(Notwithstanding accusations of stoking violence, prominent Democrats have consistently condemned Kirk’s assassination. That’s a vivid contrast to the mockery from many on the right—including Donald Trump Jr.—after a man attacked the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the muted reactions, disinformation, and silence that followed the assassination of the Democratic Minnesota legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, this summer.)

But if Cox and Trump represent two rival impulses within the Republican coalition, Trump is undoubtedly winning. “Democrats own what happened today,” Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina said on Wednesday. “Y’all caused this,” Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida told Democrats on the House floor. “It’s time for the Trump administration to shut down, defund, & prosecute every single Leftist organization,” the influential Trump adviser Laura Loomer posted on X. “We must shut these lunatic leftists down. Once and for all. The Left is a national security threat.”Other influential figures on the right have been equally or more strident. “The Left is the party of murder,” Elon Musk declared on X before a suspect had even been identified. Andrew Tate, the misogynist who has been charged with sex trafficking in two countries (which he denies); Alex Jones, the conspiracy-theorist broadcaster; and Libs of TikTok influencer Chaya Raichik all invoked “civil war.”