I am of the view that we should blame the perpetrators of political violence for political violence, instead of pointing fingers at the politicians or writers who supposedly “inspired” them. Over my years at National Review, I have made this case without reference to ideology, such that I have ended up arguing on behalf of the speech rights of Republicans, Democrats, Black Lives Matter advocates, Tea Partiers, progressive journalists, and others.
As a rule, though, the press does not seem to agree with me on this point, and, given that it does not, I would like to know why, in the aftermath of the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump, I have still not seen even 10 percent of the criticism of “overheated rhetoric” that I was subjected to when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked with a hammer.