A big talk about how the country moves forward

After the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, both
Republicans and Democrats called for unity and understanding —
but polarizing rhetoric has continued to escalate. President
Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other White House officials
have vowed to target the “radical left” for being politically
violent. Democratic officials have warned that the White House
may try to use the assassination to suppress speech. Those fears
may have been realized when ABC was threatened over late-night
host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about conservatives’ reaction to
Charlie Kirk’s killing. Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission, pressured the network to pull Kimmel
off the air indefinitely. How do Americans feel about a
government agency censoring speech that they don’t agree with?
Whose responsibility is it to turn down the temperature when it
comes to rhetoric and polarization? 


David Greene worked with country singer Ketch Secor of the band
Old Crow Medicine Show to produce a music documentary called
Louder Than Guns. Greene spent time with Secor, touring across
the country and hearing Americans’ reflections on gun violence
and gun rights. When FOX News host Trey Gowdy said that Americans
should have a conversation about preventing more gun violence,
his fellow conservatives said he should be ashamed. How do we
stop talking past each other during conversations about guns and
create an open dialogue?


Are Americans too enraged by each other to ever experience unity?
This week, a listener asked Left, Right and Center about
America’s history of political violence and if our panel thinks
anything has changed.