Reason and logic do not apply

Bill Cotterell
| Capitol Column

It is probably human nature to seek logical, reasonable explanations for shocking, inexplicable events.

Maybe it’s the idea that if we can understand the things we fear, the things that don’t make sense, we can somehow prevent them. Government is structured with orderly, standard, uniform rules and methods. Rules are fine for determining the speed limit on a road or the curriculum in a school, but they’re not very useful for figuring out what would make a strange young man climb up on a roof and assassinate the leading presidential candidate.

Meaning and logic cannot explain meaningless, illogical actions.

As this is being written, platoons of investigators are trying to figure out why Thomas Matthew Crooks nearly killed former President Donald Trump. We may never know his motive, but one likely reason stands out.

Simply put, he was crazy.

No sane, right-thinking person—not even someone ready to die, as Crooks did—would shoot someone in front of a crowd. Certainly not a national figure with security guards all around him.

Conspiracy theories and finger-pointing immediately sprang up on both sides. The Secret Service had a terrible explanation to give and congressional committees held hearings on this total security failure. At first glance, the only explanation seems to be that someone made a horrific blunder.

On the left, skeptics began littering Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, with crazy ideas about a set-up, a staged fake by the deep state. Oh, that’s right, Trump (or maybe the CIA or other denizens of the social media fever swamps) would hire a gunman to shoot within an inch of Trump’s brain and be killed on the spot.

Or maybe someone in power wanted Trump dead. What is the going rate for such an assassination? Do our deepest, darkest agencies use real 007 agents who are “licensed to kill” like James Bond?

“Joe Biden sent the orders,” Georgia Congressman Mike Collins quickly theorized, without evidence, in an online post. Another Georgian, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, claimed “the Democratic Party is just plain evil and yesterday they tried to kill President Trump.”

Even US Senator JD Vance, who was poised to become Trump’s running mate, stated somberly: “Today is not an isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to the attempted assassination of President Trump.”

There were many, many more. On both sides, famous politicians and ordinary online lurkers tried to outdo each other with wild speculation.

Biden and Trump urged everyone to take it easy — and it didn’t matter that both spoke recklessly at campaign rallies. Trump, for example, called illegal immigrants “vermin,” and Biden said Democrats should put Trump “in the bull’s-eye” politically.

Candidates and various campaign committees should stop making comparisons to Hitler and spreading unfounded rumors out of decency.

It is doubtful that even the most horrific abuse and baseless accusations will motivate someone who is still in touch with the real world. But the guys who carry out these shootings are not like you and me.

John Hinckley shot President Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. Lee Harvey Oswald considered himself an undiscovered genius, so killing JFK was a way to get into the history books. Mark David Chapman was an obsessed fan who killed John Lennon to draw attention to “The Catcher in the Rye.” Arthur Bremer couldn’t get close enough to Richard Nixon, so he chose George Wallace.

There’s no telling what motive might be found for Crooks’ horrific actions. But it’s a good bet that if they ever do find one, you’ll shake your head and think, “What an idiot. How could he believe such a thing?”

Bill Cotterell is a retired Capitol reporter for United Press International and the Tallahassee Democrat. He writes a weekly column for The News Service of Florida and City & State Florida. He can be reached at [email protected].

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