Hadn't violent crime rates being steadily declining for many years, even though the Trump presidency? Might be a covid blip in there, but the opioid crisis has been there for a while.
Having said that, there's no doubt the political climate is the most volatile and potentially violent it's been in my lifetime, and there's every chance this could have been a senior republican attacked, and the right wingers would be crowing that this shows The Left were the real danger all along. Which is unfair, because there is no equivalence between Trump labelling individuals or groups as Enemies of the People for having the gall to disapprove of him, and Democrats calling Trumpism a Threat to Democracy because he actively tried to subvert an election and most of the party are happy to encourage the delusion as long as it keeps them in the inner circle. In my mind there is no doubt that the racist Tea Party backlash to Obama's rise, followed by the populist, insurrectionist megalomania of the Trump presidency, is the driving force behind the current climate, even if inequalities driven by both parties provided the fuel, and even though the reaction to Trump has often been counterproductive. But, as long as you have a few nutters on either side, it's easy to keep your mob energised, and it's hard to break through the shield of whataboutism.
Anyway, I'm still giggling at the idea of a hammer wielding lunatic expressing his disconcertment with the legal-but-morally-ambiguous share market activities of a couple of wealthy geriatrics.
