Bringing up Smerconish’s commentary, Stelter asked Deace his thoughts, asking if there was some “real soul-searching going on” among his colleagues. And he got a very interesting response.

“I hope so,” Deace said. “I think maybe we don’t truly understand how close we came as a culture to a point of no return. I mean I think we almost had an Archduke Ferdinand/Fort Sumter moment. I think we don’t have any idea the Pandora’s Box that might have been opened if Congressman Scalise’s security detail was not there.”

Yes, Deace was saying that if any lawmakers had been killed in the shooting — the shooter was the only fatality — then we may have been embroiled in a full-fledged war like World War I or the Civil War.