In a 7.14 Atlantic essay titled “The Gunman and the Would–Be Dictator,” David Frum wrote the following:

I would be lying if I said that for a few brief seconds last Saturday my heart didn’t skip a beat when I heard that Trump had been shot (i.e., ear–pierced).

The truth is that a feeling of mixed adrenaline (shocked by the implications of chaos and hate but at the same time thinking “does this mean no more Trump toxicity?”) rifled through my system.

Anyone from the sensible, semi-thoughtful, non-MAGA crowd who claims they were only horrified by the sight of blood and the whizzing of AR-15 bullets is (be honest) a bit of a coward and a liar.

One of those cowardly liars is Jack Black, who has just cancelled Tenacious D’s tour because Kyle Glass briefly confessed to having succumbed to calloused, knee-jerk thinking and to being a harsh judge of the bumblefuck social cancer that The Beast unleashed eight years ago.

Another liar is Late Show host Stephen Colbert, who shared the following during last night’s broadcast:

I don’t doubt that Colbert was, like everyone else, alarmed by the shooting and grief-struck for that poor fireman and family man, Corey Comperatore, who was killed by one of Thomas Matthew Crooks’ bullets.

But I don’t believe for a second that Colbert was relieved that Trump’s mustard gas wasn’t removed from social influence. Colbert said that because he had to — what Glass admitted to can never be even half-acknowledged by a big-time network TV talk-show guy.

I’m not proud of my pulse having quickened oh-so-briefly last Saturday afternoon. I feel chagrined by that ugly gut-feeling moment. But I can’t lie and say I didn’t taste it.

When I read about Crooks, I muttered to myself that the trans community is undoubtedly breathing a huge sigh of relief that the shooter wasn’t from their ranks. A friend with several POC pallies confessed that “there’s great relief that the shooter wasn’t black. Otherwise it would’ve been hunting season.”