Charlie Kirk's Killing and America's Age of "Salad-Bar Extremism"

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the past few years, we have witnessed a frightening spiral of political violence. We’ve seen the killing of Charlie Kirk; the killing of Brian Thompson, the health insurance executive; the assassination of a Minnesota House Speaker and her husband; the shooting of a Minnesota state senator and his wife; several attempted assassinations of Donald Trump; an attack on Nancy Pelosi’s home and husband; a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer; and calls to lynch Vice President Mike Pence on January 6. As The Atlantic’s Adrienne LaFrance writes, this is looking to be "an age of assassinations." LaFrance, the executive editor of The Atlantic, has written tens of thousands of words, including cover stories for the magazine, on the history of political violence in the U.S. Today, we talk about media coverage of political violence before getting to the hardest question: How can America survive a period of mass delusion, deep division, and political violence without seeing the permanent dissolution of the ties that bind us? If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Adrienne LaFrance Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	As the 21st century was getting underway, Hollywood released a series of films that were daring, entertaining, and absolutely unmissable.
0:09.0	Films like, 25th Hour, Bring It On, Zodiac, and No Country for Old Men.
0:15.0	They arrived during the George W. Bush era, a chaotic time in America.
0:19.0	Think 9-11, Katrina, the mortgage crisis. After the Bush era, a chaotic time in America. Think 9-11, Katrina, the mortgage crisis. After the Bush
0:24.5	years, the country would never be the same, and neither would Hollywood. I'm Brian Raftery,
0:31.9	and in my new limited series, Mission Accomplished, we're going to dive into some of the biggest
0:35.9	movies of the Bush years, and look at what they said about the state of the nation.
0:39.3	We'll go behind the scenes with filmmakers and experts
0:42.3	and relive some of your favorite movies from the early 2000s,
0:45.3	from Donnie Darko to Michael Clayton, from Anchorman to Iron Man.
0:49.3	So slip on your sketchers, dig out your old Nokia,
0:52.3	and join me from Mission Accomplished, starting August 12th on the big picture feet.
1:04.0	Today, Charlie Kirk and political violence in America.
1:10.4	Like most people, I learned that Charlie Kirk had been shot while at work, on my computer.
1:16.1	First, I read the rumors, then I saw the videos, the horrible, unforgettable videos, and then confirmation.
1:24.5	Charlie Kirk shot in the neck, dead at 31.
1:29.1	My reaction to his killing, his assassination, was more emotional than I was prepared for.
1:34.5	When I came home, my wife noticed that I was walking around as if in a daze, completely lost in my thoughts.
1:41.0	I didn't know Charlie Kirk, and from what I could gather, his politics were very close to the exact opposite of my own.
1:48.5	But his politics weren't on my mind when I witnessed his murder in that uncanny way that one witness his murders these days,
1:56.1	in videos and images sandwiched between non-sequitur memes on newsfeeds.
2:01.7	What I found myself thinking about instead were his final moments.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Ringer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Ringer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.