ideology

The suspect in the assassination of the conservative American activist Charlie Kirk espoused left-wing views, Utah’s governor has said, amid heightened tensions and recriminations over surging political violence in the United States.

In an interview with NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the arrested suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, had a “leftist ideology” despite growing up in a conservative family.

“We can confirm that, again, according to family and people that we’re interviewing, he does come from a conservative family. But his ideology was very different than his family, and so that’s part of it,” Cox said.

Cox, a Republican, did not elaborate on Robinson’s suspected motive, but said the suspect had spent time in “dark places” online.

“We do know, and again, this has been well publicised, that this was a very normal young man, a very smart young man,” Cox said.

According to public records, Robinson registered as a nonpartisan voter in Utah, while his parents are registered Republicans.

In a separate interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Cox said the information about Robinson’s left-wing views had come from interviews with family members and friends.

“I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If this was MAGA, and a radicalised MAGA person, I would be saying that as well,” Cox said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.

“That’s not what they’re sharing.”

Cox also confirmed reports that Robinson had a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate, who was transitioning from male to female.

“This partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening, and is working with investigators right now,” he said.

Cox said he was not aware if Robinson’s relationship had any relevance to the assassination, but that authorities were investigating.

“We’re trying to figure it out. I know everybody wants to know exactly why, and point the finger, and I totally get that. I do too,” he said.

Kirk, the leader and cofounder of youth activist group Turning Post USA and a close ally of Trump, was shot dead on Wednesday during a speaking appearance at Utah Valley University.

A key figure on the political right, Kirk was described in media profiles as a “rock star” among young conservatives, and played a pivotal role in driving the youth vote in Trump’s November re-election.

A polarising figure, Kirk was lionised by conservatives as a defender of traditional values and a champion of free speech, but seen by liberals as an incendiary figure who stoked hatred towards racial minorities and members of the LGBTQ community.

While both Republican and Democratic leaders have condemned Kirk’s murder, the killing has drawn attention to the extreme political polarisation pitting everyday Americans against one another.

In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, some left-leaning Americans took to social media to celebrate, prompting outrage from conservatives and the launch of online campaigns to get people deemed disrespectful of Kirk’s memory fired from their jobs.

On the right, some figures invoked the rhetoric of retribution and war.

“If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is to fight or die,” tech billionaire Elon Musk said on X.

Trump, who swiftly denounced the rhetoric of the “radical left” after Kirk’s killing, has declined opportunities to stress the need for unity and avoid partisan blame since the assassination.

Speaking on Fox News’s Fox & Friends on Friday, Trump sought to paint left-wing extremism as worse than extremism on the right.

“The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said.

“The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.”

In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump said that while he would like to see the country heal, “we’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did”.

Kirk’s assassination has prompted fears of further violence amid a documented increase in politically motivated attacks.

According to a tally by the Reuters news agency, the US experienced at least 300 instances of political violence between the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol and the 2024 presidential election, marking it out as the worst period for such violence since the 1970s.

WASHINGTON — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Sunday that investigators are not ready to discuss the motive behind the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. But he said the 22-year-old suspect had left-leaning political beliefs and disliked the conservative influencer.

“Clearly a leftist ideology,” Cox told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” On CNN’s “State of the Union,” he said, “That information comes from the people around him, his family members and friends.”

Cox said that Tyler Robinson, who was arrested last week, is “not cooperating” and that friends paint a picture of someone radicalized in the dark corners of the internet. “Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on,” Cox said on NBC. “Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.”

Cox, a Republican who has urged all partisans to tone down their rhetoric following the attack, added: “I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If this was a radicalized MAGA person, I’d be saying that as well.”

Cox stressed on several Sunday morning news shows, however, that investigators are still trying to pin down a motive for the attack on Kirk, a father of two and confidant of President Trump who was killed Wednesday while on one of his signature college speaking tours at Utah Valley University in Orem. The governor said more information may come out once Robinson appears in court Tuesday.

The governor said Robinson’s partner is transgender, which some politicians have pointed to as a sign the suspect was targeting Kirk for his anti-trans views. But authorities have not said whether it is relevant as they investigate Robinson’s motive.

“The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female,” Cox said. “I can say that he has been incredibly cooperative, this partner has been very cooperative, had no idea that this was happening.”

Investigators have spoken to Robinson’s relatives and carried out a search warrant at his family’s home in Washington, Utah, about 240 miles southwest of Utah Valley University.

State records show Robinson is registered to vote but not affiliated with a political party and is listed as inactive, meaning he did not vote in the two most recent general elections. His parents are registered Republicans.

Ammunition found with the weapon used to kill Kirk was engraved with taunting, antifascist and meme-culture messages. Court records show that one bullet casing had the message, “Hey, fascist! Catch!”

Robinson grew up around St. George, in the southwestern corner of Utah between Las Vegas and natural landmarks including Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks.

He became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church, at a young age, church spokesperson Doug Andersen said.

Robinson has two younger brothers, and his parents have been married for about 25 years, according to social media posts. Online activity by Robinson’s mother reflects an active family that took vacations to Disneyland, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Alaska.

Like many in that part of Utah, they frequently spent time outdoors — boating, fishing, riding ATVs, zip-lining and target shooting. A 2017 post shows the family visiting a military facility and posing with assault rifles. A young Robinson is seen smiling as he grips the handles of a .50-caliber heavy machine gun.

A high school honor roll student who scored in the 99th percentile nationally on standardized tests, he was admitted to Utah State University in 2021 on a prestigious academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter that was posted to a family member’s social media account.

But he attended for only one semester, according to the university. He is currently enrolled as a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St. George.

Riccardi and Boak write for the Associated Press and reported from Denver and Washington, respectively.

The Trump administration has canceled a sexual education grant to California worth about $12.3 million on the grounds that it included “radical gender ideology” after state officials refused to revise the materials.

The funding helps pay for sex education programs in juvenile justice facilities, homeless shelters and foster care group homes, as well as some schools, reaching an estimated 13,000 youths per year through 20 agencies.

State officials did not have an immediate response Thursday morning to the federal announcement, which was linked to a 60-day compliance deadline.

“California’s refusal to comply with federal law and remove egregious gender ideology from federally funded sex-ed materials is unacceptable,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison, of the Administration for Children and Families. “The Trump Administration will not allow taxpayer dollars to be used to indoctrinate children. Accountability is coming for every state that uses federal funds to teach children delusional gender ideology.”

State officials had taken the position that its materials are accurate and did not violate the terms of the federal grant.

California is not being accused of failing to carry out the abstinence and contraception instruction funded by the grant. Rather, the state has included additional content that the Trump administration defines as objectionable and “outside the scope” of the grant’s purpose.

A June 20 letter to a senior California official cited, as one of several examples, sample wording from a middle school lesson:

“We’ve been talking during class about messages people get on how they should act as boys and girls — but as many of you know, there are also people who don’t identify as boys or girls, but rather as transgender or gender queer. This means that even if they were called a boy or a girl at birth and may have body parts that are typically associated with being a boy or a girl, on the inside, they feel differently.”

The California Department of Public Health responded in an Aug. 19 letter that it “will not make any such modifications at this time” because its materials already had been approved by the same agency that is now demanding change. In addition, officials described the materials as “medically accurate” and relevant to the instructional goals. California also challenged whether the Trump administration had authority to cancel the grant in this manner.

The amount of money at stake is small compared with other issues that are being litigated between California and the Trump administration, but the dispute embodies now-familiar legal parameters that have resulted in more than three dozen lawsuits.

The grant cancellation also represents another front in the conflict between the Trump administration and California related to LGBTQ+ issues. These culture war-fueled disputes date back substantially to Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order that recognized two sexes, male and female, a dictum that has moved across all departments under his jurisdiction.

In youth sports, this divide has unfolded with Trump threatening to withhold vast sums of federal funding unless California bars transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.

California has responded by creating dual-award categories for women’s sporting events, so that the success of a trans athlete, in a track-and-field competition for example, would not prevent another athlete from winning an award. The compromise does not address the issue of trans athletes in women’s team sports, such as volleyball.

The Trump administration does not accept these steps taken by California as compliance with its directives.

Within the classroom, the Trump policy opposes curriculum that allows for more than a binary — male or female — expression of gender. Historically, federal authority over local curriculum has been limited, but Trump has been quick to use federal funding as leverage.

In this case, it’s the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that has been applying pressure.

The children and families department administers a grant program that annually distributes $75 million nationally “to educate adolescents on … both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS,” according to federal statute.

For a three-year period, through the next fiscal year, California has been allotted funding worth more than $18.2 million, according to Health and Human Services. Under the federal decision, the state is expected to lose $12.3 million that it has not yet received, covering multiple years.

The federal grant supports the California Personal Responsibility Education Program, or CA PREP, which provides “comprehensive sexual health education to adolescents via effective, evidence-based or evidence-informed program models,” according to a statement from the state.

“Data show that participants who completed CA PREP had a better understanding of sexual and reproductive health topics and improved health outcomes,” the health department stated.

The Trump administration does not deny that the federal government had previously approved the California materials, but said the Biden administration “erred in allowing PREP grants to be used to teach students gender ideology.”

California law requires school districts to provide students with comprehensive sexual health education, along with information about HIV prevention, at least once in high school and once in middle school.

The Trump administration has asserted complete authority over federal grants, including those in progress. Many of its grant cancellations are being challenged in court. Some have been allowed to take effect; others have been blocked. In some instances, Congress has narrowly approved grant cancellations, including for foreign aid and to support the public broadcasting network.