From the moment conservative activist and icon Charlie Kirk was felled by an assassin’s bullet, partisans began fighting over which side was to blame. It was part of a new, grim tradition in a polarized country — trying to pin immediate responsibility for an act of public violence on one of two political sides. Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game. |
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A memorial for Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk is seen at Utah Valley University, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) |
Blame game after political violence can lead to further attacks, experts warn |
As the nation reels from a wave of physical attacks against both Republicans and Democrats, experts warn that the rush to blame sometimes ambiguous and irrational acts on political movements could lead to more conflict.
In the latest instance, authorities announced they had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington, Utah, in Kirk's shooting death. While a registered voter, he was not affiliated with any party and had not voted in the last two general elections, but officials said Robinson had recently grown more political and expressed negative views about Kirk.
Shortly after announcing the arrest on Fox News on Friday, President Donald Trump said “the radicals on the left are the problem.” But the Anti-Defamation League found that from 2022 through 2024, all of the 61 political killings in the U.S. were committed by right-wing extremists. That changed on the first day of 2025, when a Texas man flying the flag of the Islamic State group killed 14 people by driving his truck through a crowded New Orleans street. Read more.
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Many prominent Democrats urged calm on both sides after Kirk’s death. Among them were former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband was gravely injured by a hammer-wielding attacker who broke into their house in 2022 in an assault that Trump, among other Republicans, mocked. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, also called for lowering the temperature across the board. |
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Where some of Trump's most jaw-dropping promises stand |
Given just how much Trump talks in public, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with all of his promises.
There’s been a recent promise kept, albeit with pending congressional approval. Trump spent weeks talking up renaming the Defense Department, saying that, back when the U.S. had a War Department – created by George Washington in 1789 – it “just sounded better.” Trump recently sought to change the name himself via an executive order, but lawmakers will still need to approve making that permanent and official.
Other topics are in the “still talking about it” stage, like renaming Washington’s Kennedy Center the Trump Kennedy Center. A GOP-backed congressional effort would rename the center after Trump and its opera house after first lady Melania Trump. But a full renaming may ultimately prove more likely than Trump’s name simply being added to the existing building alongside Kennedy.
And some of the promises have faded away, like dealing with daylight saving time. Before retaking the White House, Trump posted that the GOP would work to eliminate it. In March, he said that setting clocks back and forward was a 50-50 issue, and therefore too hard for him to take a firm position on. The president subsequently posted online that he actually supported making daylight saving time permanent. Read more.
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Other issues are in limbo, like offering $5 million “gold cards” to give “very high-level people” a “route to citizenship” while granting foreigners visas to live and work in the U.S. In April, the president held up a gold card featuring his name and picture, and said they would be available in “less than two weeks, probably.” But there’s been no major effort by the administration to overhaul the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which Congress created in 1990 to offer U.S. visas to investors who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
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California Democrat turns to TikTok to reach Hispanic voters in governor's race |
A Democratic candidate for governor of California will be giving TikTok a go, but with a caveat: He will only post videos in Spanish – at least for now. Former Biden administration Health Secretary Xavier Becerra is embracing the controversial but popular short video app to target Spanish-language users. His campaign and surveys note that Hispanic adults use TikTok in much higher numbers than Black and white adults.
Becerra's new approach is part of an effort by Democrats to counter the rightward swing that was seen last year both in red states such as Texas and Florida and blue states such as California, New Jersey and New York, where Trump improved his numbers among Latinos. Read more. |
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The idea is to lock in a key user base by publishing content early on a platform where politicians are still largely experimenting. It comes as the Trump administration is phasing out multilingual services as part of the president's push to make English the U.S.’ official language. |
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One at Morristown Airport, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Morristown, N.J. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) |
- Trump begins a two-day state visit in the UK on Tuesday, hosted by King Charles III at Windsor Castle before talks with Starmer.
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