Although 2025 had already been poised as the most challenging period of the century for the post-1945 rules-based world order, recent days proved to be among the most devastating so far. The Israeli government deepened its disregard toward global agreements by sending a squadron of warplanes to Qatar, bombing representatives from Hamas engaged in ceasefire talks in Doha. The final significant platform for diplomatic negotiation may now have gone up in smoke.
No fewer than a group of unmanned aerial vehicles from Russia violated the territorial skies of Poland. For the first time, allied military aircraft were deployed against enemy targets inside a Nato country. Whether the incursion was a technical mishap or deliberate probing by Moscow, as western experts believe, this was the nearest the world has come to outright war since the second world war,” the Polish leader, Donald Tusk, said.
And then, a prominent conservative voice, an outspoken right-wing figure and close Donald Trump ally, was shot dead while addressing college students and Maga supporters on a campus in Utah. Without evidence regarding the perpetrator or intentions, Trump immediately blamed left-wing extremists,” claiming they for using language that led directly to acts of terror occurring currently across the nation now.”
Asked how a polarized country could heal following the murder, he responded he was indifferent”. His explanation proved alarming: Right-wing extremists act aggressively since they oppose criminal activity … Leftist activists pose the real threat – and they are dangerous and despicable and strategically clever.” In this manner political division hardens into group mentality. This is how cycles of hostility rush headlong into a point of no return.
In reality, over 75% of deaths linked to extremism across America over the last 10 years were perpetrated by rightwing extremists, with the radical left accountable for just a small number of them. Trump condemned ideologically motivated attacks broadly the following day – but did not acknowledge a series of recent assaults targeting liberal figures, which involved multiple murders. From his perspective, the problem is perpetually others, never the loyal supporters constituting his base.
The political and cultural aftershocks from the assassination will no doubt unfold over the next month, but the biggest danger amid deep divisions involves this event transforms into a Reichstag fire of our age. The deliberate burning on 27 February 1933 signaled Germany’s shift from fragile democracy toward autocratic rule. The Nazi leader, newly appointed as head of state, capitalized on the incident to extinguish basic rights of the Weimar constitution – free speech, media independence, organizational liberty, public gathering.
“Those opposing us will be cut down,” he declared, inspecting the arsoned building. Numerous leftist activists were jailed, including all 81 Communist deputies in parliament. With the left neutralised, the ruling party swiftly consolidated power.
In today’s US, Kirk’s death has captivated the nation, energizing political bases and Trump’s supporters, and he knows it. The white supremacist, a controversial commentator, clamoured for detainment of every Democratic politician, explicitly labeling the murder as the movement’s Reichstag fire moment.
In truth, this incident serves as a potential rescue a struggling administration scarred by significant declines in job numbers, a weakening dollar, and a housing crisis. Trump mourned Kirk as though he were family, but the rhetoric suggested this would be focused equally on targeting opponents rather than justice. Immediately following the assassination, he vowed to go after all individuals of those who contributed to this atrocity … even groups providing backing.” He specifically mentioned a billionaire philanthropist, the American-Hungarian philanthropist and Democrat donor. “He’s a bad guy,” he informed a news outlet, he deserves imprisonment.”
The reasons for the assassination remains unclear. Ideological leanings belonging to the attacker, a young individual, appear as muddled similar to another recent perpetrator, a young man who tried to kill the former president at a rally. Is this truly the radical left attacking right-wing figures – or is it an obscure online culture from internet forums entering reality? The slogans etched on to ammunition shells in Utah read less like a political statement than a crude bricolage of immature jokes and gaming references.
But it is hard not to fear that the repression of “unwilling” academics, lawyers, media workers, civil servants, armed forces members, and judges across the country may increase. Already, reactions on social media have led to a wave of sackings and US state department officials have warned foreign nationals not to praise or joking about the murder, instructing consulates to take “appropriate action” toward individuals who do.
The former president has often prospered amid turmoil and instability. When genuine emergencies are absent, he fabricates them – like nonexistent crime waves in major cities, the capital and Chicago. Fake chaos fuels his power grab. Now he has been handed chaos on a silver platter. No wonder he couldn’t care less about national unity.
The shooting offers an ideal justification for tightening his grip, silencing dissent, and centralizing authority – enabling future leaders may inherit full state control, irrespective of personal appeal, merit or mandate. After all, any autocratic system must be established initially; once entrenched, it is simpler to uphold.
Liberal democracy and international frameworks are far from perfect, yet they provided peace, progress and economic growth – the very opposite of authoritarianism. To suggest that America, a founder of modern systems, might rapidly descend into full-blown autocracy, its leaders thinking like Nazis in 1933, may seem far-fetched.
However, alternatively, it is quite plausible. Totalitarianism remained recent history when many of us of individuals within contemporary Western nations came of age. Across European states, most families have some history of the death, devastation, animosity and destitution resulting from oppressive regimes. To safeguard their near future, they may want to consult our recent past.