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It seems like there’s a mass shooting every other day, to the point where some aren’t covered and others get a day or two of media attention before they’re eclipsed by other news.
What’s also striking is that the deranged loners who had no ties to outside groups, whose families say they had no interest in politics, suddenly decide to pursue their grievances and open fire, even at schools. They have access to guns and turn into monsters, often getting themselves killed, or killing themselves, in the process.
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This applies to the Mormon Church shooter and arsonist in Michigan, who never got over a breakup with a devout Mormon a decade ago, felt pressure to join the church and started calling it the Antichrist. Some shooters have served in the military.
And that, with stunning speed, brings us to the blame game. Both the Trump Republicans and the Democrats rush to attack the other side, even before we know much about the shooter, who by any reasonable definition is clinically insane.
Police vehicles gather outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025 in Grand Blanc Township, Mich. (Carlos Osorio/AP)
Jon Stewart had a rant the other night which I mostly agree with:
“There’s a mass shooting now like every couple of hours. Previously, the routine would be we express our shock; we express our sadness; we offer our thoughts and prayers; we spend a day, maybe two, arguing about the appropriateness of bringing up guns at all; and then we do nothing until the next time. But as our politics becomes more polarized, even that learned cycle of helplessness has been replaced by a new, post-shooting pastime. That new pastime is, ‘Was this one of yours?'” After playing clips of conservative and liberal shows, Stewart said: “The game is so ubiquitous, now we often play it before we even know who the perpetrator is … Now call me old-fashioned, but I miss the good old days of mass shootings when networks took a principled stance to not shower attention on acts designed to get attention.”
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The “Daily Show” host says the MSM are following the lead of social media, and the left got to celebrate when the late killer had a Trump/Vance sign in front of his house.
“Who the f*** cares? These mass shootings do not fit neatly into our left-right paradigm.”
Law enforcement personnel respond at the scene of a shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, Texas, Sept. 24, 2025. (Jeffrey McWhorter/Reuters)
Now I agree that the media are narcissistic, but that’s not what’s at play here. And the reason I never talk or write about these lunatics by name is to avoid giving them the notoriety they crave. We’ve forgotten the names of most of the shooters — even that of the second would — be assassin who was ready to fire at President Trump last year — and they should all be anonymously condemned to the dustbin of history.
But there is a left-right paradigm that, honestly, is the foundation of much of the media, especially cable news. It’s what we know. It’s what we do.
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Most of the recent political violence is coming from the left, no question about it. Yet liberals seem unsure what to do about it, with rote statements that try to deflect liability. They’re almost defending the worst of the worst.
That’s why they were buoyant over the Michigan shooter who rooted for Trump and Vance – to remind people that there are also political shootings from the right wing.
People pray near the site of a shooting which took place at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Grand Blanc, Michigan, U.S., September 29, 2025. (REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)
Now it’s conservatives playing defense – as if shooting and setting fire to a Mormon church service wasn’t horrifying enough, killing at least four people and wounding eight.
“Why are we taking the bait from these psychos?” Stewart asks.
But the montage of clips he played don’t feature pundits; they show lawmakers and other leaders being interviewed. Which is part of what the media do to cover an ongoing story, at least as long as it stays in the news.
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We keep falling into the trap. Finger-pointing often crowds out reporting of each tragedy. Maybe we’ve all become inured to it now that mass shootings are so tragically commonplace.
Footnote: While the Washington punditocracy has been trashing Kamala Harris’ book tour as hurting Democrats and reminding them of Joe Biden’s decline, sales of the book are another story. Simon & Schuster says she has sold 350,000 copies so far, and has ordered a fifth printing to bring the total to 500,000. The publisher predicts it will be the best-selling memoir of 2025. So despite the slings and arrows, she’s laughing all the way to the bank.
