One of my lasting impressions of my time (long ago) as a Capitol Hill intern is the competitiveness of the annual Congressional Baseball Game.
Though it's one of the few remaining cheery bipartisan traditions - a charity event where Democrats and Republicans freely mingle - those smiles, back-slaps and photo-ops mask the fact that each team really (heavy emphasis on "really") wants to win the game.
Which is why it was no shocker to hear that on the eve of the annual matchup (scheduled for tonight at Nationals Park), GOP members of Congress and their staffers were taking part in an early morning practice session.
But no one, it's safe to assume, on the ballfields Wednesday morning - including Chattanooga's own Rep. Chuck Fleischmann - could have expected their practice would become the scene of a near slaughter.
Yet, that's indeed what happened as James Hodg-
kinson (now deceased) of Belleville, Ill., opened fire - an estimated 50 to 60 rounds - on the crowd. While no deaths except Hodgkinson's resulted from the shooting, multiple people were injured, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., who took a bullet to the hip. and as of press time was in critical condition.
And it turns out it was a good thing Scalise was there. As a member of the Republican leadership team, Scalise travels with a security detail. It was those brave Capitol Hill Police who neutralized Hodgkinson.
According to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who was on the scene, "Everybody probably would've died except for the fact that the Capitol Hill Police were there, and the only reason they were there is because we had a member of leadership on our team."
A terrifying thought.
Also unsettling is how many people I've seen on social media saying such an event comes as no surprise. I must admit I share that sentiment.
Partisanship, even the hyper-partisanship that we're experiencing these days, is nothing novel. However, what is new (or, at least a dangerous re-emergence) is the mainstreaming of violent political discourse.
Please revisit that last sentence and note the word "mainstreaming." There have always been loonies out there wishing, even suggesting, physical ill on their political opposites. We all remember seeing effigies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama being strung up and torched.
What's been a great cause of concern, though, is the fact that these acts are moving, at a frightening speed, from the margins to the mainstream. We need not look any further for an image than Kathy Griffin hoisting a faux decapitated Donald Trump head.
Or how about The Public Theater in New York depicting Trump as Caesar in Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar? The show comes complete with Trump's - I mean, Caesar's - assassination (yes, I understand the play actually presents the assassination in a negative light, but come on, no one's buying that).
Those visual cues coupled with the dehumanizing language now common in our political vernacular makes Wednesday's baseball field rampage seem like a foreordained episode.
Just look at the names of the Facebook groups Hodgkinson belonged to. "Terminate the Republican Party" is one. It appears he took that literally.
Unfortunately, there will always be madmen out there, but it is now on our shoulders (America's non-lunatic populace) to rein in a society that is flirting with a very slippery civic slope. One that views political demonization as the new norm, that shrugs off violent talk, and treats those with differing opinions as "others."
History is littered with atrocities committed against "others." Once someone is relegated to "other" status, their humanity is undercut and they can be made an easy target for terrible actions.
Just like Wednesday's shooting.
Contact David Allen Martin at davidallenmartin423@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @DMart423.