Utah Governor: ‘Find an Off-Ramp’ from the Spree of Violence and Hate

Sept. 15—Speaking at the Sept. 12 press conference where federal and state law enforcement officials revealed that they had captured the person they believed to be the assassin of Trump ally and GOP youth organizer Charlie Kirk, Utah Governor Spenser Cox made an impassioned speech calling on the people of Utah and the American people to begin to travel a different path than that on which the country is presently. He described how people in Utah had come together, both Republicans and Democrats, to pray and to commit themselves to dialogue, which was Kirk's political method—open, civil debate on the issues. Cox had called the murder of Kirk "a political assassination."

“This is much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us…. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times,” Cox said.

“We can return violence with fire and violence. We can return hate with hate. And that’s the problem with political violence, is it metastasizes, because we can always point the finger at the other side, and at some point we have to find an off-ramp, or it’s going to get much, much worse. These are choices that we can make."

Cox compared the present state of the nation to the chaotic situation in the country in the late 1960s after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the conflict in Vietnam. While this was not based on personal experience (since the Governor was born in 1975), he felt that the present situation was not dissimilar to the situation at that time. He hoped that the tragedy would be a “watershed” for America to return to its roots, based on the notion of freedom of speech and the ability to discourse rather than to resort to violence. He also took up quotes from Charlie Kirk which were in the same vein, noting how Kirk could speak without animus to crowds of young people, even those who were strongly opposed to his ideas. He appealed in particular to the youth of America, saying they have an “opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now.”

“To my young friends out there,” said Cox, “you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path.” Cox expressed the hope that the effect of the present tragedy would help America “find an off-ramp” from the spree of violence and hate that is now engulfing the nation. “I still believe that there is more good among us than evil, and I still believe that we can change the course of history. I’m hopeful because Americans can make it so.”