The White House issued a particularly harsh statement accusing the Democratic Party and its supporters of supporting criminality. The post on the official White House X network account contained a single sentence: "Democrats are pro-crime. Period." The move immediately sparked a wave of reactions and confirmed that the issue of public security has become one of the main poles of the political battle ahead of the upcoming elections. As the AP pointed out, the statement was published in the immediate aftermath of two events that have strongly shaken American society.
The first was the murder of Charlie Kirk, a well-known conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA. As reported by Reuters, Kirk was shot and killed on September 10, 2025, during a public appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem, where he was lecturing as part of his "The American Comeback Tour."
According to police reports, the shot came from a distant building and hit Kirk in the neck. He subsequently succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The incident was captured on video and went viral immediately. According to the New York Times, around 3,000 people were present at the event, raising questions about the security of similar public appearances and the risk of political violence in the country.
The second case to which the White House referred was the murder of twenty-three-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutskaya. As reported by ABC News, Zarutskaya was randomly attacked and stabbed by a man named Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. on 22 August 2025 while riding a train in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to investigators, the attack occurred completely without warning - the perpetrator stabbed the woman three times in the chest with a knife.
As confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice, not only have state first-degree murder charges been brought against Brown, but also a federal indictment for "an act causing death on the mass transit system". The Washington Post recalled that Zarutskaya came to the United States to escape the war in Ukraine, studied English and worked in a pizzeria with the goal of becoming a veterinary assistant. Her personal story, which symbolized hope and a new beginning, ended tragically within minutes on a city train.
President Donald Trumpas the Wall Street Journal pointed out, used the two murders to illustrate the failure of democratic politics on security issues. In his words, it is precisely "soft approach to crime", including the abolition of cash bail and the repeated release of repeat offenders, has enabled offenders to be set free. Moreover, in Brown's case, it turned out that he had more than a dozen prior arrests, which became a key argument for Republican leaders.
On the other hand, critics of this narrative, including analysts quoted by the Los Angeles Times, warn against simplifying the narrative and making blanket accusations against an entire political party. They point out that crime has deeper roots - from mental illness to poverty to deficiencies in the social welfare and justice systems. They also stress that the political exploitation of tragedies can contribute to further polarisation of society.
But the facts remain: both the murder of Charlie Kirk and the death of Iryna Zarutska have shocked the public and reopened the debate about how the United States approaches crime, how it ensures the safety of public events and transport systems, and the extent to which individual cases become part of electoral strategies. As Reuters summarized, both tragedies quickly became not only personal catastrophes for the victims' families, but also political symbols that will resonate throughout the United States in the months ahead.
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