An anti-Trump activist intentionally drove his van into a Republican voter-registration tent in Florida this weekend, nearly killing a half-dozen GOP volunteers. Yet amazingly, Politico did not touch the story of this near-fatal, politically motivated attack on Republicans until the state GOP promised to retaliate — at the polls.

“Republicans vow ‘revenge’ at ballot box after volunteers nearly hit by van,” reads the headline to a report published on Feb 10.

The report’s opening paragraphs read:

"Florida and Duval County Republican leaders on Monday vowed 'revenge' at the ballot box after a man drove his van into a tent of GOP volunteers who were registering voters over the weekend.



"Party officials said Gregory Timm targeted the group because of their support for President Donald Trump. During a press conference in Jacksonville, they described how Timm nearly hit people, made an obscene gesture, and started recording the incident on his phone. They used the event to make a plea for donations to the party."

“The incident drew a tweet from Trump and became a Republican rallying cry,” the report adds.

It was only a matter of time. National media cannot help themselves.

If you can believe it, there are no prior mentions of the Feb. 8 incident on Politico’s website. Its Feb. 10 report really is the first time it went near the story. In other words, Politico did not cover the van episode until it could be made into something about the GOP reaction to a politically motivated attack on GOP aides.

You knew this would happen. It is the well-worn “Republicans pounce" gimmick. It never fails.

At the hearts of these cliched "right-wing reaction" pieces is the apparent belief that the real story is not the radical behavior of Democrats and Democratically aligned fanatics but rather the Right’s reaction to said radical behavior. Because the real story is never the thing that may reflect poorly on Democratic officials or their allies. The real story is always that the Right may be exploiting the moment. Look: The problem is not that news media are writing right-wing reaction stories. It is that the reactions stories often represent the news media's first-ever mentions of major news events. (See here and here.) In the case of the attack this weekend in Florida, Politico did not touch the story until it got its “revenge” headline from Republican officials.

I am not a big fan of the “if the motivations were flipped” game, but come on. If some MAGA-hatted psychotic attempted to run down Democratic volunteers with his truck, I guarantee you the attack, and the driver’s likely motivations, would be the lead story in every newsroom in the United States. It would be the lead story for at least three days. At least. But Timm attempted to run down Republican aides, so the story, apparently, is not all that interesting to some of the largest and most influential news organizations in the country. Speaking of which, and to Politico’s credit, it can at least say it eventually covered the story with its own original reporting. The New York Times cannot say even that much.

As for Timm, he has been charged on two counts of aggravated assault. He has also been charged with “criminal mischief” and driving with a suspended license.

"The suspect advised that he does not like President Trump," reads Timm’s arrest report, and that "someone had to take a stand."

"The suspect then showed another video to us of him driving toward the tent with the victims standing in front," it adds. "The suspect was upset that the video ended before 'the good part' as he described it."

Timm is still in jail on $500,000 bail. No word on whether the high bail amount is also Republican revenge.