The state prosecutor is bringing charges against Robinson for aggravated murder, misuse of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice. All these are state charges, which means the case will not be treated as a federal crime. However, aggravated murder in Utah is a capital offense, meaning the death penalty can be imposed. It should be noted, though, that between 1976 and 2024, only eight people were executed in Utah, compared to 595 state and six federal executions in Texas during the same period. U.S. President Donald Trump hopes the perpetrator will receive the death penalty for his actions.
Shocking footage of the assassination flooded social media within minutes. It may not be an exaggeration to say that Charlie Kirk’s name meant little to most Hungarians, except to those passionately interested in American public life, until Wednesday evening. Since then, however, it sends the message that the American dream, which helped bring down the Soviet Union and which we longed for over decades, has now become a nightmare.
A nightmare in which a 31-year-old father of two can be murdered simply for standing by his values, for being willing and able to debate the fate of his country with anyone, anywhere. On a university campus which should aim to teach students how to debate, argue, and consider others' viewpoints. Where space is given to experimentation, including bold hypotheses and differing views, topics that must be discussed freely, even if opinions clash. This teaches mutual respect and attentiveness to one another’s dignity. It promotes a culture of debate that guarantees the right to express opinions freely and without fear.
But this assassination signals that at universities occupied by the left, there is no longer room for debate or the clash of differing opinions. Anyone who voices views outside the mainstream is chased away (or killed), sentenced to job loss, harassed, or rendered unable to live. Thoughtcrime is punished immediately, just as Orwell once precisely described. Sadly, these are all familiar methods from the dark era of communism.
Yet the Charlie Kirk assassination also reminds us what it means to live in such privileged safety in Hungary today. And to fight for it.
We see that the culture of political violence is once again taking root across our continent. A few weeks ago, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was attacked at a campaign event, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot four times last May. In Hungary, certain musicians fantasize about shooting or hanging Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for fame and profit. Just two days after the Charlie Kirk assassination, Péter Márki-Zay and his friends publicly fantasized about the ways they would execute Minister János Lázár. And while the Tisza Party claims to build a country of love “brick by brick,” just as the communists once peddled promises of a heaven on earth, in practice they attack mothers with small children and journalists, threaten to imprison or throw into the Danube anyone with a differing viewpoint.
But it is equally unacceptable for anyone, inspired by this verbal violence, to fantasize about the deaths of left-wing content creators or actors. Nor is it acceptable that following Charlie Kirk’s murder, parts of the left-liberal community celebrate the assassination and blame the victim (see MSNBC), or that they commemorate him as “far-right” in death.
As we remember Charlie Kirk, the strong, conservative, authentic voice, the lead scout, the God-fearing father, the loving husband, the public figure, the political influencer who contributed significantly to Donald Trump’s and the Republicans’ victory last year, we must ask ourselves whether we too want to step onto the blood-soaked path of political violence. Because in our country, executions, hangings, and being “thrown into the Danube” carry deep historical weight. In our blood-soaked twentieth century, Hungarians were first branded by origin, then by class, and judged as friend or foe. The consequences are well known to us all: executed, persecuted, tortured, broken, deported people, physically and mentally scarred.
Last year, I posed the question of whether the assassination attempts against Donald Trump were really just another phase of cancel culture. Today, it is clear: this is not a question, but a statement. And Charlie Kirk’s death should remind us that thoughts are followed by words, and words by actions.
Horrific actions.