Entertainment
Experts warn of ‘vicious spiral’ in political violence after Kirk killing
The assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk marks a watershed moment in a surge of US political violence, one that some experts fear will inflame an already-fractured country and inspire more unrest.
”This event is horrifying, alarming, but not necessarily surprising,” said Mike Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland, which has tracked such violence in a terrorism database since 1970.
In the first six months of the year, the US experienced about 150 politically-motivated attacks — nearly twice as many as over the same period last year, said Jensen. “I think we are in a very, very dangerous spot right now that could quite easily escalate into more widespread civil unrest if we don’t get a hold of it,” Jensen said. “This could absolutely serve as a kind of flashpoint that inspires more of it.”
Experts in domestic terrorism cite a convergence of factors for increased violence in the US: economic insecurity, anxiety over shifting racial and ethnic demographics, and the increasingly inflammatory tone of political discourse. Traditional ideological divides — once centered on policy disagreements — have morphed into a deeper, more personal animosity. That anger is amplified by a mix of social media, conspiracy theories and personal grievances.
Reuters identified last year at least 300 cases of political violence across the US between the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the 2024 presidential election, marking the most significant and sustained surge in such violence since the 1970s.
“Extreme political violence is increasingly becoming the norm in our country, and the shooting of Charlie Kirk is indicative of a far greater and more pervasive issue: acts of violence are becoming more common, even without any clear ideology or motive,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.
“There’s really a concern about what the blowback to something like this will look like.”
Other experts who study political violence agreed. “People are reluctant to engage in violence first, but they’re much more willing to engage in violence as retaliation,” said Lilliana Mason, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. “No one wants to be the one to start it, but lots of people want to be able to finish it.”
Kirk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump and founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was addressing an outdoor crowd of about 3,000 at Utah Valley University when a gunshot rang out, sending him tumbling from his chair and attendees fleeing in panic.
Authorities had not yet publicly identified a suspect by Wednesday evening, nearly six hours after the shooting. FBI Director Kash Patel said an unnamed “subject” had been detained for questioning and then released.
Kirk, 31, was a pioneer in the conservative movement and harnessed the power of social media to lure millions of young Americans into Trump’s MAGA base.
“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States better than Charlie,” Trump said in a social media post announcing Kirk’s death. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN there has been a “deluge” of lawmakers calling for stronger security in the wake of Kirk’s killing.
‘Vicious spiral’
Trump himself was the subject of two assassination attempts last year. In one, the shooter was killed by authorities seconds after he fired. In the other, a man was arrested carrying a rifle and scope near a Palm Beach golf club where Trump was playing. His trial began this week.
In addition to those, two recent high-profile attacks by right-wing conspiracy theorists this year shook lawmakers and government workers across the country. In June, a Christian nationalist murdered a senior Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota, and wounded a second Democrat. In August, a gunman obsessed with COVID-19 conspiracies sprayed gunfire at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, killing a police officer.
Since January, at least 21 people have been killed in political violence incidents, 14 of them in an attack in New Orleans by an assailant who claimed loyalty to the Daesh group early on New Year’s Day.
In July, a group of at least 11 militants in black military-style clothing attacked an immigration detention center in Texas, the Justice Department said. The group set off fireworks, spray-painted “traitor” and “ICE Pig” on vehicles, and shot a responding police officer in the neck, wounding him, while another sprayed gunfire at detention guards, the FBI said.
Since returning to office, Trump has scaled back efforts to counter domestic extremism, redirecting resources toward immigration enforcement and citing the southern border as the top security threat.
Jensen, the University of Maryland researcher who tracks violence for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, said the future appears grim.
“This is an administration that, whether you agree with it or not, has made profound changes to this country in the eight months it’s been in office,” he said. “Some people love it, some people hate it. The people that hate it are starting to act out. People who love it are going to act out against those people that hate it, and it becomes a vicious spiral that could lead us into something really, really bad.”
Entertainment
Prince Harry meets with his dad King Charles during U.K. visit for the first time in 19 months
London — Prince Harry made a rare trip back to the United Kingdom this week, and while most of the visit was filled with public events at charities the Duke of Sussex supports, he also met with his father, King Charles III, for the first time since February 2024.
Harry has said previously that he wants to rebuild his relationship with his family, which has been strained since he and his wife Meghan formally stepped down from their roles as working royals and moved to California.
This meeting was at Buckingham Palace, the monarch’s official residence in London. CBS News has been told they met privately, for tea, but that all other details of the encounter were private.
Speaking to reporters at an event later, Prince Harry said only that his father was “doing great” amid his ongoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.
While Harry hasn’t been a “working royal” for a couple years, he seemed keen to show on this visit to his home nation that he is still prince charming.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty
The four-day visit was a clear effort to show he hasn’t lost any love for the causes he holds dear, including supporting sick children and wounded military veterans.
Absent on this trip were Harry’s wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and their children, Archie and Lilibet.
In an interview with CBS News’ partner network BBC News in May, Harry said he couldn’t envision bringing them all back to the U.K. with him since he has lost a legal bid to have his downgraded state security detail restored.
Harry said his battle with the U.K. government to get full state-security restored for himself and his family during visits back to Britain caused a rift between himself and his father.
“Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile,” he told the BBC.
That reconciliation may have begun on Wednesday. Harry arrived at Buckingham Palace in the afternoon and was seen leaving less than an hour later.
Ben Montgomery/Getty 
The father and son relationship is not the only bond that has been strained by the circumstances of Harry and Meghan’s departure — and the prince’s tell-all book “Spare,” and their interviews, and a documentary, in which they were highly critical of their treatment at the hands of the royal family.
It has been even longer since Harry met with his brother, Prince William, who is next in line to sit on the British throne.
This week, Prince William and Harry appeared at charity events at the same time, only about 10 miles from each other. But those who follow the royal family say they remain far apart.
“William and Harry haven’t seen each other in person since 2022, since the late queen’s funeral. And I believe they haven’t spoken personally for the same period. So, there’s been no contact,” Roya Nikkhah, the royal editor for the Sunday Times newspaper, told CBS News on Tuesday. “There’s no chance that William and Harry are going to meet up anytime soon… There is no desire on either side to do that. You know, the brothers haven’t seen each other for such a long time and relations are as bad as they’ve ever been — non-existent.”
When the psychological thriller The Man in My Basement, starring Willem Dafoe and Corey Hawkins, hits theatres on Friday, director Nadia Latif hopes the audience will leave questioning who has written history.
“I want people to be thinking about who tells them stories … and actually to do their own kind of investigation into what they believe their place in the world to be,” Latif told Reuters following the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The movie, which is Latif’s feature directorial debut and an adaptation of a Walter Mosley novel of the same name, follows the story of a young Black man whose life is on the brink of crumbling. He is about to lose his family’s home when a stranger knocks on his door with a bizarre request — to rent his basement for a hefty sum.
Dafoe, who plays the mysterious tenant, said it did not take much thinking after he read the script to know he wanted to be a part of the film.
“I liked the story and I liked how it’s able to discuss certain things that are in the air of concern to me,” he told Reuters.
“Once (Latif and I) started talking, I realized I was deficient in some of my knowledge of some of the things that are talked about in the film, and I needed to be educated … and she was great at that.”
Throughout the film, Dafoe and Hawkins’ characters face off in a series of tense monologues, all set in the dingy basement, that confront themes of race, privilege, and history.
“I hope that people do feel unsettled by it. I think there’s some really kind of big, ugly things that are discussed within the film,” Latif said.
Selena Gomez has recently revealed the reason why she reprised her role in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.
During an interview with Allure, the American actress and singer candidly discussed her experience of filming the series and its reboot.
Recalling when she was 15 years old, the actress said, “I was in these crucial years of my brain developing,” referring to the series’ premiere in October 2007.
Talking about the cast members of the series, she continued, “And all of those people that are on the show with us have grown and evolved, and I want them to be in my life.”
Gomez plays Alex Russo, the main protagonist and a rebellious middle child who struggles with her wizard training in the series alongside David Henrie, Jennifer Stone, Jake T. Austin, and David DeLuise.
Referring to her guest appearance in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, she told the publication, “I think that’s why I always go back. I genuinely feel like I owe a big part of my life to that show.”
Meanwhile, the Only Murders in the Building actress shared that her 12-year-old half-sister, Gracie, from her mother’s second marriage, is watching the reboot.
Before concluding, Selena Gomez said, “It’s a home. It’s safe. My sister just gets a kick out of it, so half the reason I’m doing it is for her.”
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place season 2 kicks off with a two-episode premiere on Friday, September 12, 2025.
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Prince Harry meets with his dad King Charles during U.K. visit for the first time in 19 months
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