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Responding to violence
There are a lot of high-profile acts of violence in this country. Political assassinations (or attempts at same), mass shootings in schools, mass shootings in grocery stores, mass shootings in churches, mass shootings in night clubs, etc. How do we respond when they happen?
Whenever there's a high-profile act of violence, anywhere in the US, prominent Democrats have a simple, standard response: "this shouldn't have happened, this didn't need to happen, this doesn't happen nearly as often in any other developed nation, what can we do to prevent this happening again?"
Prominent Republicans have a more complex response, depending mostly on the victim(s). If the victims were innocent children, the answer is "We send our thoughts and prayers to the friends and families. Now is a time for unity and mourning; it's too soon to politicize it." If the victims were associated with the political right, the answer is to politicize it within hours, before anything is known about the perp's motives: "The radical left did this; we have to take revenge against the left." If the victims were associated with the political left, the answer is either to blame the victims (e.g. the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings), make fun of the victims (e.g. Paul Pelosi), or forget the episode ever happened (e.g. the shootings of Melissa and Mark Hortmann, John and Yvette Hoffman in their homes, the arson attempt on Josh Shapiro's home, the kidnapping attempt on Gretchen Whitmer).
Whenever there's a high-profile act of violence, anywhere in the US, prominent Democrats have a simple, standard response: "this shouldn't have happened, this didn't need to happen, this doesn't happen nearly as often in any other developed nation, what can we do to prevent this happening again?"
Prominent Republicans have a more complex response, depending mostly on the victim(s). If the victims were innocent children, the answer is "We send our thoughts and prayers to the friends and families. Now is a time for unity and mourning; it's too soon to politicize it." If the victims were associated with the political right, the answer is to politicize it within hours, before anything is known about the perp's motives: "The radical left did this; we have to take revenge against the left." If the victims were associated with the political left, the answer is either to blame the victims (e.g. the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings), make fun of the victims (e.g. Paul Pelosi), or forget the episode ever happened (e.g. the shootings of Melissa and Mark Hortmann, John and Yvette Hoffman in their homes, the arson attempt on Josh Shapiro's home, the kidnapping attempt on Gretchen Whitmer).