Political violence in the US took a murderous turn last week with the assassination of the rightwing figure Charlie Kirk. This is yet another horrendous moment in a society falling into a nihilistic spiral from which there appears to be no off-ramp.

There’s little we can do in Ireland about the US, beyond watching in dismay. What we can do is confront political violence in this country. What Tánaiste Simon Harris recently endured – multiple threats against him and his family – is disgraceful and unacceptable. It is also, sadly, unsurprising. Since 2018, a number of tipping points regarding illiberal agitation have occurred, and many a Rubicon has been crossed.

A movement has been built, online and off, that is attempting to destabilise democracy by pushing conspiracy theories, attacking minorities to divide people and disrupt social cohesion and engaging in political violence.

There have been semantic disagreements regarding how to characterise what is a seemingly nebulous movement. It promulgates racist violence, anti-immigration protests, online disinformation and hate, conspiracy theorists, fascist agitators, far-right political groupings, anti-LGBTQ hysteria. It leans heavily on copycat tactics, grifter archetypes and sloganeering........

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