It's his narrative. It's how he's making sense of it. But most importantly, it's his justification.

"The violence on my side is only in response to the violence on your side." This is how such an unambiguous act of political violence makes sense in his head, in the context of it being a defensive action.

Of course it's absurd. But in order to stay aligned with your pre-existing worldview, you sometimes have to say and believe absurdities.

We are just watching him work through it in public.