When a young man took a shot at Donald Trump in July it was the first time political assassination, attempted or otherwise, had intruded into presidential politics in more than 40 years. Now it appears to have happened a second time in two months. What's going on here?

Republicans are now predictably demanding that Democrats in essence stop campaigning against Trump because they're inciting their supporters to try to assassinate Trump. That's absurd. Neither of these men is in any sense a supporter of Democrats or even of more marginal groups that could in any sense be identified with "the left."

But we shouldn't run too deep into the rabbit holes of Trump's supporters' logic. As his supporters like to put it, he likes to "stir the pot." And he does. Attention, in his vision, is the only real currency in business or politics or media. So he keeps upping the ante and pushing new limits to get it, like a heroin addict he has to keep upping the dose to get the same fix.

Trump's supporters ask rhetorically, if it's not Biden and Harris who are doing it, are you really saying that Trump is inciting people against himself? The answer is actually yes. He's now twice almost been consumed by the fires he himself is lighting.

Ah yes, last week's debate. In the firehose world of Trump newsmaking, 7 days ago now feels like an eternity. The time Kamala took over the head of the Democratic ticket around 50 days ago now feels like something that happened in the Spring or late Winter. But make no mistake, Trump will always do or say whatever he needs to to escape from whatever his latest controversy happens to be as he sprints right toward his next outrageous utterance or insinuation. It's always about him, and never about the American people.