I don’t know if that’s right. Perhaps no recent killer was influenced at all by Trump. Lots of mass shooters predate his tenure. It’s impossible to know for sure, so I don’t blame him. I do wish Trump would speak more responsibly just in case it would help. But we all know he won’t. He won’t restrain himself, even though he can’t know for sure if his words make the problem worse.

When it comes to carnage, he is unlikely to help in any way. How would he? I don’t know if studying gun violence would help, but it doesn’t matter. Trump lacks the focus to create policy solutions, let alone get them passed into law.

I don’t know if inspiring hope and optimism in a majority of Americans would help, but it doesn’t matter. Ronald Reagan could do that. But Trump can’t. I don’t know if being a staid, steady presence in the Oval Office would help, but it doesn’t matter. George H. W. Bush projected calm. But Trump is erratic and flamboyant. I don’t know if seeming to exude genuine empathy for victims would help anyone, but it doesn’t matter. Bill Clinton possessed that ability. But Trump lacks it. I don’t know if soaring oratory that appeals to America’s better angels would help. But it doesn’t matter. Barack Obama could give speeches like that. Trump is wooden when he delivers carefully written remarks. They don’t seem nearly as genuine as when he’s saying something nasty about someone.

Trump will run for reelection in 2020, despite how little he offers.

Americans should remember that when it comes to presiding over the nation in a time of tragedy, he offers less than all his modern predecessors. They should know that he’ll keep using the bully pulpit to stoke anxiety, fear, and bigotry, at the plausible risk of making American carnage more likely; that there is no reason to expect any improvements with time; and that judged against the words about carnage in his inaugural address, he is an undeniable failure.