A President Who Condones Political Violence

In a piece in The Atlantic, former Republican David Frum looks at the irresponsible and dangerous behavior of Der Trumpenführer who has openly encouraged violence at campaign rallies and through his constant demonizing of the .mainstream news media - which has mere reported the truth about Trump, his cronies and the cesspool elements of his party  - and numerous Democrats and Trump critics who not surprisingly were targeted by Cesar Sayoc, a/k/a the "MAGA Bomber."  When asked if he would tone down his inflammatory rhetoric, Trump - always the malignant narcissist - shockingly said he might "tone it up."  Trump's rhetoric and the behavior of his supporters continues to careen towards political violence and one can only assume that Trump condones what is happening.  Decent, responsible Americans should be appalled.  Hopefully they get out and vote on November 6, 2018, and give Democrats control of at least the House of Representatives, if not the Senate as well.  Trump must be contained.  Here are column excerpts:

Bombs are sent through the mail to CNN, George Soros, James Clapper, former President Barack Obama, and other persons targeted by President Donald Trump for vilification and abuse. A theory begins to circulate on the far edges of the right that the bombs are a “false flag” intended to discredit the president and his party. The theory rapidly moves from the edge to the center.  There the theory lingers, even as police apprehend a suspect and tow away a van festooned with pro-Trump stickers.

On the afternoon of October 25, the false-flag theory gained a respectful hearing from The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, a Fox News contributor and one of the president’s most outspoken defenders on TV and social media, who in a tweet compared the current incident to the anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001

That same afternoon, a tweet from an anonymous account that alleged “FAKE BOMBS MADE TO SCARE AND PICK UP BLUE SYMPATHY VOTE” gained a “like” from Donald Trump Jr.

And at 10:37 a.m. on October 26, the false-flag theory was winkingly endorsed on Twitter by [Trump] the president himself: Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!

It’s striking that [Trump] the president has not offered a word of sympathy for any of the targets of the bombs. After all, even if the “false flag” theory were true to any degree, the people targeted were indeed targeted.

[Trump] The President did offer a generalized, perfunctory condemnation of political violence at a rally in Wisconsin on October 24, calling the bombs “an attack on democracy itself” and urging “all sides to come together in peace and harmony.” Yet even within those apparently scripted remarks, he could not refrain from an attack on the media institutions that had been targeted by the bomber: The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories.

Later in the rally, in apparently unscripted remarks, he added an extra gibe all his own: The media, he said, “can’t take a joke.”

When people talk about Trump condoning and inviting political violence, his behavior over the past 48 hours—and that of his followers—is exactly what they have in mind: the utter lack of sympathy for those attacked or threatened; the readiness to blame victims of terrorism for being terrorized; the determination to exonerate the president of any consequences for his own wild behavior; the indulgence of wild conspiracy theories as a means to achieve that exoneration, piped directly into the Oval Office from the furthest extremes of American life.

Only eight days ago, Trump praised a Republican member of Congress who physically attacked a reporter without provocation and then lied to the police about the attack. Today, Trump claims that there’s a conspiracy to blame him for bombs mailed to CNN and other people he has abused. And this claim is not Trump’s alone; it is echoed by many of the apologists and defenders of his government. Democracy has a rule, an absolute prohibition on the use or threat of violence to coerce political ends. Trump is walking the road away from democracy, and he is not walking alone.

Read histories of Hitler's rise to power in Germany - the parallels are terrifying.