We Cannot Go On Like This

Gail Collins: Bret, I really want to talk with you about the presidential debate and, um, regular politics, but first — attempted assassination.

Bret Stephens: This is definitely the wrong kind of “déjà vu all over again,” to borrow a phrase.

Gail: So depressed that we live in a world in which “but first — attempted assassination” is not really a surprise opening. Story for me is mostly about our dreaded gun culture, but let me open it up for you.

Bret: Obviously, we are both relieved that the former president is unharmed: Elections must never be settled with bullets. As for the attack itself, we’ll be learning a lot more about the suspect pretty soon, but my initial reaction is that this may well be another case of what Philip Roth called the “indigenous American berserk” — the lost souls, like Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme or John Hinckley Jr., who hunger for fame and imagine infamy is close enough.