Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Then

How many people recognize the name Herschel Grynszpan? Probably not a heck of a lot. I would bet almost no one who has not given serious study to the sources of the Holocaust knows who he was.

Herschel was a 17-year-old Jewish Polish boy who had learned that his family had been expelled, along with other Polish Jews residents in Germany, in 1938. These Jews were left penniless on the Polish side of the border.

The anti-semitism of the German right and the hardship it had caused to his family weighed heavily on the boy. In October of that same year, Hershel acquired a gun and, in an act of revenge, shot Ernst vom Rath, Third Secretary at the German embassy in Paris. Rath died soon after.

Within days of vom Rath’s death, Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels “delivered an inflammatory speech blaming the Jews [he claimed there was a “world Jewish conspiracy”] for the attack.” This was the signal for “a dramatic and devastating escalation of Nazi anti-Semitism.” There now began two nights of widespread “spontaneous” attacks against Jewish individuals and property throughout the lands under German control. This action is known as Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass).

In an accompanying act of collective punishment, 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. In addition, the German government imposed “a fine of 1 billion Reichsmarks on the Jewish population.” Collectively, this response marked a calculated escalation of the Nazi party’s aggression against the Jews.

Now

How many people recognize the name Tyler Robinson? Probably many thousands of Americans do right now but most will forget the name within months. Mass memory is short.

Tyler is a 22-year-old from the American state of Utah. He was a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St. George, Utah. He is also a man in love with a transgender woman (a former man now medically becoming a woman). The anti-LGBTQIA+ feelings in rightwing dominated states like Utah are palpable, and a lot of that sentiment was popularly pushed by a nationwide movement known as Turning Point USA. The head of this movement was a 31 year old man named Charlie Kirk. Kirk was a friend of and promoter of Donald Trump.

Charlie Kirk popularized Donald Trump’s political and social positions. In doing so, Kirk had made statements, over and over again, that led to accusations against him of misogyny, Islamophobia, and homophobia. In addition, he had made hate-filled statements against trans people. For instance, referring to them as “a throbbing middle finger to God” and “an abomination”.

Such statements weighed heavily on Tyler Robinson. He had recently told his lover that “I’ve had enough of his [Kirk’s] hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” Thus it was that Tyler picked up a rifle and, on 10 September 2025, shot Charlie Kirk while he was speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem. Kirk died soon thereafter.

Almost immediately President Trump and members of his administration announced a planned Republican assault on the “radical left” which they now blamed for Kirk’s death. “The radical left has done tremendous damage to the country,” Trump told reporters on 16 September 2025. Vice President Vance said he wanted to see a “crack down” on “radical left lunatics,” and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said he’d “use the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to disrupt networks that are responsible for provoking violence.” This was quickly followed by talk of “classifying some groups as domestic terrorists, ordering racketeering investigations and revoking tax-exempt status for progressive nonprofits.”

Finally, the Republican Congress is talking about a “Charlie Kirk Act” which would give the executive the power to decide “what does and does not constitute propaganda and untruth and administer penalties accordingly.” Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) moved to go from theory to practice by introducing into Congress the Charlie Kirk Act so as to “restore media accountability and safeguard freedom of speech” by denying government funding to any source of “[leftwing] propaganda targeted at American audiences.” This also backed Vice President Vance’s claim that there exists “an incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism” which is partially the reason “Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet. Kirk’s murder was the latest in a growing list of political attacks apparently motivated by extreme leftist rhetoric.” As it turns out this charge is much more accurate of rightwing extremists than those on the left. *

Tomorrow

The Trump administration’s response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination promised not so much a Kristallnacht as a possible replay of the Hitler’s rapid dismemberment of the Weimar Republic. The characterization of moderate progressive ideas and speech as “a national security threat’ can be understood as a first step.

The second step may not be far behind. The Democrats and Republicans in Congress are at loggerheads over the budget. The budget offered by President Trump would, among other things, do a lot of damage to the present federally supported health care system. The Democrats have the votes in the Senate to prevent this—but only at the risk of having the government shut down. One response to this possibility already put forward by Trump is a further round of purges of federal employees—that is a further dismemberment of the U.S. government.

The popular assumption is that neither the Democrats or the Republicans want the government shut down. But this is probably no longer the case. The president’s clear intent is to accrue more power and, it is beginning to look as if he, as well as his henchmen, see an opportunity here. He has refused to negotiate with Democratic leaders. If the government shuts down, will he declare a “national emergency”? And, if he does, what will follow beyond the promised purges? Keep in mind that Trump, just a few days ago (21 September 2025) at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, told the gathered thousands, “I hate my opponent[s] [the democrats] and I don’t want the best for them!”

A tragedy resembling yesterday’s looms large for tomorrow.

Notes.

Jeffrey St. Clair, “An Occurrence in Orem: Notes on the Murder of Charlie Kirk”. Counterpunch (15 September 2025.)                                                                            https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/09/15/an-occurence-in-orem-on-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk/

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