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Although the current year was already shaping up to be the worst year in modern history regarding the post-1945 rules-based world order, the past week proved to be its most destructive week yet. The Israeli government further ignored obligations toward global agreements by sending 10 fighter jets to Qatar, bombing representatives from Hamas participating in ceasefire talks in Doha. The final significant platform aimed at dialogue may now have vanished completely.

At least 19 Russian drones breached Poland’s airspace. In an unprecedented move, allied military aircraft were deployed to counter hostile objects inside a Nato country. Whether the incursion resulted from an error or deliberate probing from Russia, as western experts believe, this was “the closest we have been to open conflict after WWII,” the Polish leader, the head of government, stated.

And then, a prominent conservative voice, a firebrand conservative activist and close Donald Trump ally, was assassinated while addressing university attendees and Maga supporters on a campus in Utah. Without evidence of the shooter’s identity or motives, the former president quickly accused “those on the radical left,” claiming they for using language “directly responsible to acts of terror that we’re seeing in our country today.”

When questioned about the divided nation might reconcile following the murder, Trump said he was indifferent”. The reasoning provided proved alarming: “The radicals on the right are radical because they don’t want to see crime … The radicals on the left pose the real threat – being vicious and horrible and politically savvy.” This is how political division hardens into group mentality. Thus the spiral of hatred rush headlong into irreversible conflict.

Actually, over 75% of deaths linked to extremism across America in the past decade have come from rightwing extremists, while left-wing radicals responsible for only a fraction of these incidents. The former president denounced political violence in general the following day – but did not acknowledge the recent spate of attacks targeting liberal figures, including several killings. From his perspective, the problem is always “them”, never the loyal supporters constituting his base.

The political and cultural aftershocks of Kirk’s death are certain to emerge in the coming weeks, but the biggest danger amid deep divisions is that this event becomes the historical parallel of our age. The deliberate burning which occurred in early 1933 signaled Germany’s shift from fragile democracy to outright dictatorship. Hitler, freshly installed as chancellor, seized the moment to eliminate the freedoms of the Weimar constitution – expression, press, association, assembly.

“Anyone who stands in our way shall be eliminated,” he said, surveying the damaged structure. Numerous leftist activists were jailed, including all 81 Communist deputies within the legislature. Once opposition was suppressed, the Nazis quickly cemented control.

Within modern America, Kirk’s death has gripped the country, energizing political bases and loyalists, a fact he recognizes. The white supremacist, a controversial commentator, clamoured for the arrest of every Democratic politician, openly claiming the murder as a pivotal Reichstag fire moment.

In truth, here is the event that could rescue a struggling administration scarred by significant declines in employment figures, currency devaluation, and real estate turmoil. The former president grieved as though he were family, yet his language suggested this would be focused equally on targeting opponents rather than justice. Immediately following the assassination, Trump promised to pursue all individuals of those who contributed to this atrocity … including the organisations that fund and support it.” He specifically mentioned a billionaire philanthropist, a donor to liberal causes and Democrat donor. He is dangerous,” Trump told NBC News, he “should be put in jail.”

The reasons for Kirk’s killing remains unclear. Ideological leanings of the suspect, a young individual, seem confused as those of another recent perpetrator, the 20 year old who attempted to assassinate Trump in Pennsylvania. Does this represent left-wing extremism attacking the radical right – or rather an obscure online culture of online niches spilling into the real world? The slogans engraved upon ammunition shells at the scene appear unlike an ideological manifesto and more like a mix of immature jokes and virtual world allusions.

But it is hard not to fear that the repression of dissenting scholars, legal professionals, media workers, government employees, military officers, and judges across the country may increase. Already, online responses resulted in a wave of terminations and US state department officials have cautioned non-citizens not to praise or joking about Kirk’s assassination, instructing consulates to take “appropriate action” toward individuals engaging in such behavior.

Trump has long thrived on chaos and disorder. Where real crises do not exist, he fabricates them – like nonexistent crime waves in Los Angeles, Washington DC and Chicago. Fake chaos advances his ambitions. Currently, he possesses chaos on a silver platter. It is understandable he couldn’t care less if the nation comes together.

The shooting offers an ideal justification for tightening his grip, muzzling opposition, and centralizing authority – so that his successors may inherit full state control, regardless of personal appeal, merit or mandate. Ultimately, all authoritarian regimes must be established initially; once entrenched, it is simpler to maintain.

Liberal democracy and international frameworks are far from perfect, but they have delivered stability, advancement and prosperity – the very opposite of authoritarianism. Implying that the US, the architect of the postwar order, might rapidly descend into complete dictatorship, its leaders thinking historical extremist mindsets, may seem far-fetched.

But from another vantage point, it is not far-fetched at all. Totalitarianism was still within living memory during the upbringing even at the heart of contemporary Western nations were growing up. From Belgium to Bulgaria, numerous households retain memories of fatalities, destruction, hatred and destitution that authoritarianism leaves behind. If Americans want to save their near future, they should examine our recent past.