SECURITY ‘N’ CIGARS: Patterns in Presidential Assassinations. “This post-1900 record does not mean every disturbed individual is politically motivated, nor does it excuse mental health failures or security lapses. But it does reveal an asymmetry: ideologically driven attacks on American presidents and candidates have overwhelmingly come from the radical left or been filtered through left-coded cultural influences. Acknowledging this pattern honestly, without dismissing the role of mental illness, is essential for understanding political violence in modern America — and for lowering the temperature in our bitterly divided times.”