetite for political violence — a fast-growing discipline in American academia — the mood on Wednesday was grim.