Trump deserves our sympathy. That doesn’t make him an acceptable candidate

‘It is not an exaggeration to note that Trump has gloried in the language of political violence for more than a decade.’ Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP

I was on the phone with my daughter when emails started streaming through. “Trump has been shot.” She teared up, asking in a fearful and trembling voice – “What does this mean for our country?”

What it means, I think, is that we have entered a moment when, more than ever, we need perspective, context, history and clarity about the threat of political violence in a time so charged as this.