CNN ANCHOR AND journalist John King, who is perhaps best known in Ireland for his ‘magic wall’ and coverage of US presidential elections, admits that he is “deeply concerned” by the direction the US is going in. 

“It’s a very strange moment,” the veteran broadcaster tells The Journal the morning after right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination. 

Despite being a self-described optimist by nature, King, who has reported on US politics for 40 years, says Kirk’s murder is a reminder of the “threads of polarisation and visceral anger in the American bloodstream right now”. 

The assassination has sparked a huge amount of debate online in the US and across the world, with some Trump supporters blaming the political left for the shooting, and accusing the left of having a problem with political violence.

While there will inevitably be bigger conversations to have as a result of Kirk’s murder, King is keen to stress that in the early days, people should remember that a 31-year-old husband and father “who was just getting started” has been taken away because of “senseless violence”. 

“He was an incredibly important organiser, mobilizer, motivator in the MAGA movement, in the conservative movement,” King says of Kirk.

“There are issues on which people had profound disagreements with Charlie Kirk, but what he was doing was bringing more people out to vote, and in a democracy, that should be celebrated.”

King continues: “It’s silencing a voice who, yes, was very controversial. Yes, took some positions that a lot of people disagree with, but had the courage to stand up in public and debate them. And so this is going to cause a giant wound…in the MAGA movement. He was such an important organiser and foot soldier.”

Charlie Kirk Alamy Alamy

On what Kirk’s killing means for the MAGA movement, King says he has “no doubt” that the people who have learned from Kirk will try to “pick up and continue the lessons”.

Asked if he thinks Kirk’s death will turn the dial in any way on the gun debate in the US, King is definitive in his answer: “No.”

“Both parties are so dug in right now. One of the issues Charlie Kirk himself debated frequently was gun control, saying that the problem is the people who commit those horrific crimes, not the guns.

“I’m sure there will be people who say, can we have this conversation now? But unless that conversation came from within his movement, simply, the votes aren’t there right now.”

The US and Israel

While Kirk’s assassination has dominated headlines internationally this week, so too has the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

Reflecting on the US’s continued and seemingly unwavering support of Israel, King’s assessment of the situation is bleak. 

“I see no path out of this one, because I see no sustained effort by the President of the United States to say enough or there has to be another way. There has to be a better way,” King says.

“We simply are not heading in the direction of, nevermind peace, even just a ceasefire or just a dramatic international US-led effort to flood humanitarian aid in. You just don’t see it.

“And so, sorry to sound like a pessimist but you know, my job is to judge things by the facts on the ground, and the facts on the ground are bleak, and there’s just been zero evidence that the President of the United States is going to change his position,” King adds.

Political violence

Returning to the issue of political violence, King attributes some of the blame to social media and technology. 

“We have a supercomputer in our pocket now, and it allows us to see things and talk to people around the world on an instantaneous basis…Guess what? Most blessings bring curses, and there’s a curse in social media. There’s a curse in anonymity,” King says.

In his view, it’s parents and civic leaders who need to set the example of “turning down the temperature and learning how to debate fiercely and passionately, but respectfully and peacefully”.

“This has to be done at a citizen level and then a community level,” he says.

On the deep division that exists in the United States currently, King says he hopes and prays that, over time, common sense will overcome the anger.

“By my own personal constitution and my own personal history, I remain an optimist that we can figure these things out.”

John King will join Dearbhail McDonald for two events at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on September 23 and the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, on September 24.