Political violence in America is no longer shocking. It is absorbed.
On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk — founder of Turning Point USA and a defining voice of the hardline American right — was assassinated during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. MAGA has turned to false outrage rather than reflection — shaping the assassination into another grievance.
This is not an endpoint. It is the latest mile marker on a trajectory more than twenty years in the making.
Post-9/11 (2001): Fear reshaped politics around security. Dissent was cast as disloyalty.
The Tea Party (2009–2012): Economic anxiety from the financial crisis calcified into suspicion of government, taxes, and immigration.
Obama backlash (2008–2016): The legitimacy of the first Black president was undermined by birtherism and conspiracy campaigns.
Trump’s rise (2015–2016): Grievance fused to identity; institutions and norms became targets.
January 6, 2021: A sitting president incited a mob to overturn an election — and millions excused it.
COVID-19 (2020–2022): Public health became a battlefield. Masks, vaccines, and lockdowns calcified into identity fights.
Escalating violence (2017–2025):
A gunman opened fire on congressional Democrats at baseball practice (2017).
Paul Pelosi, husband of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was bludgeoned in his home (2022).
Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally (2024).
Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were assassinated (June 2025).
That same night, State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot and survived after surgery (2025).
Election workers, judges, and governors faced death threats; federal prosecutions and protective programs ramped up.
And now, the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Each stage narrowed bandwidth further. Each moment of fear hardened into certainty. The assassination of Kirk shows how far along the trajectory we already are: violence is less shocking, more easily absorbed and redirected into loyalty. But shock can be replaced with clarity — each time violence is named for what it is, bandwidth is protected.
What Is Bandwidth?
In Moral Bandwidth Theory, bandwidth is our cognitive-emotional capacity to:
Reason clearly (take in information, weigh evidence).
Listen openly (remain receptive to other views).
Choose freely (act in alignment with values rather than fear).
Stress narrows it. Fear contracts it. Identity threats collapse it.
What Is Calcification?
When bandwidth collapses too far, curiosity disappears and certainty hardens. That hardened state is calcification.
Calcification isn’t always global. A person may be calcified around one identity marker or political issue, yet still think critically in other areas. This is why someone can debate science rationally while denying climate change, or be compassionate in family life while dehumanizing outsiders.
Psychology has long described pieces of this:
Confirmation bias — seeking only supportive evidence (Nickerson, 1998).
Cognitive dissonance avoidance — rejecting evidence that threatens identity (Festinger, 1957).
Motivated reasoning — intellect used to defend group loyalty, not truth (Kunda, 1990).
Identity-protective cognition — aligning with tribe against facts (Kahan, 2013).
Reactance — doubling down when challenged (Brehm, 1966).
MBT unifies these into one arc: bandwidth collapse → calcification.
How Calcification Spreads
Calcification rarely stays contained. Once bandwidth collapses around one issue, the hardened certainty spreads outward.
One example begins with economic stress — rising costs, stagnant wages, frustration at government waste. Narrowed bandwidth searches for someone to blame, and immigrants become the target.
From there the spread accelerates:
Fear and threat — immigration reframed as cultural danger.
Identity fusion — race, religion, and nation become sacred, untouchable.
Erosion of empathy — human rights violations excused.
Enemy-making — opponents cast not as citizens, but as existential threats.
Authority as salvation — a strongman embraced as protector.
This is calcification’s danger: once curiosity collapses in one domain, it collapses more easily everywhere.
Across the Spectrum
Calcification is a human vulnerability. Stress narrows bandwidth across ideologies:
On the left, it can show up as purity tests — urgency closing off dissent too quickly.
On the mainstream right, it can show up as nostalgia — resistance when cultural change feels too fast.
These are risks. But MAGA is evidence.
Delegitimizing elections: Trump’s “Stop the Steal” (Rothschild, 2021).
Undermining institutions: systematic attacks on courts, FBI, press (Levitsky & Ziblatt, 2018).
Normalizing violence: Jan 6 rioters praised as “patriots,” and given pardons.
Human rights abuses excused: family separations, abusive detention (American Immigration Council, 2021).
Calcification can happen anywhere. But MAGA has calcified into authoritarian populism — and no other movement in the U.S. matches it.
Bad Actors Exploit Collapse
Most people calcify under pressure unintentionally. But authoritarian leaders exploit that narrowing on purpose.
Donald Trump and MAGA allies have not only tolerated political violence — they have mocked, reframed, and celebrated it:
January 6, 2021: Trump has praised participants as “patriots” and floated pardons. It was a promise kept — this pattern of reframing persists in his rhetoric and posture.
Paul Pelosi attack (2022): At the CA GOP convention, Trump mocked Pelosi’s husband, asking, “How’s your husband doing?” (crowd laughter).
Whitmer kidnapping plot (2020): Trump’s “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” rhetoric preceded and echoed armed agitation; DOJ later prosecuted the plotters.
After Kirk’s assassination (2025): Steve Bannon said, “Charlie Kirk is a casualty of the political war… We are at war in this country and you have to have steely resolve.” Trump told supporters, “We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them.”
Where ordinary citizens might recoil from violence, bad actors re-script it as identity defense. When leaders refuse to condemn — or laugh and celebrate — they transform political violence into loyalty fuel.
This is why Warren’s clarity matters — not just as rhetoric, but as a counter to deliberate exploitation. You’ll see it in the example below.
Bandwidth Discipline in Action
After Kirk’s assassination, a reporter asked Senator Elizabeth Warren whether the left should tone down rhetoric.
That was a bandwidth trap: an attempt to spread blame equally, regardless of evidence.
Warren refused. Her answer was simple: “Direct that question to President Trump.”
She showed bandwidth discipline: rejecting the false frame, naming the real actor, and protecting clarity so others could see it too.Meta-Pause
Notice your own state right now. Are you curious, reflective, grounded in values? Or tightening into certainty?
Disagreement isn’t calcification. The test is whether you can stay open while holding your ground.
Approaching MAGA
MBT suggests a tiered approach:
MAGA core (deeply calcified): Protect your own bandwidth. Avoid unwinnable debates. Call out harm clearly to protect observers.
MAGA-lite / leaning: Protect bandwidth, but search for shared values (fairness, dignity). Curiosity can expand space here.
Not all MAGA is equal. With the core, clarity is the goal. With the edges, curiosity may open room.
Closing Reflection
Political violence can be absorbed — but it can also be named. Each time we refuse false frames, call harm what it is, and stay grounded in values, we protect bandwidth.
Calcification is a human vulnerability, but clarity is a human responsibility. Democracies endure when enough people resist collapse — when curiosity and courage replace brittle certainty.
Anchor to carry forward: Certainty collapses bandwidth. Curiosity and doubt keep it alive.
Sources & Further Reading
Event & quote verification
Bannon quote (“casualty of the political war… we are at war”): ABC News roundup. ABC News
Trump line (“beat the hell out of radical left lunatics”): Yahoo/Politico reporting immediately after the killing. Yahoo
Trump mocking Paul Pelosi at CA GOP convention: Los Angeles Times contemporaneous coverage (includes the “How’s your husband doing?” line). Los Angeles Times
JD Vance, Mike Johnson, right-wing media reactions: Reuters/CBS/Guardian coverage of post-assassination rhetoric. Reuters+2CBS News+2
Minnesota assassinations/attempted assassinations (June 2025)
DOJ charging/indictment documents for Vance Boelter (Hortman murders; Hoffman shootings). Department of Justice+1
Threats to election workers & judges
DOJ Election Threats Task Force hub + recent cases and guidance. Department of Justice+3Department of Justice+3Department of Justice+3
Brennan Center surveys of local election officials (2024 survey; updated 2025 materials). Brennan Center for Justice+2Brennan Center for Justice+2
Politico summary of survey findings (harassment/turnover). Politico
Background scholarship (for readers who want theory)
Festinger (1957); Kunda (1990); Nickerson (1998); Brehm (1966); Kahan (2013).
Levitsky & Ziblatt (2018), How Democracies Die; Ben-Ghiat (2020), Strongmen; Rothschild (2021), The Storm Is Upon Us.