REPUBLICANS: TRUMP IS TO BLAME! NEW YORK TIMES: BOTH SIDES ARE TO BLAME!

The New York Times runs a story today titled "Donald Trump’s Heated Words Were Destined to Stir Violence, Opponents Say," and the "opponents" include quite a few Republicans. In fact, every quote in the story from a Republican politician focuses the blame for campaign-trail violence on Trump:

“Donald Trump has created a toxic environment,” Gov. John Kasich of Ohio declared. “There is no place for a national leader to prey on the fears of people.”

Senator Marco Rubio, fighting for his political life in Florida’s primary on Tuesday, likened Mr. Trump to a third-world strongman....

Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey and a cabinet member in the administration of George W. Bush, said she has long feared the fury that Mr. Trump’s words could arouse in his supporters and detractors alike.

“You can’t dial back the emotions he’s excited in people easily,” she said in an interview. “There will be consequences for that.”

She recalled Mr. Trump’s provocative remarks about Mexicans last year. “If you were told that Mexicans are rapists or criminals and you make assumptions and you are walking down the street and see them in your community,” she said, trailing off. “People are going to do things.”

But who's to blame according to the authors of the Times story (Michael Barbaro, Ashley Parker, and Trip Gabriel)? You guessed it: both sides!

Emphasis added below:

In foreboding conversations across the political world this past year, a bipartisan chorus warned that the 2016 presidential campaign was teetering on the edge of violence.

The anger from both sides was so raw, they concluded -- from supporters of Donald J. Trump who are terrified they are losing their country and from protesters who fear he is leading the nation down a dark road of hate -- that a dreaded moment was starting to look inevitable....

The ugly and chaotic clashes that unfolded on Friday inside a tense Chicago arena between Trump supporters and a coalition of protesters were the culmination of an extraordinarily indignant year in public life in which those on both sides of a widening divide have begun to see their fellow Americans as a fundamental threat to their economic future and basic dignity.

Dear Times campaign desk: When you're less willing to put the blame on a Republican than fellow Republicans are, I think you've taken this "balance" thing a wee bit too far.

But the Times writers aren't alone in this:

“I’ve gotta believe it’s only gonna get worse,” said William M. Daley, the son of Chicago’s famed mayor, Richard Daley, who presided over the violent 1968 Democratic convention. “Both sides are fueling this,” he added.

By coincidence, the perfect response to that just showed up in my Twitter timeline, from -- yes -- a Republican campaign operative:



Yes, it's a test of character. Fire breaks out. Do you or don't you grab a can of gasoline?

I don't want to give Republicans too much credit in this situation, given how many of them vow to support their party's nominee even in the likely event that it's Trump. But assessing blame in this situation seems to be a struggle for the "liberal media" and some Democrats. Republicans -- or at least the ones who don't like Trump -- don't seem to be struggling at all. Good for them.