PAIN WHICH CANNOT FORGET: The emotion today is overwhelming. Washington and the political world are united this morning in shock, in grief, in horror and rage following the killing of Charlie Kirk. The sense of despair at another act of extreme political violence is profound. A young American family has lost its father; the young American right has lost a leader; the serving American president has lost a friend and confidant. This feels like a watershed moment. The 6 a.m. latest: As of publishing time, the search for the person who killed Kirk was ongoing. Police have not released details of any suspect, and their identity and exact motive remains unknown. Cops in Utah, where Kirk was gunned down on stage yesterday afternoon, initially arrested then released two people; neither is now suspected of the killing. What we do know is that just a single shot was fired, reportedly from the roof of another building more than 100 yards from where Kirk was seated, debating with Utah Valley University students. Reports and possible pictures of a gunman dressed in black upon the roof remain unconfirmed. The WSJ has a useful timeline of the day’s events. And now here’s another fact: The anger is colossal today, visceral. And understandably so. Charlie Kirk was loved and admired by millions of people — he built a movement, from the ground up. You may have embraced his worldview or you may have vehemently disagreed with everything he said, but his approach was to persuade, to use charm and charisma and provocation and the power of argument to convince people of the righteousness of his cause. And he had courage, taking his arguments out into the country, out to wherever his fans and his critics were. As so many people have already said — including his fiercest critics — this has to be the right approach. This is what we want from our politics. Yet this is also what put him in harm’s way. So where does our politics go from here? As POLITICO’s Adam Wren and Holly Otterbein put it in a must-read piece published this morning. “On a college campus in Utah, the bullet that traveled nearly 200 yards from an unknown shooter didn’t just pierce MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk,” Adam and Holly write. “It punctured the idea Kirk himself advanced: That political debate — albeit laced with verbal combat — could force a polarized country to confront its differences, all while advancing his own agenda. “The bullet killed a 31-year-old husband and father of two who helmed a conservative youth movement. And in its wake was a polarized America, left to reckon with whether a Gordian knot of political violence can be untied.” To repeat: Kirk was 31 years old. He had a long and influential career ahead of him — perhaps in media, perhaps in politics, perhaps both. More importantly, he had a young family who loved and needed him, and who now mourn him, and will forever more. The tributes have poured in, from across the political spectrum and from around the world. “Charlie inspired millions,” Trump said in his grave, four-minute Oval Office comments posted on social media last night. “He championed his ideas with courage, logic, humor, and grace,” Trump said. Speaker Mike Johnson called his death “utterly devastating.” On the left, California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who interviewed Kirk on his podcast this year — “admired his passion and commitment to debate.” Prime ministers from Israel, Britain and elsewhere paid their respects. Inside the Trump administration, this loss cuts incredibly deep. If you take the time to read one tribute today, make it Vance’s moving 1,000 word-eulogy, posted on X shortly before midnight. “Charlie Kirk was a true friend,” Vance writes. “The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him. I am on more than a few group chats with Charlie … We celebrate weddings and babies, bust each other's chops, and mourn the loss of loved ones. We talk about politics and policy and sports and life.” Kirk was close to so many members of the Trump administration; not to mention the president himself and his family. Read this from the president’s son, Don Jr., for whom Kirk was “like a little brother.” Or this — so poignant — from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (“Once again, a bullet has silenced the most eloquent truth teller of an era…”) This really matters for what comes next. As WaPo’s Michael Birnbaum and Emily Davies report, “the West Wing was a place of wet eyes on Wednesday.” They write: “Kirk … was on a first-name basis with an entire generation of White House officials, a cadre of twenty- and thirty-somethings who came of political age in the era after President Donald Trump first took office and who now occupy some of the country’s most powerful positions.” Shocked officials were glued to TVs for updates, they report, while the president “was repeatedly briefed on Kirk’s condition … as an afternoon packed with policy meetings turned into a vigil, then a wake.” It’s too early to know how this wounded White House will respond — people are grieving and need time to think. But a response will come. Anyone who scrolled on X for more than 30 seconds yesterday will have seen the seething rage of parts of the MAGA movement. And they’ve already decided where the blame lies, even with the suspect — with an unknown identity and motive — still on the run. Trump sounds ready to act: “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said in his video last night. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now. My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence — including the organizations that fund it and support it.” We’ll find out what that means in the days and weeks ahead. We already know Trump is prepared to stretch the boundaries of his power and smash through democratic norms to get what he wants. In the meantime, America grapples with a broader crisis — this is a nation where political violence is now spiralling out of control. Trump touched upon this in his video statement, yet listed only violence against right-wing targets. The problem reaches much deeper. Read it and weep: Since the two assassination attempts against Trump last summer, we’ve seen the killing of a health care executive in New York; attacks on DNC buildings in Arizona and the Republican Party headquarters in New Mexico; the firebombing of a Democratic governor's home in Pennsylvania; the killing of two Israeli Embassy workers here in D.C.; the firebombing of a peace march for Israeli hostages in Colorado; and the shooting of two Democratic state legislators and their spouses in Minnesota. And now this — the killing of Charlie Kirk in Utah. And that’s just since last July. POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney traces it further back, through the attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s life in 2022; the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021; the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) in 2017; all the way to the shooting of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) in 2011. It’s hard to be optimistic this morning about the road ahead. The sight of Congress erupting into another angry shouting match last night — in what should have been a solemn moment of reflection — was the most depressing, and revealing, reaction of all. Perhaps, in the days ahead, cooler heads can prevail. Further reading: “What Charlie Kirk told me about his faith and legacy,” by Deseret News’ Brigham Tomco ON THE ECONOMY INFLATION ALERT: Another all-important gauge of the U.S. economy will land at 8:30 a.m., when the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the latest Consumer Price Index data. The data, which tracks the prices of goods and services, is coming in just days ahead of the Federal Reserve’s much-anticipated September meeting. As you’re no doubt aware, the central bank is widely expected to announce interest rate cuts next week, making today’s forthcoming report “one of the most consequential” of the year, CNBC’s Mike Winters writes. “Together with Wednesday’s producer price index year-over-year reading of 2.6%, the data will likely show that price growth is still running well above the Fed’s 2% target.” BUT THE VIEW FROM WALL STREET IS JOLLY: “US stocks inch to more records as inflation slows,” by AP’s Stan Choe. WHO’S WATCHING: White House ally Stephen Miran, who’s on the path to getting confirmed as a new governor just before next Tuesday’s Fed meeting kicks off, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney reports. Senate Republicans are eyeing a procedural vote on Miran’s nomination today, in order to tee up his final confirmation on Monday. That would see Miran confirmed in his post just a few short hours before he’s due for the governors’ meeting at the Fed. Read more in today’s edition of Inside Congress. WHO ELSE IS WATCHING: White House foe Lisa Cook, who is still seated on the Fed board after Tuesday’s injunction blocked her firing by Trump. The White House has now formally notified the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. that it will challenge the ruling, which allows Cook to serve while litigation plays out, NYT’s Tony Romm and Colby Smith write. But unless the court intervenes before Tuesday, Cook will be in place for the meeting — just the latest twist in a “suspense-filled” race toward next week, WSJ’s Nick Timiraos writes. AMERICA AND THE WORLD TRUMP VS. BIBI: Trump had a tense phone call with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu following Tuesday’s stunning air strike on Hamas negotiators in Qatar, WSJ’s Alexander Ward and Josh Dawsey scooped. Trump told Bibi the attack was unwise and expressed frustration at not having received advance notice — not least because Qatar is a close U.S. ally, as well as the central mediator in its efforts to end the war. Endless war: The White House was privately seething that the strike “could potentially disembowel” work on a Gaza ceasefire, The Atlantic’s Shane Harris and colleagues report. “Some of the president’s most senior aides believe that may have been Netanyahu’s exact intent.” The Qatari PM denounced the “barbaric” attack on CNN yesterday, warning Netanyahu had “killed any hope” for the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Meanwhile in Yemen Israel’s military launched strikes into Yemen’s capital yesterday at sites it said were linked to the Houthis, part of a series of back and forth attacks since Israel’s war against Hamas began two years ago, Bloomberg’s Sherif Tarek reports. IN EASTERN EUROPE: Trump spoke with Polish President Karol Nawrocki yesterday following the dramatic incursion of Russian drones into Poland’s airspace during an attack on Ukraine, POLITICO’s Elena Giordano reports. Poland announced it shot down 14 drones in total, in what the country called a provocation by Russia. Nawrocki said his call with Trump “confirmed allied unity.” Unity update: Trump’s reaction stopped short of condemning Russia — even as European leaders blasted the move and European officials worry that Russia is testing the bounds of the NATO alliance, WSJ’s Robbie Gramer writes. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the incursion has “intensified interest” from members to act on a potential Russia sanctions package, per POLITICO’s Jordain Carney. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the co-sponsors of the legislation, was set to meet with Trump this week for an update on the talks. How it happened: “Inside NATO’s Scramble to Shoot Down Russia’s All-Night Drone Raid Over Poland,” by WSJ’s Daniel Michaels and colleagues: “What unfolded over the course of the night marked a moment in North Atlantic Treaty Organization history: the first time its warplanes engaged Russian aerial weapons over an alliance member’s territory.”
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