Donald Trump’s response to the killing of Charlie Kirk demonstrates how political violence can be reframed as partisan accusation. Before investigators had identified a suspect or established a motive, Trump declared the “radical left” responsible. He argued that progressives who compared conservative figures to Nazis had created a climate in which violence became likely. He then referred to “these terrorists.” The progression from political rhetoric to the language of terrorism illustrates how partisan categories are fused with terms normally reserved for organized violence.

The news from Washington this week has the texture of something already known to history. A president invoking little-used legal provisions to take control of a city’s police. Federal agents and National Guard troops on urban streets.

A police state’s essence is not constant visible repression, but the slow normalization of extraordinary powers until they become routine tools of governance, accepted without question.