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.
Gail: Totally agree, although keeping those folks from buying and owning guns would be an excellent plan, a simple way of letting the berserk be a little less … berserk.
Here’s hoping this is the end of it.
But back to the presidential debate. Tell me you watched it and decided, finally, that you’re voting for Kamala Harris.
Bret: Uh, no.
Gail: What? What? I’m expressing shock, since the entire world agrees she did a good job while Donald Trump revealed himself as just a reality TV star who thinks Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Ohio.
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