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Although the current year was already shaping up to be the most challenging period in modern history regarding the international system established after WWII, recent days proved to be its most destructive week yet. The Israeli government deepened its disregard for international conventions by sending a squadron of warplanes to Qatar, bombing representatives from Hamas engaged in peace negotiations in Doha. The last meaningful forum aimed at dialogue appears to have gone up in smoke.

At least 19 Russian drones violated the territorial skies of Poland. For the first time, Nato airpower was engaged to counter hostile objects within the borders of a member nation. Whether the incursion was a technical mishap or deliberate probing by Moscow, according to analysts in the West, it represented “the closest we have been to open conflict since the second world war,” the Polish leader, the head of government, stated.

And then, Charlie Kirk, a firebrand conservative activist and staunch supporter of Trump, was shot dead while addressing college students and Maga supporters on a campus in Utah. In the absence of proof regarding the perpetrator or motives, Trump immediately blamed “those on the radical left,” claiming they of rhetoric that led directly for the terrorism that we’re seeing across the nation now.”

Asked how the divided nation might reconcile after Kirk’s assassination, Trump said he “couldn’t care less”. His explanation for that was chilling: Right-wing extremists are radical because they don’t want to see crime … The radicals on the left are the problem – and they are dangerous and despicable and strategically clever.” In this manner polarisation transforms into tribalism. This is how cycles of hostility rush headlong into irreversible conflict.

In reality, over 75% of deaths linked to extremism in the US in the past decade were perpetrated by individuals on the far right, with the radical left responsible for just a small number of them. Trump condemned political violence in general the following day – yet omitted mention of a series of recent of attacks targeting liberal figures, including several killings. From his perspective, the issue remains always “them”, never the loyal supporters who make up his base.

The political and cultural aftershocks of Kirk’s death are certain to emerge in the coming weeks, yet the gravest risk amid deep divisions involves this event becomes the Reichstag fire of our age. That arson attack on 27 February 1933 marked Germany’s pivot from fragile democracy to outright dictatorship. The Nazi leader, newly appointed as head of state, seized the moment to extinguish basic rights under previous governance – expression, media independence, organizational liberty, public gathering.

“Those opposing us shall be eliminated,” he declared, surveying the arsoned building. Numerous leftist activists were jailed, even elected representatives within the legislature. With the left neutralised, the ruling party quickly cemented control.

Within modern America, Kirk’s death has gripped the country, galvanising the Maga movement and Trump’s supporters, a fact he recognizes. The white supremacist, a controversial commentator, demanded detainment of every Democratic politician, explicitly labeling the killing as the movement’s turning point.

The reality is, this incident serves as a potential rescue an increasingly unpopular presidency scarred by significant declines in employment figures, currency devaluation, and a housing crisis. The former president grieved as though he were family, yet his language implied it might become focused equally on targeting opponents as justice. Immediately following the assassination, he vowed to pursue all individuals of those who contributed to this atrocity … even groups providing backing.” He singled out George Soros, the American-Hungarian philanthropist and Democrat donor. “He’s a bad guy,” he informed NBC News, he deserves imprisonment.”

The motive behind Kirk’s killing are still unknown. The political views of the suspect, a young individual, appear as muddled similar to Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20 year old who tried to kill Trump at a rally. Is this truly the radical left attacking right-wing figures – or is it an obscure online culture from internet forums entering reality? 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 suppression of dissenting scholars, legal professionals, journalists, government employees, armed forces members, and judges in the US may increase. Already, reactions on social media resulted in multiple instances of sackings and diplomatic staff have warned non-citizens not to praise or make light of Kirk’s assassination, directing embassies to take “appropriate action” toward individuals engaging in such behavior.

The former president has often prospered amid turmoil and instability. Where real crises do not exist, he invents scenarios – including imagined crime pandemics in Los Angeles, the capital and urban centers. Fake chaos fuels his power grab. Now he has been handed chaos on a silver platter. No wonder he couldn’t care less if the nation comes together.

The shooting provides the perfect pretext to strengthen control, silencing dissent, and centralizing authority – enabling future leaders to assume total governmental power, irrespective of charisma, qualifications or mandate. Ultimately, all authoritarian regimes has to be built first; once entrenched, it becomes far easier to uphold.

Liberal democracy and the rules-based global order have flaws, but they have delivered stability, advancement and economic growth – the very opposite of authoritarianism. Implying that America, the architect of the postwar order, might rapidly descend into full-blown autocracy, with rulers adopting historical extremist mindsets, may seem far-fetched.

However, alternatively, it is not far-fetched at all. Authoritarian rule was still within living memory when many of us even at the heart of contemporary Western nations were growing up. Across European states, numerous households have some history of fatalities, devastation, hatred and destitution that authoritarianism leaves behind. To safeguard coming years, they should examine our recent past.