Indignation on behalf of the corrupter

*[The corrupter] deserves our sympathy. That doesn’t make him an acceptable candidate.*

In my view, what he deserves is not sympathy for him, but rather our indignation on his behalf for the crime attempted against him. However, that indignation must be partly directed at him, for his stirring up of the spirit of political violence, which surely has some role in inspiring the attack on him.