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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, the past week has been its most destructive week yet. Israel deepened its disregard for international conventions by sending a squadron of warplanes to Qatar, bombing representatives from Hamas participating in ceasefire talks in Doha. The last meaningful forum for diplomatic negotiation appears to have gone up in smoke.

At least 19 Russian drones breached Poland’s airspace. For the first time, Nato airpower were deployed against enemy targets within the borders of a member nation. Regardless of if the incursion resulted from an error or intentional testing by Moscow, according to analysts in the West, it represented the nearest the world has come to open conflict since the second world war,” the Polish leader, Donald Tusk, stated.

And then, a prominent conservative voice, an outspoken right-wing figure and staunch supporter of Trump, was assassinated while addressing college students and political followers at a Utah university. Without evidence regarding the perpetrator or intentions, Trump immediately blamed “those on the radical left,” accusing them for using language “directly responsible to acts of terror occurring currently across the nation now.”

When questioned about the divided nation might reconcile after Kirk’s assassination, he responded he “couldn’t care less”. The reasoning provided proved alarming: “The radicals on the right act aggressively since they oppose criminal activity … Leftist activists are the problem – and they are dangerous and despicable and strategically clever.” This is how polarisation transforms into tribalism. This is how the spiral of hatred accelerates toward irreversible conflict.

Actually, more than three-quarters of deaths linked to extremism in the US over the last 10 years were perpetrated by individuals on the far right, while left-wing radicals accountable for only a fraction of them. Trump condemned political violence broadly a day later – but did not acknowledge the recent spate of attacks targeting liberal figures, which involved multiple murders. From his perspective, the problem is perpetually others, and not the “wonderful Americans” who make up his base.

The societal repercussions of Kirk’s death will no doubt unfold in the coming weeks, yet the gravest risk amid deep divisions is that the shooting transforms into a historical parallel of our age. That arson attack on 27 February 1933 signaled Germany’s shift from fragile democracy to outright dictatorship. The Nazi leader, freshly installed as chancellor, seized the moment to extinguish the freedoms under previous governance – free speech, press, organizational liberty, public gathering.

“Anyone who stands in our way will be cut down,” he declared, surveying the damaged structure. Numerous leftist activists found themselves imprisoned, including all 81 Communist deputies within the legislature. With the left neutralised, the ruling party quickly cemented control.

In today’s US, the tragic killing has captivated the nation, galvanising the Maga movement and Trump’s supporters, a fact he recognizes. The white supremacist, Matt Forney, clamoured for detainment of all opposing lawmakers, explicitly labeling the killing as a pivotal turning point.

The reality is, this incident serves as that could rescue an increasingly unpopular presidency scarred by significant declines in employment figures, currency devaluation, and real estate turmoil. Trump mourned Kirk as though he were family, yet his language suggested this would be focused equally on pursuing Trump’s enemies rather than justice. Immediately following the assassination, he vowed to go after all individuals of those who contributed to this atrocity … including the organisations that fund and support it.” He singled out George Soros, the American-Hungarian philanthropist and Democrat donor. “He’s a bad guy,” he informed a news outlet, he “should be put in jail.”

The reasons for Kirk’s killing remains unclear. The political views belonging to the attacker, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, appear as muddled similar to another recent perpetrator, a young man who attempted to assassinate the former president at a rally. Is this truly the radical left attacking the radical right – or is it the strange, chaotic subculture from internet forums spilling into reality? The slogans engraved upon the bullet casings at the scene read less like a political statement and more like a mix of puerile memes and virtual world allusions.

But it is hard not to fear that suppression of dissenting scholars, legal professionals, journalists, government employees, military officers, and judges in the US will intensify. Already, reactions on social media resulted in multiple instances of sackings and diplomatic staff have warned foreign nationals not to praise or make light of the murder, instructing consulates to take “appropriate action” toward individuals engaging in such behavior.

Trump has long thrived amid turmoil and instability. When genuine emergencies are absent, he fabricates them – including imagined crime pandemics in major cities, Washington DC and Chicago. Fake chaos advances his ambitions. Currently, he possesses an ideal opportunity. No wonder he shows no concern if the nation comes together.

This incident provides the perfect pretext for tightening his grip, muzzling opposition, and concentrating power – enabling future leaders to assume total governmental power, irrespective of charisma, qualifications or mandate. Ultimately, all authoritarian regimes has to be built first; after consolidation, it is simpler to maintain.

Democratic systems and the rules-based global order have flaws, yet they provided stability, progress and prosperity – the very opposite of authoritarianism. To suggest that America, a founder of modern systems, might rapidly descend into full-blown autocracy, its leaders thinking historical extremist mindsets, could appear unlikely.

But from another vantage point, it is not far-fetched at all. Authoritarian rule was still within living memory when many of us of individuals within modern democratic Europe came of age. Across European states, numerous households retain memories of the death, destruction, animosity and destitution that authoritarianism leaves behind. To safeguard coming years, they should examine historical lessons.