The unfortunate truth is that, also, one is a consequence of the other.

This is just the 'you made me do it' defense argued by every abuser ever. Someone is behaving as an ass, they get told 'you're an ass, stop that' and then they escalate and say 'you made me do this'. It happens in families, it happens in schoolyards, it happens on streets, it happens in business, it happens in dictatorships. Just yesterday, the president of South Korea was formally removed from office after trying to stage a military coup and this was his whole defense.

> This is just the 'you made me do it' defense argued by every abuser ever.

Meh. You can say that about every consequence ever if you determine a priori, like you have, that consequences are only performed by abusers.

In any case, it's not a defense when many many people were saying this before it happened.

IOW, it was a prediction before the fact, not a defense after the fact.