During the manhunt for Tyler Robinson, the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, revealed he had been deep in a 33-hour prayer session for one thing: that Charlie Kirk’s killer would turn out to be an “outsider,” such as an immigrant.
There are many tragedies tied to Charlie Kirk’s murder. He is survived by a widow and two children. The U.S. is more polarized than ever. Even on the suspect’s side, it was reportedly Tyler Robinson’s father who chose to turn his son in, even as President Donald Trump was on television saying he hoped for the death penalty. An unimaginable feat, and a strong statement of the family’s commitment to justice, even when they were on the wrong end of it. These are the real tragedies to consider when reflecting on this murder – Governor Cox’s unanswered prayer is not one of them.
In a press conference flanked by the enigmatic FBI Director Kash Patel, Cox explained his reasoning. He admitted he had hoped the suspect would be an immigrant or someone from out of America, so that the nation could at least claim that murder was not among their values. With a defeated cadence, acknowledging he had been wrong, Cox told the press, “But it was one of us.”
The Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, just said, "For the last 33 hours, I had been praying that this person (who murdered Charlie Kirk) was from another country. That he was not one of us because we are not like that. But it was one of us." pic.twitter.com/WhJqIHnz7v
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) September 12, 2025
There is, of course, a way to interpret his statement without finding it inflammatory. During a tragedy, any reasonable person would prefer not to bear responsibility. Since this murder has been swept into the broader currents of identity politics, every group people identify with was secretly hoping the perpetrator wasn’t one of their own, knowing full well how Trump has been framing his gripes with DEI.
But identity politics is why this mess got this far in the first place, and Cox specifically hoping it was an immigrant is all kinds of wrong. While nothing he ever said could justify murder, Kirk built a career on pointing out which groups were “more likely” to commit crimes, and on drawing lines of difference. Ultimately, as this case has hopefully proven, people are people. Unpredictable and unique, in good ways and bad. You can never assume that a particular culture is more likely to commit a crime than another. Yes, crime statistics exist — but what those statistics miss is the context in which crimes are committed. And if inflammatory words lead to violence, perhaps it’s time to focus on handling differences in ways that don’t involve guns, rather than praying the shooter is from another country.
Trump was recently asked about Kirk’s death and how he was holding up in the immediate aftermath of losing someone he had called a friend. Trump responded that he was doing great and had already shifted his focus to his gestating White House ballroom. That statement, coupled with Governor Cox’s admission that he had been praying for the killer to be an immigrant, paints a larger picture of how the GOP’s aversion to empathy has left them unable to console a confused, increasingly divided nation.
The identity wars have only been sowing hate on both sides of the aisle, and it may be time to consider other alternatives to nation-building.
