Séamas O'Reilly: The shot heard 'round the world — and how little has really changed

"...maybe Trump, a historically unpopular candidate who just happens to have the good luck to be running against a man currently incapable of sentience, has simply acquired every single vote he can possibly get from the American electorate..."

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, attend the first day of the Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Last weekend, a shot heard round the world whizzed just past Donald Trump. 

Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks grazed the former president’s ear, killed one spectator, and seriously injured another, and politicians and media figures rightly decried the terrifying incident, heralding it as a sea change in American politics.