There’s a terrible rhythm to how we react to episodes of violence with a political dimension. Paul Pelosi’s brutal assault is no different.

Targeted, premeditated attacks like this one, we soon learn, are cooked up in an addled mind, but something as unsatisfying as madness fails to suffice for a motive. So, we go about the flawed human practice of seeking patterns and applying rationality to the irrational. In this ritual, we exercise the agency chaos has otherwise stolen, even if it usually manifests in the unconstructive practice of assigning blame for violence to the non-violent.