The horror of the Pennsylvania shooting could not have been more visible. Within seconds of the attack on the Trump rally, anyone around the world could watch the footage – the former president going in seconds from his usual demagoguery to touching his head, before being bustled to the ground by his protection officers.

The reaction of the crowd was just as visible: some screamed and scattered, while others took out their phones to film. Within minutes, there were interviews from eyewitnesses: the man who had seen the shooter crawl along a roof, the doctor who said he tried to help a rallygoer who had been shot in the head.

For those who would look at such grisly things, the footage of blood soaking the bleachers was there, as was the body of the attacker. The photographs of a bloodstained former President Donald Trump will be remembered for decades. When tragedies happen anywhere near a presidential candidate, they happen in full view of the world.

This should be as clear and indisputable as any news story can ever be: usually we cannot see the reality of an attack with our own eyes. And yet such is the paranoia and the polarisation of American society that within minutes of........

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