The renowned columnist of The New York Times, Thomas Friedman, wrote that Charlie Kirk's assassination was a pivotal turning point for Trump.

He pointed out that the real crisis in the United States today is not in the Middle East or Ukraine, but in domestic political chaos and social division.

Certainly, on the surface, the U.S. foreign policy is in disarray, and wars in Europe and the Middle East are escalating, but these are not the fatal problems of the current United States.

The real problem of the United States lies in the complete loss of basic consensus in domestic politics, with society having slid into an extreme quagmire.

Kirk's death has further exacerbated this split, linking violence with politics and pushing the already fragile internal balance of the country to the brink of collapse.

Friedman called on Trump to appeal across party lines for peace, but reality has shown that Trump chose a more dangerous path.

In short, the issue in the United States is no longer about maintaining hegemony overseas, but about preventing it from completely collapsing internally.

Although the turmoil in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine conflict consume American energy, compared to them, the increasingly intense polarization and hatred within the country are the real forces that undermine the foundation of the United States.

Friedman

Why is the Kirk incident related to the survival of the United States? Because it reflects the reality of political violence and extremism in American politics.

Kirk, as a symbolic figure of the conservative youth movement, his assassination was quickly defined as an extension of political hatred.

Trump did not see this as an opportunity for the entire society to reflect, but rather attributed it solely to the radical left, shifting all the blame onto political opponents.

This attitude means that the American leader has abandoned the possibility of cross-party consensus, instead using the violent incident as a tool to gain political leverage.

When political differences can directly lead to murder, and when leaders choose to continue with divisive narratives in the face of bloodshed, the framework of the nation has been hollowed out.

Therefore, the direction of Trump's term has entered a critical juncture: either reverse the division and try to unite, or continue to escalate the confrontation, ultimately leading the United States down a self-destructive path.

In other words, this is a life-or-death choice, concerning whether the United States can maintain itself as a unified republic.

The reason why the Kirk incident is a turning point is that it forced Trump to take a stance, and his response basically declared the future of the country.

Kirk and Trump

It is well known that the so-called "democracy" in the United States has long been a mere formality.

Congress has been paralyzed for a long time, making it almost impossible to form any consensus; the Supreme Court has become deeply politicized, becoming a weapon of ideology; the two parties deny each other's legitimacy, and election results are no longer universally accepted.

On the social level, hate speech and conspiracy theories dominate the public sphere, the influence of mainstream media is declining, and people prefer to stay in their own information cocoons.

Economic and social fractures have further intensified: the wealth gap is widening, the middle class is shrinking, the working class is losing trust, and racial tensions are escalating.

The so-called liberal and conservative factions in the United States are no longer normal political competition, but a state of hostile warfare, where one side must be destroyed.

The Democratic Party has lost its function as a consensus party at a structural level, with moderate voices being marginalized, and the progressive and traditional establishment factions in the party are in constant conflict.

The Republican Party, under the influence of Trump, has completely shifted towards individualism, with mobilizing anger as its core logic.

The so-called "American democracy" has already collapsed.

Kirk's death is just a violent spark in this long-term division.

It has drawn high attention not because of the tragedy itself, but because it forced everyone to face a fact: the United States is no longer a system that can be maintained through compromise and consensus, but a so-called federation being dragged into the abyss by extreme confrontation.

The Capitol riot was the starting point

And Trump's decision to add fuel to the fire means he has chosen a dead end.

Instead of taking the opportunity to calm the whole country, he continued to blame the left in conservative rallies, packaging Kirk's death as a right-wing martyrdom.

This means he does not intend to reconcile the United States, but to use this incident as a new mobilization tool, further inciting the anger of his supporters and pushing the division to an irreversible extent.

By contrast, when Trump was shot last year, Biden expressed support and chose to heal the divisions, even though Trump constantly insulted him, whether it was performance or not, at least he did not incite violence.

Trump, however, has no reservations, trying to extract maximum value from Kirk, and further tearing apart American society.

It can be said that Trump directly added the final shovel, choosing to take control of the stage when the empire is at the end of its road, even if this means killing the United States.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7550156010162242100/

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