Welcome to the political scene, a weekly discussion about the big questions at American

politics.

I'm Jane Mayer, and I'm joined by my colleagues Susan Glasser and Evan Osnos.

Hi, hi, Evan.

Hey, there.

Nice to see you.

Hey, Susan.

Good to be with you both.

This week, the nation is reeling from yet another act of political violence, and this one is seismic.

By now, as most of you know, Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist, and close ally of Donald Trump, was shot

dead while speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The attack was brutal, and it was

tragic. This kind of political violence is, of course, shocking, but also sadly no longer surprising.

In recent years, American politics has been beset by an accelerating

drumbeat of horrifying violence. From the January 6 attack on the Capitol that injured some 150

policemen to the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump, to the shooting in June of two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota,

one of whom was killed along with her husband, political shootings are becoming more common.

And at each turn, there's a scramble to make sense of the violence and an attempt to try

to predict what it means for the country's future.

So today, we want to set this moment in context.

How does this act of political violence fit into the longer history of law and order in America?

Will it be invoked to justify further violence and repression? And what does it mean

for our democracy? We're taping this on Friday morning at about 9 a.m. just before our taping,

...