Less than 24 hours after a series of pipe bombs were mailed to top Democrats and critics of President Trump, any semblance of unity in\u2026<\/b>
\nLess than 24 hours after a series of pipe bombs were mailed to top Democrats and critics of President Trump, any semblance of unity in how to handle the issue had disappeared.
Even as new packages addressed to Vice President Biden and the actor Robert De Niro were discovered, Republicans and Democrats were back in their partisan corners, pointing fingers at each other for causing an ugly political climate that\u2019s taken a violent turn just days before the midterm elections.
Democrats insisted Trump deserves blame for statements that have condoned violence, while the president on Thursday linked the media\u2019s \u201cfake news\u201d to rising public anger.
Other key voices on the right even suggested the explosive devices themselves were fake, and that they might have been part of a Democratic \u201cfalse flag\u201d operation to shift the political conversation from the migrant caravan slowly making its way to the U. S. border with Mexico.
The bomb scare \u2014 and the ensuing reaction from many public figures \u2014 represented a fraught political moment for both parties. With House and Senate majorities up for grabs on Nov. 6, candidates have been demonizing their opponents and stoking fear and division for political gain.
Some said they were reminded of the late 1960s, a decade punctuated by political assassinations during which members of the Weathermen and other groups vowed to conduct acts of violence as part of an effort to end the Vietnam War.
\u201cWe’ve reached a very low point,\u201d said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist. \u201cThings aren’t aren\u2019t quite as bad as they were in the 1960’s when there was a lot of civil unrest and violence. But the situation is dangerous when people get pipe bombs in the mail.\u201d
Trump, Democrats and the elements of the media have predictably offered different targets for blame.
The president, one morning after calling for people to unify and \u201ccome together,\u201d tweeted Thursday that the \u201cfake news\u201d media was inciting anger.
\u201cA very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,\u201d Trump tweeted Thursday. \u201cIt has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!\u201d
Democrats, including some of those targeted by the bomber, point the finger at Trump.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a day after learning that two packages were addressed to her offices, put out a video on Thursday tearing into Trump.
\u201cI think the president of the United States should take responsibility for the kind of violence that we’re seeing for the first time in different ways,\u201d Waters, who has been denigrated as \u201clow-IQ\u201d by Trump, said in a video posted by Blavity.
Former CIA Director John Brennan, another target of the bomber, also pointed the finger at Trump. \u201cUnfortunately, I think Donald Trump has not helped to encourage the type of civil discourse and public engagement,\u201d he said at the University of Texas at Austin. \u201cAnd his rhetoric \u2014 too frequently, I think \u2014 fuels these feelings and sentiments that now are bleeding over into potentially acts of violence.\u201d
Democratic leaders in Congress on Wednesday had also criticized Trump, as did CNN chief Jeff Zucker, whose network\u2019s New York offices were evacuated after the explosive mailed to Brennan was sent there.
\u201cThere is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media,\u201d Zucker said Wednesday. \u201cThe President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.\u201d
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders responded in a tweet that accused CNN of \u201cseeking to divide.\u201d
\u201c[ President Trump] asked Americans \u2018to 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.\u2019 Yet you chose to attack and divide. America should unite against all political violence,\u201d she wrote.
On Fox News, one morning host, seeking to make a point about the blame Democrats are foisting upon Trump, asked House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) if he blamed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for his shooting. Scalise looked somewhat taken aback or confused by the question before stating that he did not.
Scalise was gravely wounded last summer when a man opened fire on a GOP congressional baseball practice. The man backed Sanders and his attack was seen as politically motivated.
Separately, some pushed the idea that the bombs sent to the Democrats weren\u2019t real at all.
A woman was photographed outside of Florida\u2019s gubernatorial debate on Wednesday holding a sign that said \u201cDemocrats Fake News Fake Bombs.\u201d
Fox Business Anchor Lou Dobbs tweeted \u201cFake News-Fake Bombs\u201d before deleting the tweet.
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested that a \u201cDemocratic operative\u201d may have been responsible for the explosive devices and suspicious packages.
\u201cRepublicans just don’t do this kind of thing,\u201d Limbaugh said during his radio show on Wednesday.
Bannon, the Democratic strategist, said there was plenty of blame to go around.
Just weeks ago, the bitter confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh cranked up a political climate that was already at a boil. And part of the GOP\u2019s closing argument to voters has centered on the \u201cangry mob\u201d of Democrats that are hell-bent on taking down Trump\u2019s presidency.
\u201cThere’s overheated rhetoric on the talk shows, from politicians of both parties and social media,\u201d he said. \u201cThe job of a president is to bring Americans together during a crisis. But he is an angry demagogue who pours gasoline on a raging fire to create an inferno of hate and violence.\u201d
While political observers say the breakdown in civility and culture is partly a response to Trump, they also note that politics was growing increasingly polarized even before his ascension to the White House.
In 2011, then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) survived a gunshot wound to the head during a constituent meet-and-greet in Tucson. The deranged gunman killed six people and injured many others.
Two months after the shooting that nearly killed Scalise and seriously injuring a Capitol Police officer, lobbyist and congressional aide, white supremacists violently clashed with counter protesters in Charlottesville, Va. The fighting turned deadly when one of the white supremacists plowed his vehicle into the counter demonstrators, killing Heather Heyer and injuring scores of others.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and other key players in the Kavanaugh confirmation fight faced death threats during the bitter weekslong debate.
And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and several Trump administration officials have been confronted by protestors at restaurants and in airports, while Pelosi was recently heckled by a group of \u201cProud Boys\u201d during a Florida campaign event.
The recent incidents have only further fueled concern about political fights getting out of hand in the run-up to a potentially volatile and closely watched midterm election.
\u201cThis isn’t the way that we should expect America to be turning. You are seeing more and more of this and clearly you are seeing it on both sides,\u201d Scalise told Fox News on Wednesday evening. \u201cWe all need to be calling it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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