Nearly two months ago, when a gunman shot at Donald Trump, Democratic officials were unanimous in their condemnations of the violence. There were no jokes from Democrats in positions of power or authority. There were no conspiracy theories. There was no effort to make light of a truly horrific set of circumstances.

The Democratic Party was united in its steadfast position: There was no defense for such violence, the shooting had to be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and there was relief throughout the party that the former president was largely unharmed in the assassination attempt.

It’s worth contrasting that with the Republican reactions to the violent attack against House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband in 2022. As NBC News noted, the brutality was apparently on Trump’s mind on Friday during his remarks to the Fraternal Order of Police:

Trump appeared to refer today to the attack on Paul Pelosi, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. “Kamala Harris and the radical liberals force anarchy on the American people while they, they live in safety, in many cases, behind walls. You know that?” he began his remarks to law enforcement in North Carolina. “Nancy Pelosi has a big wall wrapped around her house. Of course, it didn’t help too much with the problem she had, did it?”

As a video clip showed, Trump’s apparent attempt at humor generated a smattering of laughs in the room.

To be sure, the problem was surprisingly common throughout the GOP. In fact, as regular readers might recall, in the immediate aftermath of the attack that nearly killed Paul Pelosi, a variety of Republican voices — including members of Congress — took turns downplaying, mocking and trading in disinformation about the violence.

But Trump’s reaction to the attack at the time continues to stand out as truly remarkable.

Initially, as Pelosi was in intensive care, the former president couldn’t be bothered to say anything about the incident. A few days later, the Republican acknowledged the violence by complaining about crime rates in San Francisco and Chicago.

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Soon after, Trump did what he nearly always does: He embraced a bonkers conspiracy theory and told the public, referring to the Pelosi house: “The glass it seems was broken from the inside to the out, so it wasn’t a break-in; it was a break-out.”

None of this was true. As we’ve discussed, the details Trump presented as true are contradicted, not only by revelations released by law enforcement, but also by literal footage from the Capitol Police’s security cameras, which prove the former president’s claims false.

But the GOP candidate not only didn’t care, he’s still making light of the attack nearly two years later.

If there’s a defense for this, I can’t think of it.