By: The Editorial Board – wsj.com – July 14, 2024

The conspiracists on the right and left deserve to be ostracized.

It’s hard to imagine a more incendiary message in the wake of an assassination attempt. Mr. Collins was retweeting and amplifying a tweet that quoted President Biden’s remark last week that “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

Mr. Biden was employing a metaphor, however inapt given our current political distemper. He wasn’t giving orders to anyone to shoot Mr. Trump, and if he wanted to do so he wouldn’t do it in public. Mr. Collins is among those who think Mr. Biden lacks the mental acuity to be President, but he then accuses him of masterminding a conspiracy.

It’s embarrassing even to feel obliged to write this, but this is the political world we live in. Social media amplifies falsehoods, which is bad enough when they’re spread by the village idiot. When the village idiot is in Congress, it gives conspiracies a credibility that more people might believe.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Oversight Chairman James Comer say they plan to investigate the security in place for the Butler, Pa., rally, and well they should. The Secret Service has to explain the safety protocols in place and what it might have missed. But the public wants credible answers, not a partisan probe, and that won’t happen if yahoos on the Hill are accusing the President of ordering a hit on his opponent.

The left is also splashing in the fever swamps on social media, suggesting that Mr. Trump planned it all to get voter sympathy—though he certainly cut that bullet close. Congressmen who indulge in such destructive

To see this article in its entirety and to subscribe to others like it, please choose to read more.

Source: Quarantining the Conspiracy Swamps – WSJ