In an article for The Bulwark published Sunday, journalist Jonathan Cohn argued that President Donald Trump’s recent decisions, including halting work on a Rhode Island offshore wind project, contradict his own stated priorities: making America energy‑independent, lowering living costs, and helping working‑class Americans.

Cohn focused on Revolution Wind, a large-scale clean energy project that was about 80 percent complete when the administration issued a stop‑work order. The official reason was a need for a new national security review, but Cohn pointed out the administration has not explained what those concerns are or why prior reviews weren’t enough.

For workers such as those in Ironworkers Local 37, the order threatens jobs, investment in training, and higher utility bills. Cohn noted that this decision, and others like it, appear driven not by policy calculations but by Trump’s opposition to renewables, personal grievances, or political symbolism.

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He added: "The other self-destructive element of Trump’s economic policy is the way he’s cutting off investment in future growth. That includes his cuts to biomedical and STEM research. And it includes the way he’s treating clean energy too."

Cohn further argued that these kinds of policy moves have wider economic costs. He cited rising inflation, slumping consumer confidence, reduced employment, and the erosion of investment in clean energy, research, and industries of the future.

"It’s not just the agenda. It’s also the shambolic, vibes-based way he’s pursuing it," the article said of Trump.

The author highlighted tariffs as raising prices for goods, and noted that many clean energy and manufacturing projects, even in Republican‑leaning states, are being cancelled or postponed.

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Cohn warned that by undermining investment in renewables and science, the administration is damaging long‑term growth, weakening national security, and counteracting claims of helping working Americans.

Jason Furman, a Harvard economist, told The Bulwark: “The economy has more than a whiff of stagflation but there’s no reason to believe it will necessarily be very severe,” noting that while things look concerning, the severity is not inevitable.

He added: “But anything could happen with so much uncertainty not just about economic policy but also about our ability to measure the economy at a very high frequency.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) admitted Sunday that right‑wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot at a university in Utah on Wednesday, had “said some very inflammatory things, and some corners of the web that’s all people have heard.”

During an appearance on CNN Sunday morning, Cox told host Dana Bash, "But he also said some other things about forgiveness. He said some amazing things about when things get dark, putting down our phones, reading scriptures, going to church, talking to our neighbors. He said that we have to engage and that's what I appreciate most about Charlie Kirk."

The governor said there are elements who benefit from radicalizing the nation, and added, "I'm not one of those."

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"We need to find out how this happened and we need to stop it from happening."

Cox made these remarks in response to Bash's question about MAGA commentator Steve Bannon calling the governor "a national embarrassment in a time where we need action."

Bannon and other conservative activists have also been critical of FBI Director Kash Patel's handling of the investigation into Kirk's murder.

"He tells us to sing Kumbaya and hold hands with Antifa. This is a time to declare Antifa a domestic terrorist organization and have the FBI go kick down some doors," Bannon said of Cox during his recent podcast.

Reacting to his comment, the governor said, "Well, again Mr. Bannon is angry and rightfully so. And I'm not saying we have to just sing Kumbaya and hold hands. What I'm saying is we actually should disagree. I think Charlie represented that better than anyone."

Cox has kept a notably measured tone in public remarks since the killing of Kirk, resisting the rush to assign blame even as tensions soared. From the outset he called for unity and responsibility rather than inflammatory rhetoric, urging people to think deeply about how political discourse has deteriorated.

At a news conference Friday, after authorities announced that a suspect was in custody, Cox acknowledged his own sorrow and anger, but repeatedly emphasized the need to “turn down the temperature.”

Meanwhile, conservative social media accounts are criticizing the governor for his Sunday remarks. Liberal commentators, on the other hand, pointed out that MSNBC contributor Matthew Dowd was fired for making a similar remark.

Some MAGA accounts went on to call the Utah governor a "closet liberal."

RedWave Press, a conservative digital platform, wrote on the social platform X: "PATHETIC: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R): 'Charlie [Kirk] said some very inflammatory things and some corners of the web that’s all people have heard.' How is preaching Biblical values 'inflammatory?' This makes my bl00d boil!"

Author Shannon Watts wrote: "Matthew Dowd was fired for saying this."

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In an article for Politico published Sunday, reporters Jessica Piper and Aaron Pellish noted that while politically motivated violence in the United States is increasing — targeting everything from state governors to Supreme Court justices — each new attack is leaving less of an imprint on the public consciousness, as Americans grow quickly desensitized to such incidents.

Piper and Pellish noted that though threats and violent acts continue to rise in frequency and severity, the attention they command, both in media coverage (newspaper front pages) and in public interest (as measured by Google searches), is waning rapidly.

They added that even shocking events like the recent assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk or the shooting of legislative figures grab headlines but slip out of view much faster than similar incidents in previous years.

This pattern, they warned, suggests a kind of civic immune system building up: exposure to political violence reduces the emotional and cognitive reaction it elicits.

"Each attack may seem shocking, but the incidents are leaving less of a mark on the national consciousness," the report said.

Experts cited in the article say that when people see violence repeatedly, their early shock begins to dull, and the societal impulse to demand change fades.

Matt Dallek, a political historian at The George Washington University, told Politico: "You’d have to go back to the pre-Civil War era to find a similar level of threat and acts of physical violence against lawmakers."

They also pointed out that the scale and targets of political violence have expanded — books, social media, incendiary rhetoric, threats, even arson — moving well beyond rare, exceptional events.

Yet despite this escalation, the public's heightened exposure seems to be breeding a kind of passive normalization rather than resistance.

In an article for The Hill published Sunday, Kellye Y. Testy, executive director of the Association of American Law Schools, and Austen Parrish, dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, argued that the U.S. judiciary faces a growing crisis of legitimacy, driven by increasingly intense threats, political attacks, and efforts to delegitimize judges.

They warned that these pressures aren’t just parties complaining about decisions, but rather a deeper assault on the independence of the courts — something essential to democracy.

"American judges are under attack. Approximately one-third of the federal judiciary have received threats over the last year, and the U.S. Marshals Service reports more than 500 threats were made against federal judges over the past 11 months, with a noticeable spike in recent months. The sheer number of threats, including to judges’ families, are unprecedented," they wrote.

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Testy and Parrish argued that many of the attacks come from high‐ranking executive branch officials when courts rule against administration policy, and from Democrats and Republicans alike when they believe justices have acted beyond their preferred political lines. These attacks, they insisted, are not just garden‐variety political heat, but part of a darker escalation in rhetoric, public delegitimization, and disregard for constitutional limits.

They further argued that the implications go far beyond the most visible federal or Supreme Court cases. They pointed out that tens of millions of cases are handled each year in state courts and family courts, contract and property disputes, criminal law, wills, insurance, traffic violations — matters that touch almost every American’s life.

The authors noted that when the judiciary is seen as politicized, under attack, or as lacking legitimacy, trust erodes even in those local and everyday contexts, with ripple effects for individuals, businesses, governments, and for social order more broadly.

To counter this trend, Testy and Parrish urged not just condemnation, but active defense of judicial independence. They called on lawyers, legal educators, bar associations, law firms, and legal organizations to more forcefully correct misinformation, reject ad hominem attacks and violent threats, emphasize competence and integrity rather than ideology in judicial appointments, and help law students and the public understand the importance of courts operating impartially under the rule of law.

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The legal experts argued that ongoing attacks discourage qualified people from seeking the bench, worsening vacancies and undermining fairness of outcomes.

"Make no mistake: what’s occurring in high-profile cases risks having ripple effects in other federal, state and local courts. Our legal system depends on judicial independence and integrity, and it doesn’t function if judges are targets of crass political opportunism. Attempts to intimidate and undermine judges threatens a crisis of legitimacy even on issues that have nothing to do with national politics, jeopardizing well-functioning courts serving families, local governments, organizations and businesses of all sizes," they wrote.

Conservative leaders who initially rushed to blame “radical left” ideology in right‑wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing have somewhat softened their tone since the suspect, 22‑year‑old Tyler Robinson of Utah, was identified.

In an article for the Guardian published Saturday, reporter Lauren Aratani noted that while they continue to condemn liberal ideas broadly, many conservatives shifted from harsh ideological indictments to more personal, cautious statements as new details emerged.

According to reports, Robinson's parents are registered Republicans. His own political leanings are still unclear. Authorities found social‑media photos showing him and his family posing with guns.

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The alleged shooter was reportedly raised in a suburban area near St. George, Utah, in what appeared to be a supportive home. He achieved top marks on standardized exams, kept a perfect GPA, and had strong academic standing, as shown by posts from family and friends.

After finishing high school in 2021, he shared a video celebrating his acceptance at Utah State University along with a merit-based scholarship covering four years.

However, he only attended Utah State for one semester before taking a leave and did not return.

Still, some conservatives on social media are claiming he was "radicalized" at the university.

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Meanwhile, Utah’s Gov. Spencer Cox (R) told investigators Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” citing but not detailing what led to that conclusion.

Early reporting claimed bullet casings from the suspect’s gun were engraved with trans‑and‑antifascist ideology, but media outlets later retracted or corrected some of those claims; what remains is that most of the inscriptions are reportedly memes or video‑game references.

Aratani noted that after the suspect’s identity was made public, some conservative critics shifted to emphasizing aspects like mental health, religious faith, or the need for prayer and compassion, rather than solely ideology. Earlier, many were calling for violence and revenge.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R‑S.C.), for instance, moved from demanding the death penalty to urging prayer for Robinson’s soul.

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On Wednesday, the South Carolina Republican said “it’s time to bring back the death penalty” following Kirk’s murder.

But when his alleged murderer's identity was revealed on Friday, Mace said that Kirk “would want us to pray for such an evil and lost individual like Tyler Robinson to find Jesus Christ”.

“We will try to do the same,” she wrote on the social platform X.

The article also noted that White nationalist Nick Fuentes pushed back against suggestions that Robinson was a “Groyper,” a term for one of his followers, after reports surfaced about engravings on the bullets from the alleged shooter’s gun that fueled speculation about his beliefs.

The Groypers have long taken issue with Kirk, frequently heckling him at his events over the perception that Kirk is too centrist.

On social media, Fuentes declared, “Currently being framed for the murder of Charlie Kirk,” though in a streaming video he also said, “I pray to God there is no further violence.”

Despite the softening toward Robinson personally, many conservatives are still using Kirk’s death to attack liberal ideas and institutions, arguing that the broader political culture tolerates or even encourages hateful rhetoric, especially around gender identity and transgender issues.

Aratani highlighted how political narratives can shift when more facts come out: when the suspect was only a statistic or ideological cipher, criticism was sweeping. Once a specific background of the alleged shooter became identified, some of the most extreme rhetoric became more measured.

In an editorial published Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal called on President Donald Trump to display leadership and restore civility to American discourse in the wake of the killing of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, 31, the founder of Turning Point USA, was shot in the neck during a campus event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon, part of his “American Comeback” tour. The shooter struck from a rooftop roughly 200 yards away, and Kirk later succumbed to his wounds.

The editorial noted that this incident took place against a backdrop of mounting bloodshed in the nation’s political life — from prior assassination attempts on Trump in 2024, to the shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers in June, to the firebombing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) residence earlier this year.

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Yet, more than a tragic statistic, the death of Kirk — a figure known for inviting debate in the most polarized settings — strikes at the heart of democratic ideals, the article noted.

The WSJ editorial board urged Trump, which it noted is both a survivor of violence and a longtime political ally of Kirk, to use his platform to call a halt to this descent.

"Political figures from both parties denounced the attack on Kirk Wednesday, as they should. But for Mr. Trump, while this is a moment of personal sadness, it is also an opportunity for leadership," the editorial said.

They wrote that Kirk’s commitment, to rigorous, face-to-face debate amid an era of “cancel culture” and campus uproar, embodied a dwindling tradition.

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The newspaper said Trump "can help the country rise above this madness."

"He can say that this is the moment when the descent into political violence must stop, not least in honor of Charlie Kirk’s willingness to win by debate, not a resort to thuggery or violence," the article said.