Who was making jokes about it? Did they make jokes about Scalise being shoot?
There is a big difference between what could have happened with what did happen.
Lots of jokes about it, and jokes about how he should have actually been attacked, and jokes about how it should happen to the other justices, and even serious talk in this vein.
And Scalise was barely in the news for a full cycle and didn't make the front page of many mainstream outlets.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not justifying the behavior coming from some on the right now, it's gross.