Vince Lombardi once described football as “a game of inches.” The same is true for a number of other sports.

Until Saturday evening, I had not thought of politics in quite that vein. But here we are with the narrowness of a single inch or less all that saved America from a fifth presidential assassination. Even if Donald Trump does not currently hold that office.

Just a week ago, my New York-based son, while home for a visit with the old man, brought up the question of whether assassination attempts were inevitable given the tribal animosity and violent rhetoric coursing through our political system. In talking about it, our conversation revolved as much around rather anonymous occupants of lower offices as on a brazen attack on Trump or Biden.

As unimaginable as the thought of a Trump assassination, the “what-ifs” are profound. What would the reaction and upheaval have been given the tinderbox baseline of animus and volatility? How would it have reshaped our politics?

What would have become of the GOP nominating convention about to kickoff in Milwaukee, especially with Trump not having anointed a running mate? Would voters be presented with a choice this fall involving neither Trump nor Biden?

Fortunately, those questions can be left to the realm of speculation. What is all too real and all too indicative of the divide that has come to define this American age is the reaction of too many on both poles following the near-miss in western Pennsylvania.

For sure, the vast majority of Americans — both those of prominence and those typical sorts consuming the news on their television or phone — comported themselves with understandable shock and appropriate reflection.

But in keeping with the times, the haters on both extremes performed all too true to form. They provide the cesspool in which such hateful acts marinate. They build the nonstop cacophony of noise that often drowns out the far greater numbers who wish to go about their lives and resolve political differences with reason and civility. 

Here as I write roughly 18 hours after the tragedy, both the MAGA right and the anti-MAGA left have produced their share of bad actors.

On the right, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter instantly blew up with accusations that this was the doing of evil Democrats who will stop at nothing to destroy Trump.

Some instinctively tried to trace a path directly to Joe Biden, citing a poorly-worded comment following the president’s disastrous debate about putting Trump “in the bullseye.”

One minute, they regard Biden as so feckless and feeble that he should abandon the office immediately. In the next breath, they virtually insinuate that he was the shooter on the roof.

All this ensued well before the dead gunman had been even identified, much less could evidence be developed as to his sick motive.

Elsewhere on the right, conspiracy theories were flying, some even alleging that the Secret Service (despite their obvious heroics) must have been in on the plot. The theory here seems to be that the Secret Service allowed the shooter access to some nearby rooftop … or even put him there.

Trump haters on the left were not about to be left out of the action. On my own social media, some dim bulb asserted that the whole thing had been staged by Trump forces to elicit sympathy and put the former president back on the front page after Biden’s post-debate travails. Perhaps there is some logic in there if you can afford an archeological dig.

Others reverted to what in this instance was an insincere taunt of “thoughts and prayers.” Though the line of attack seen in too many quarters was that, somehow, Trump had this coming as payback for Jan. 6 and other excesses. 

I stand behind no one in my revulsion to the hideous events of that day in early 2021 and my conviction that it should be disqualifying for Trump, politically if not legally. But America still ought to be able to sort that out through the legal process, the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling notwithstanding, and at the ballot box.

To suggest, or even infer, that the answer lies in an assassin’s bullet is to propose a cure worse than the disease. Moreover, it is akin to waving a white flag of surrender for any concept of democracy.

Just in these few intervening hours and just here in Colorado, we saw plenty of such incendiary nonsense from both sides.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, never one to shut up or even slow down to collect her thoughts, took to the 9News airwaves to oh-so-predictably place the blame squarely on Joe Biden.

Across the aisle, State Rep. Steven Woodrow, himself quite the partisan carpet bomber, eschewed any expression of sympathy or concern, instead deciding the situation required this tweet: “The last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil but here we are.”

Woodrow, with an apparent lack of courage to go along with his lack of grace, seems to have later taken down his ill-willed tweet.

On my Facebook from a mindless, grammatically challenged rightie: “Anyone that supports anything on the Left is complicit.” And this from a leftie who ought to know better: “If this isn’t a set-up, then Trump is reaping what he sowed.”

Enough, please, on both sides. Stop, take a breath, regroup. Perhaps seek out your better angels and invite them in for a visit.

Each side fancies itself the exclusive victim of such political violence. Republicans point to Steve Scalise, the plan to attack Justice Brett Kavanaugh and now this near-miss attack on their standard-bearer. Democrats counter with Paul Pelosi, Gabby Giffords and the plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer.

The truth is that this sickness is not essentially partisan. Without yet knowing what exactly drove the Trump shooter, America has its share share of on-edge kooks who are all too susceptible to the endless dialing up of all-or-nothing, good-versus-evil, apocalyptic grandiosity.

The landscape is overflowing with dry kindling ready to erupt into flames with only the smallest spark. All of American politics now constitutes a high-fire zone.

And if the country is to regain its footing, warlike calls need to be replaced by calmer voices urging us to take it down several notches.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann.