Yesterday, the Secret Service confirmed that Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had been targeted by “pipe bombs” (or something similar) sent to their homes or offices. As the hours passed, there were more confirmations: similar bombs had been sent to Eric Holder (former Attorney General), CNN’s New York office, Joe Biden, former CIA Director John Brennan, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Rep. Maxine Waters, the San Diego Union-Tribune.
While we don’t know the identity of the bomber, most sentient people see a direct link between the violent rhetoric – if not the actual violence – from Donald Trump, the GOP and their deplorable supporters. Just in the past month, Trump has done Nazi rallies chanting “lock her up.” He also lavishly praised Rep. Greg Gianforte, the same guy who body-slammed a reporter for asking him a question about health care. Trump has spread conspiracies, blatantly and gleefully lied about anything and everything, used barely veiled anti-Semitic and racist dog whistles in speeches, and so much more. And that’s just in the past month – we won’t know until a decade from now what kind of long-term damage Trump and his Deplorables have done to the Republic, to the Fourth Estate, and to all of us.
Well, now Donald Trump says this: “I just want to tell you that, in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.” And no one believes him. As someone on MSNBC pointed out, he’s like an abusive husband who beats the hell out of his wife and then says “but we have to come together, you have to be on my side so we can be unified.”
Here are some other statements – Chuck Schumer & Nancy Pelosi are putting this at Trump’s baby feet.
Pelosi and Schumer: "President Trump's words ring hollow until he reverses his statements that condone acts of violence." pic.twitter.com/XGiLiNTB3v
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 24, 2018
CNN President Jeff Zucker isn’t having it:
Statement from CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker: pic.twitter.com/OXyIT6oSLT
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) October 24, 2018
Yeah. I hope people continue to call out Trump and all Republicans for actively encouraging this. They were basically baiting their unhinged, armed-to-the-teeth supporters to do something like this. Trump is an idiotic version of Dr. Frankenstein and this is his monster.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
They were talking about this on Hardball last night, and a Republican strategist kept bringing up how people should be allowed to eat at restaurants, and the Democrat strategist was like, “as long as we are talking about bombs and eating at restaurants in the same breath, we are never going to get anywhere, because those things cannot be equated.” And she’s right. Rs are talking about “civility” like sending these bombs is a natural reaction to McConnell getting yelled at in a restaurant. But they aren’t. These bombs are a natural reaction to the president declaring himself a nationalist and praising those who hurt people who disagree with them.
They absolutely understand that it’s not the same thing. They cling to their false equivalencies because it’s the only way to continue to avoid accountability. Their incessant lies and delusions provide the foundation for their entire world view. Without them, everything falls apart.
Well, many of them believe it was a false flag. Or that harassing in restaurants or vandalism etc are direct acts of violence and this was of no threat to people who get their mail searched everyday (you know, screw the mail people or those searching the mail I guess). So they will NEVER admit accountability for these things. I mean Trump already blamed the fake news and mainstream media for this.
Trump laid the groundwork for this insane climate of denial, delusion and false equivalencies on the right. On Twitter people are screaming about “fake bombs” just like Trump screams “fake news” any time he’s called out. It’s so out of control right now.
Agreed, not the same. These were ASSASSINATION attempts against 2 former PRESIDENTS. We need to keep saying that.
Love your headline. I told my daughter that it was the orange white supremacist and his cabinet of monstrosities that did this. Ordered their Acme bomb making kits for idiots and spent the day building them. Then had Cruz mail them out. Bet old Teddy got a thrill. LOL.
Wag that dog.
+1 – I have no doubt in my mind that this was orchestrated by the Republican government and/or Trump himself.
He also went to his rally and blamed the press.
On Cuomo, Kennedy was stuck on the GOP’s “both sides” mode like a faulty tech gadget.
Don Lemon was also incensed by the comparison between people exercizing their first amendment right and calling out these hypocrites in public places and people receiving ACTUAL BOMBS in their mail!
What he did at his rally was EXACTLY what he did after the Charlottesville protests when he walked back the statement that he had begrudgingly read after it had been handed to him.
We KNOW what his actual stance is.
The PSA team has said it repeatedly and they are right. He has not had to deal with a major national crisis yet, and God forbid this should happen (not trying to summon anything to prove a point!) His responses constantly need to be explained, adjusted, rewritten…
All this on the same day Melania was hosting a Be Best (can’t get over the bad English here!) event and trying to teach kids about being nice… These people are seriously overestimating my sense of humor and my overall tolerance for irony.
And Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted this:
“@realDonaldTrump asked Americans “to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the USA” Yet you chose to attack and divide. America should unite against all political violence”
to Jeff Zucker.
Now dissent is political violence? STFU Suckabee Sanders
And she used a government owned IT device on a government handle to send that, in flagrant violation of numerous federal laws and regulations.
Many of these cowardly politicians refuse to have town halls, or heavily vet events to only have enthusiastic supporters. They ignore calls and letters to their offices. So how else are people supposed to reach them??
Huckasands is one of the people I hate the most in this administration…
It could be because she’s the mouthpiece and one of the most visible but she’s a vile creature (can’t say human being…no evidence of that).
I like that Jeff Zucker didn’t back down.
For me @Mel it’s #PresidentMiller ,but “Huckasands” comes in second. No ethical person could last this long in this administration. Out of the administration the evil twin Meghan McCain must stop the false equivalencies too, as @Kitten mentioned above. Dissent, giving feedback to those elected to represent, is not the same thing as attempts at lethal actions. One is democracy in action the other not.
A suspected bomb was located near a restaurant that Robert Deniro owns. Whoever is doing this is targeting any critic of 45
Just scary
It is scary. When I saw DeNiro had been targeted, all I could think was “I hope Alec Baldwin has really good security and doesn’t open mail anywhere near his little kids.”
I thought of Rosie and Kathy Griffith.
I bet one was sent to Kathy Griffith. Probably anyone who he made a nickname for and tweeted about. Maybe even Lebron James. It is terrifying.
Robert De Niro got one too😕
I just read that. These people are absolutely insane.
They whine about the media “attacking” the White House in defense of terrorist assassination attempts intended to destroy free speech, all while drinking in the vile and violent rhetoric spewed by their unhinged dictator.
This is easily one of the saddest eras in US political history.
He basically used the bomber to say anyone who criticizes HIM (compares him to Nazis) or criticizes his people in restaurants are part of the problem at a rally last night. That was him reigning it in. He also blamed the media despite CNN receiving a bomb.
Even his attempts at civility and unity and more of a “we’re not unified if you don’t like me.” The false equivalencies are so hard to listen to.
What’s scary is from this point forward he may use the bombs to shame media/Americans from exercising their rights with this speech.
Not that I want this to happen, but if one of these bombs actually causes harm, is there any way Trump can be held legally responsible? Civil suit of some kind? I DESPERATELY want him to have to pay for the shit that comes out of his mouth.
I am sickened by this entire ordeal. And the responses of that traitor’s minions that this was a false flag, that the bombs weren’t real, that Democrats did this, that nobody died so what’s the big deal.
One of my brothers is a postal worker. He delivers packages in crowded, congested city neighborhoods. His life was at risk yesterday, as were the lives of all postal workers and law enforcement officers and the general public in areas near those bombs.
This IS a national crisis.
My brother went to the World Series game last night. Shaken yet unbowed.
I was just thinking about all of the postal workers. Every one of them, in danger. I am so sorry.
They released this in 2001 after the deadly anthrax attack. It gave me chills then and I was playing it last night. So many people guard us and put their lives at risk for us every single day just by going to work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJiLjNLtpeE
LP, I thought about the anthrax attacks, I remember being so scared for our postal workers then and my heart goes out to them now.
I am incensed that the right can’t even manage the proper outrage over this. It’s as if this all a game to them. Deflection and delusion seems to be the default mode now and I am besides myself with rage, fear and despair at the harm it has done.
@LP, that youtube vid of the postal service has me in tears. Ugh, all the feels. Thx for sharing it.
LP, Thanks for the reminder that while the leaders of the Democratic Party are the targets, hundreds of US citizens are endangered. I was thinking last night about the offices where these bombs get processed for delivery. It’s national terrorism and there is no other word for it.
I was hoping against hope that the MAGA cult at the WI rally wouldn’t chant lock her up but of course they did, with a grinning Republican Senate candidate who is a registered nurse. And of course, drump blamed the press. I think impeachment must take place.
Just the day before, Maggie Haberman tried tweeting several times that drump was a genius because of his hate speech and his ability to deflect and change the narrative. People couldn’t believe it, but she kept doubling down. Today she’s backed off. I honestly think she is a bit of a loon who is being paid by drump.
They get sorted in processing centers and are placed in mail trucks with a single driver for delivery, turning the truck into a large, mobile bomb traveling through our streets and the driver and any passerbys into collateral damage
LP – my dad ended up in the hospital for a good week or two when I was a toddler. Postal worker in Canada. They never really had an answer for why he was so suddenly ill – he was in his 30s and otherwise very healthy. They asked him at the time if he’d been around any dead livestock – clearly suspicious of anthrax possibility.
So sorry to hear about your father but glad he survived. These tactics are old but instructions are easily obtained by anyone now.
God. What has America descended into? This is utterly horrendous. My thoughts are with you all. I’m so thankful to live in such a great place as Australia. (And trump has a face like an arse. Looking at him makes my guts revolt. Ugh. )
RIGHT???!!!!! They didn’t even just say no one died, they said no one was ever really in any danger because those people have someone who goes through their mail or secret service protection. Yeah well how about the mail carriers, the mail sorters or the secret service agents?? What if they had been injured? I saw that people were at a rally for Desantis in Florida with signs that said Fake News Fake Bombs. I really despise people like that.
Unfortunately this country is filled with deplorables. And evil is running rampant, hand in with stupidity. Hopefully we can vote some of the ring leaders out.
Yes. They’ve been unleashed. I am ashamed to say I did not know there were so many of them. I guess that’s because I’m white.
I didn’t grasp it either.
He’s worse than a petulant toddler. It’s always someone else’s fault. Never owns up to what he’s done and causes. And the spin these people put on things to justify their behavior and beliefs. This has gone way beyond willful ignorance and descended into fanaticism. I try to have faith and believe we can start to turn things around but if the Rethugs gain ground in the midterms, I fear all will,be lost.
Tomorrow could have ended with the assignations of 2 former presidents, Secretary of State, congresswoman, head of department of justice, CIA operative and a concentration camp survivor who donates to charity all from one political party. And all you hear from Republicans is deadly silence. Yesterday could truly have been the death of our Democratic government.
Yes! That’s what I was thinking about — say Bill or Hillary Clinton or Obama had been killed… a large portion of the country would have cheered. No doubt about it. Would Trump have been able to fake sadness or had any sense of the significance of former presidents being murdered? Probably not. How far we’ve fallen.
Scary times. The last thing I saw last night was people cheering “lock her up” and “CNN sucks” at another one of his rallies. He had a chance to be decent and responsible last night, but he’s scum and can’t admit that these bombs are being sent because of him and his hateful rhetoric. Scary that the first thing I saw this morning was that another bomb was found. When will this stop? It’s crazy how so many Trumpsters think Democrats are doing this themselves to make Republicans look bad. Unfuckinbelievable how ignorant his diehard supporters are
It’s fanaticism. Cult worship like Jim Jones.
It is absolutely a cult.
– Zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader
– Leader not held accountable and members believe authorities should not be able to hold him accountable
– Dissent is discouraged and punished
– Us vs. them mentality
– Ends justify the means
– Members see themselves as having exalted status, “real Americans”
– Rallies are used to thrill members and alter their state of mind
– The cult exists primarily for the financial benefit of the leader, and funds it raises do not benefit ordinary members
There’s a few boxes it doesn’t check off for a classic, Jim Jones-style cult, but that’s enough for me. Given enough time, it will manage to check off a few more.
Well, I hope they all drink the Koolaid then. Sorry, not sorry.
Oh but Trump was touting how well behaved they were all being. Ugh!
I saw an article that said he refused to mention the bomb sent to CNN. He is pure scum.
I knew those MAGAts would blame the deep state/dems for the bombs. As soon as I wrote it yesterday there were “false flag” comments from the Deplorables.
I know you see it. There’s a slow-moving civil war happening right now with a stochastic terrorist in charge and Emperor Zero gives nary a fuck about it. What’s going to be said when someone dies? Will it be the same bullshit from the Charlottesville death?
“There are fine people on both sides…”
Yes Eric, I agree, we are in a civil war. And the other side is the most heavily armed population in our country.
Darla, never fear, a lot more left wingers are armed than you think. And they’re smart enough to use their guns correctly.
So I’m hearing all these conspiracy theories from the right-wingers on my social media about how there’s no way these envelopes had enough stamps to send these pipe bombs, and the stamps didn’t look like they’d been canceled by going through the mail. I pipe up about how ridiculous such a conspiracy theory sounds, and I get called all sorts of names. It’s so frustrating . Even if Donald Trump was to shape up and become a perfect politician , his followers have learned this deplorable behavior and it has become ingrained in them. I fear politics is ruined forever .
Someone on the news last night said that not all mail gets “canceled” like you expect, especially if its an odd size, too big, etc. So the fact that people keep bringing up something meaningless like that…ugh.
And I noticed that one envelope had postage due on it, which accounts for some discrepancies.
Were the pipes plastic? They might not have weighed much.
His followers have always been deplorable. They can now celebrate their actions due to the ignoramus in charge. It is like they have been officially approved. The 45 stamp of approval so to speak. Their master says;
Go forth and do harm MAGAS👺
What a nightmare we are living. 😥
I have to say, the possibility that this is all being done by someone who thinks they’re being clever, in order to whip up public sentiment against Republicans, is literally my biggest fear at this point.
Of course it’s utterly horrible if these bombs are being sent for what appears to be the obvious reason, that a mentally unstable Trump supporter has taken it upon himself to try to assassinate or intimidate Trump’s “enemies,” and if someone dies as a result it will be a tragedy regardless of the bomber’s motive. But if the FBI investigation turns up a suspect with a long history (or apparent history, let’s not exclude the possibility of someone being a plant) of being a left-wing activist, Trump supporters will be baying for blood. Literal blood. I will genuinely fear rioting if that happens.
It is noteworthy that these bombs have all been made in such a way that not one has exploded before being detected and that the mailing labels have been littered with spelling errors. It feels like someone trying to make a point rather than to actually blow people up, and to play on stereotypes of Trump supporters as poorly educated. It feels like someone stage-managing public reaction, and I am extremely unsettled by it.
I hope my fears are paranoid and completely unfounded. Y’all who have seen my comments over time know I am firmly opposed to everything Trump represents — I’m not trying to stir sh!t up and imply a “false flag” operation managed by Democrats. But if it turns out that someone was sending these bombs in an attempt to point the finger at Trump’s rhetoric and those who support it, the far-right extremists will see that as an absolute vindication of every insane conspiracy theory they’ve ever floated through Pizzagate and Q-Anon and all that other madness. And their backlash will bang the drums of eliminationist rhetoric that has preceded genocides in places like Rwanda and Burma.
The fact that one was sent to DeNiro makes me think that is not the case. That’s just too random of a critic. Kathy Griffith or Alec Baldwin maybe. I really think it was lone person. I understand your skepticism though. That’s just the world we live in now.
The bombs could have killed someone and there would still be people who thought it was fake.
EllieMichelle, I hope to goodness you’re right. It’s hard for me to know what’s paranoid anymore, because most of my fears about what would happen following Trump’s inauguration have been borne out. We’re living in a time when the evil of despotism is trying to shake off the remaining shackles of the post-WWII international order, and I feel chilled by the shadow of our possible future.
I’m afraid that is what my gut is telling me too– Larry the Cable Guy stickers…I wouldn’t think it’s organized I’m afraid it’s some idiot thinking they are “helping” the democrats…
Ok, but these are not “fake” bombs according to what I’ve read. They were funtioning bombs that didn’t detonate for whatever reason. Do you think someone on the left would take a chance like that? I mean….I suppose anything is possible but it does seem highly unlikely to me.
@Kitten, I do think someone willing to engage in the scenario I outlined would be comfortable with that level of risk. My understanding is it’s also easier to make a bomb that intentionally *doesn’t* detonate than one that does, if the explosive material isn’t something inherently highly unstable, so it’s probably not something that would be a technical challenge to someone who had the ability to make a bomb in the first place. When bombs detonate unintentionally, it seems like it’s usually because either the explosive was highly unstable and necessary precautions weren’t taken, or because it was meant to detonate but did so at the wrong time.
Hopefully the picture will become clearer as the FBI investigates and the information they find will lay the most disturbing speculations to rest. As I say, I very much want my suspicions to be wrong.
@ Katherine- We don’t need to go full-conspiracy like the Right does, ok?
Occam’s Razor needs to be employed here. The Right has shown that they are not afraid to be violent. They have shown that they embrace xenophobia, racism, misogyny, and general hatred of anyone who disagrees with them. It’s really not hard to believe someone who loves Trump would be spurred to violence by Trump’s crazy rallies where he often condones and encourages violence against any and all dissenters.
Also, an NYPD investigator with direct knowledge told The Daily Beast that whoever built the pipe bombs sought to make the devices more deadly by mixing bits of metal and glass in with the black powder.
Seriously, girl, the perpetrator isn’t someone from the Left.
I think it was just dumb luck that they weren’t detonated at some point in transit. This kind of bomb can go off if just bumped the right way. The sender may not have cared if they actually detonated, though, just wanting to make people afraid. Any explosion would be a bonus.
Think about this as you vote:
When the MAGAbomber gets caught and if Congress is still controlled by the Republicans, Emperor Zero will pardon the bomber.
This is where we are right now.
you’re right… we are in the darkest timeline.
The far right has always had the same modus operandi as terrorists, whether it’s setting American wilderness on fire, bombing abortion clinics/murdering abortion doctors, or running people over in a protest crowd. They just got away with it for so long because they were white and their victims were considered subhuman.
We are under siege in America. Utterly disturbing and sickening that this type of massive terrorist actions occurring against open critics of the current administration.
So many lives at risk with all of these bombs..
Drumpf had an opportunity to be presidential yesterday & he blew it big time. Even when he read someone else’s ‘unify’ words you could see he didn’t feel it.
In the meantime the spotlight is off the Saudis, in the US anyway. I had CBC on this am (Canadian news) & they had updates on Jamal Khashoggi murder.
My husband said you couĺd tell a Dem made the bombs because they didn’t work. I might have to divorce him.
I think Trump does know the impact of his words and welcomes it. He is an extremely vengeful man and keeps enemy lists. He thinks about how to “get back” at people who are on those lists.
He wants those people dead. And he wants everybody to be afraid to criticize him ever again. He is a physical coward, so he incites others to violence. He did it repeatedly during the campaign and he knew exactly what he was doing.
Remember that Trump has zero empathy. The thought of mail handlers and bystanders getting blown up along with or instead of his critics is not something that would bother him.
The police covered the bomb makers van with a big tarp after he was arrested. The van was covered in stickers of anti-democrat, Trump, Pence, drain the swamp, build the wall, CNN sucks, and all those other catchy things those nut jobs chat at rallies. I’m willing to bet he was a bigly diehard Trumpster, and Trump is probably just glowing with pride that his name, face, and sayings are covering a van.