Partisans could make all the pieces partisan.
For instance, who causes a standoff?
Each side.
It takes two to face off. If both facet gave in to its opponent’s place, there could be no standoff.
So who triggered the federal government shutdown?
Each side, after all. The Republicans had been being cussed on points that mattered to Republicans. The Democrats had been being cussed on points that mattered to Democrats. You may agree with one facet or the opposite about whose stubbornness was extra cheap, or which difficulty higher justified stubbornness, however there might be little doubt about who triggered the federal government to close down: Each side did.
Right here’s a fair worse instance: Who’s responsible for Rahmanullah Lakanwal having shot two Nationwide Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., final week?
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, after all.
Or perhaps you possibly can break it down additional. Let’s allocate blame as, say:
- 95% Lakanwal, who was, in spite of everything, the shooter;
- 1% Lakanwal’s mother and father and well being care professionals, who in all probability didn’t increase him proper and handled his psychological sickness poorly;
- 1% the Taliban and the CIA, who collectively seemingly triggered a few of Lakanwal’s psychological well being points;
- 1% the Biden administration for having allowed Lakanwal to enter america in 2021 below the Operation Allies Welcome parole program for Afghans who had helped the U.S. through the conflict;
- 1% the Trump administration for having granted asylum to Lakanwal in April 2025;
- 1% the Trump administration for shifting its focus from anti-terrorism efforts to frame enforcement (if it seems that Lakanwal was a terrorist);
- 1% the Trump administration for sending the Nationwide Guard to the District of Columbia, with out coordinating with the native police and over native opposition, for the political function of attempting to embarrass a metropolis run by Democrats; and
- 1% the Trump administration for sending the Nationwide Guard to D.C. regardless of warnings that the Guard’s deployment introduced a straightforward “target of opportunity” for grievance-based violence.
Good! Besides that my percentages in all probability add as much as greater than 100. However you get the thought.
When Rahmanullah Lakanwal shoots somebody, Rahmanullah Lakanwal is responsible. The remainder is petty bickering.
Who was accountable for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump final summer season?
The shooter.
Who was accountable for assassinating Charlie Kirk?
The shooter.
You may quibble across the edges of this stuff, at all times assigning blame to the opposite facet for having very barely contributed to the shooter’s motivations. However that slight blame is nothing in comparison with the place the blame actually lies.
Furthermore, in conditions equivalent to these, it in all probability is smart to place partisanship apart for a second — each to decrease the temperature of our nation’s political local weather and to extra precisely place accountability for atrocities the place the accountability actually lies.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a associate at a number one worldwide regulation agency and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment issues at a big worldwide firm. He’s the writer of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate hyperlinks). You may attain him by e-mail at [email protected].
