The widespread ascription of irremediable moral evil to a rival political faction

Malcolm Pollack writes,

Last night CNN put on a televised “Town Hall” meeting on guns. I didn’t watch it, but from what I’ve heard my impression was that it was neither civil nor productive. (Astonishing, I know.)

Charles Cooke comments on it, here. He calls it a “disaster for our discourse”.

All comity and presumption of goodwill is rapidly boiling away in America. A glance at the history of civil wars, going all the way back to Rome, should fill any honest observer of the current scene with a dark foreboding. We are at the point now where a critical threshold is being crossed: the widespread ascription of irremediable moral evil to a rival political faction. This is a prerequisite of, and generally a precursor to, publicly sanctioned violence. I hope I am exaggerating the severity of this crisis, but I fear I am not.

P.S. Just wondering: in the aftermath of the Parkland atrocity, has anyone blamed the shooter? If so, I must have missed it.