The assassination of Charlie Kirk has united the parties in a sense of dread that the country has arrived at a dangerous place.

How it got here, however, remains very much in dispute.

President Trump wasted no time blaming the “radical left” for the death of Kirk, a prominent MAGA activist. And a number of congressional Republicans echoed the charge.

Democrats noted Trump’s long history of normalizing political violence and hammered Republicans for casting blame before the shooter’s motives were known. Some amplified their calls for tougher gun laws, which most Republicans oppose.

Several lawmakers lamented that the country has turned away from god and religion. Still others pointed to a social media culture they deem to be toxic.

All sides, though, seem to converge around a dark view that the country is too divided, the rhetoric too venomous and the violence too frequent to sustain the American experiment unless something happens to ease partisan hostilities and bring the sides together.

“We can do better,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said. “We can debate, but we don't have to get in a fight. And we also have to recognize that people are looking and listening. And for some people it doesn't take much to push 'em over the edge.”

On Friday, officials in Utah and Washington announced they had detained a 22-year-old Utah man, Tyler Robinson, in connection with the fatal shooting, which occurred as Kirk, 31, was speaking at a large, open-air rally........

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