Day 643: Trump has been lighting the fuse for Wednesday’s terrorism for years
He’s not directly at fault, but he doesn’t get to feign total innocence.
Bill and Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama. George Soros. CNN. John Brennan. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Maxine Waters. Eric Holder. Andrew Cuomo.
People — and an organization — that Donald Trump has loudly vilified for years. Beyond mere criticism, he’s accused the group of everything from lying to corruption to treason. He bashes them at each rally or on Twitter. He falsely claims that without him they would have caused war or economic destruction. He uses fear-mongering to claim that they are trying to unseat American values.
Trump also trumpets the use of violence, and celebrates when his perceived opponents suffer physical harm. Whether it’s a reporter in Montana or a protester in Nevada, Trump has been vocal that he supports handling non-sycophants aggressively.
So — sadly — it’s without a huge shock that each person or entity on the above list had their lives threatened in the same manner this week. Each were sent a homemade bomb in the mail. One was dropped in Soros’ mailbox Monday evening and the rest appear to have been sent in the mail and were discovered Wednesday.
Luckily, none of the devices caused harm to their intended targets, and most never even reached their destinations, but it appears that the bombs were real and dangerous. The brazen act of terrorism and attempted assassination of former presidents, former and current politicians, journalists. an ex-CIA director, and the far right’s favorite bogeyman is a jarring wake up call that words have consequences. Conspiracy theories, when allowed to grow, eventually lead people to take crazy actions. For example, in late 2016, the alt-right Pizzagate conspiracy theory caused an armed man to storm into a pizzeria and fire shots with his rifle while attempting to investigate a non-existent child sex-trafficking ring.
Trump didn’t build the bombs. He didn’t speak directly to anyone asking them to do so. But he also recklessly denigrated people merely for doing their jobs. His baseless lies convinced people that patriots and citizens were inherently un-American. That was unforgivable even before someone built pipe bombs.
He kinda-sorta said the right thing Wednesday in prepared remarks, promising to spare no expense in an investigation. He called for the country to come together. Still, those words rang hollow after he’s been the loudest one hammering the bell seeking to divide for years.
643 days in, 819 to go
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