As everyone knows, there was an attempted assassination of Donald Trump yesterday in Butler, Pennsylvania. One of the nine shots fired went past his head and may have nicked his ear. Three men on the elevated stand were also hit – tragically one died immediately and two others are in critical condition. The shooter was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper team.

This morning the shooter was identified as a 20-year old white male from a Pittsburgh suburb. Little else has been reported about him. It is likely safe to speculate he was using a semi-automatic .22 rifle (M4 platform) that allowed him to get off nine shots so quickly.This was a planned attack as he chose a roof location outside the security perimeter where he had what appears to be easy viewing of the podium.

More speculation, it is likely he was a poorly socialized loner with few friends; he had a job in a low-wage service sector. He may have been motivated by all the political commentary of Trump as the bringer of death to the US ‘democracy’, and was looking for a validation in his life by joining the list of Presidential assassins – “sic semper tyrannis” as per John Wilkes Booth.

Those are details – many speculative. The bigger issues are more terrifying.

One thing already clear is this shooting will not shock the political discourse into something more restrained. One can expect a rising tide of anger, and even more violence, with conspiracy theories being promoted that this was an inside government job. The basic conspiracy theory already writes itself: they couldn’t get him through ‘lawfare’ so they’re now going to actually kill him.

Already today, there are reports that people saw the shooter crawling on the roof before he began firing – and Secret Service and other law enforcement were slow to respond.

Political figures from both parties this morning are claiming “this is not who we are.”

Tragically, the response should be “yes it is.”

The United States is marinated in violence: from actual wars and support and aid to other wars overseas – including Presidential orders to assassinate individuals; to violence on the streets and in the homes of our citizens, to mass murder in schools, and violence against political figures including murder.

Any turn away from violent rhetoric will be temporary at best – that’s the way US politics and the media that feeds off it both work.

I fear for my children and granddaughter.