In a Monday meeting with governors of various, including Florida Governor Rick Scott, President Donald J. Trump reportedly said he would have confronted mass shooter Nikolaus Cruz "even if I didn't have a weapon."
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who's buds with Trump, offered remarks to that effect on Fox & Friends that same morning.
It's all part of the debate that's ensued since at least four deputies — including the school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, where the shooting took place — did not go inside the building as the mass shooting unfolded.
In light of that revelation, the likes of Trump and Bondi and other Republicans have used the occasion to go after Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, a Democrat who has defended his department and his leadership.
One of the deputies accused of avoiding confrontation with the shooter has since said he thought the gunfire was outside and thus followed protocols as if that were the case.
Florida's political leadership has opted to launch a probe into a supposed "systemic failure of government" that led to the massacre.
(Although gun safety advocates would probably venture that allowing any civilian, let alone a deranged individual like Cruz, buy a high-powered semi-automatic rifle counts as "systemic failure" of basic humanity.)
Gun or not, the notion that Trump would rush onto a scene where there was an active shooter and multiple casualties is sheer late-night comedy fodder.
Trump, after all, is a known draft dodger.
Then there's the ol' yarn about an elderly man who had fallen off a stage at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. The way Trump told it to Howard Stern, Trump turned away from the man as he bled, expressing concern only for his blood-covered marble floor.
It's no coincidence that Trump and Bondi (whose devotion to her party has been embarrassing at times) are making such comments.
Sheriff Israel is, again, a Democrat.
And admitting that restricting civilian access to weapons capable of mass murder might help curtail shootings is a no-go for the GOP.
So instead of admitting that the good-guy-with-a-gun theory isn't remotely failsafe when put into practice, why not blame the guys who were responding to a confusing and chaotic nightmare scenario? Whose boss is an elected Democrat? Checkmate, snowflakes.
This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 1, 2018.