Today, news broke that Charlie Kirk was shot while speaking at Utah Valley University. Let me be blunt: I will not pretend to feel sorry for Charlie Kirk. For years, he has profited off division, peddled conspiracy theories, and targeted marginalized groups with rhetoric so toxic it has made this country less safe. He has called for public executions, mocked trans people as “abominations,” treated politics like a holy war — and in 2023, he even said that gun deaths were an “unfortunate” but acceptable price to keep the Second Amendment. Today, he became part of the very toll he once dismissed. That doesn’t make him a martyr — it makes him a cautionary tale about what happens when leaders treat human lives as expendable. That doesn’t mean I condone what happened. Political violence is wrong — always. It poisons our democracy, no matter who the target is. If we go down that path, America as we know it collapses. But here’s the truth: when you spend years throwing gasoline on the fire, you don’t get to act shocked when flames break out. Charlie Kirk built a career out of incitement. He’s not a victim of political violence so much as he is one of its architects. This is a reminder that words have consequences. Leaders — real leaders — should be lowering the temperature, not raising it. They should be uniting people around solutions, not cashing in on fear and hate. I ran for Congress because I’m sick of this cycle — sick of watching extremists on the right and performative purists on the left treat America like their personal stage show while working-class families get crushed. Enough. Violence is not the answer. But neither is pretending that Charlie Kirk is some innocent casualty. He chose this path. He pushed this rhetoric. And now we’re all living in the world it created. — William Kory Amyx Democratic Candidate for U.S. Congress Indiana’s 6th Congressional District 📍 For Hoosiers. For Accountability. For All. 🔗 #AmyxForCongress | #TogetherWeRise | #IN06