Washington: The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is a shocking tragedy and an awful, scary reflection of the extreme political violence that now afflicts the United States of America.

It will reverberate across the country and around the world in ways that we cannot know in the immediate aftermath. But surely, American civic life just cannot go on like this.

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a close ally of US President Donald Trump.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

Anyone and everyone might be next. It was only three months ago that Melissa Hortman, a Democratic member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband were shot and killed in their Minneapolis home in the middle of the night. One of her colleagues was shot and survived.

A couple of months before that, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, had his home set on fire while he and his family slept inside.

Last year, there were attempts on the life of now-president Donald Trump while he ran for office, including having his ear grazed by a bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Mere millimetres saved him.

Trump after an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year.Credit:........

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