While speaking about Kirk’s killing on Wednesday, Cox made another plea. He urged Utahns and Americans to look at the bigger picture of increased political violence happening across the country — and also look inward. “Our nation is broken,” he said.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, the Republican face of depolarization and bridgebuilding, is asking a “broken nation” for peace following a horrific act of violence in his state.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said government failures and dysfunction have led to falling trust in institutions during a speech in Washington Thursday.

When a container ship struck a pier resulting in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore knew that tragedy was not a time for partisanship or dueling press conferences.

Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah has called for politicians to tone down their rhetoric and “disagree better.” The assassination of Charlie Kirk is testing the limits of that high-minded approach.