In the terrible murder of Charlie Kirk, America lost the kind of moderate centrist that was needed to unite that society. That the word ‘fascist’ was apparently scrawled on one of the bullets in the alleged assassin’s arsenal shows just how absurd opinion in parts of America has become. Consider YouGov data showing that around 2 in 3 Democrats believe that Donald Trump is a fascist and political extremist. A cross-section of American leaders and media outlets have instilled that claim in parts of America’s mind, even comparing Trump and his supporters to Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler and the Nazis killed millions – they were fascists. Trump is the twice democratically elected (and once democratically defeated) leader of the United States. His authority is subject to the oversight of Congress and the Supreme Court. Does he push the boundaries of that authority? Yes, but show us an American leader of the past 30 years who hasn’t.

Our friends Richard Tren and Joel Pollak commented appropriately on these pages last week that, “this is an appalling time for intolerance of ideas that are mainstream in much of the world and in much of America” and that the shooting “is the result of an uneven application of moral outrage to the right rather than the left when it comes to violent rhetoric.”

Given the degree of doom-mongering and radicalisation that must have occurred to make that YouGov data possible, what would happen if the alleged assassin pursued a defence that the American media so radicalised him with Trump Derangement Syndrome that this made him do it? Some say such an argument has legs.

What of the risk that the pendulum swings too far to the right? Richard Tren was great on the Makin Sense podcast last week in getting to grips with the “woke right.” Especially now, his analysis deserves wide and repeated hearings.

[A note – not letting the same radicalisation and doom-mongering take hold is a lot of what inspired this newspaper to get going.]

The ANC seems unable to give itself a break. Polls suggest a hammering is on the way come local government elections set for next year or early 2027. But the party secretary general says the polls are a conspiracy to undermine the ANC. There are a number of sound arguments to be made about why it may be in the best interests of South Africa to save the ANC, but it is very hard to see that happen when the party won’t even take a look at what its supporters are saying.

Paul Mashatile seems equally blind to reality when he says that ending BEE would be the equivalent of returning to apartheid. It is as absurd as Trump being a fascist comparable to Hitler. Does he mean to say that without BEE South Africa would surrender its universal franchise and return to its pre-1994 status as a supremacist autocracy? He should also look at the polls, which show 7 in 10 of his party’s supporters being prepared to let BEE go. In our view, the whole debate about scrapping or doubling down on BEE is wrongheaded and divisive. As we’ve advised in these pages, a country with South Africa’s history of discrimination and exclusion needs state-driven policies that accelerate the movement of people from poverty into the middle classes. Earlier this week, we again set out how: keep the policy but amend the scorecard to stress points awarded for fixed investment, job creation, and tax payments – together with investments in education and infrastructure. Those are the building blocks of every successful society – but under South Africa’s current empowerment laws, investors cannot win a point for committing capital, creating jobs, or paying tax.

On tax, South Africa’s elite schools are protesting that aspects of their preferential tax status may be revoked. A wandering albatross reports that one of these stopped protesting just long enough to host a matric dance, the full expense of which must have exceeded a million rand. Paying tax is what responsible citizens do – and the redistribution of wealth via tax is arguably singly the reason that South Africa has not collapsed into poverty-induced populist anarchy. Poor schools and many state schools deserve a break. South Africa’s ivy league schools do not, and the state would do well to force them to live up to the social justice commitments they have of late found it popular to make.

The Common Sense saw the Deputy Finance Minister (Ashor Sarupen – there are two deputies) talk at Alec Hogg’s (again very successful) BizNews Investment Conference in Hermanus last week. South Africa can be grateful to have people of that stature who devote part of their lives to national service in politics and the Cabinet. It is not properly appreciated how a handful of heroic figures keep the country from going to the dogs.

The Springboks, in their record-breaking win over New Zealand in Wellington, remain the clichéd but important example of what the country could be. Brilliant, determined, representing the length and breadth of the country’s people, and putting a spring into the step of every South African. If the local radicalisation and doom-mongering were toned down, the politicians listened to what the people are saying, thoughtful empowerment policies were adopted, and social justice commitments translated into action, all of South Africa would be what the Springboks are.