A President Who Condones Political Violence
Trump’s statements over the past 48 hours reveal a president willing to breach a core rule of democracy.
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.
[Read: If the pipe-bomb mailings aren’t terrorism, what is?]
On the afternoon of October 24, the false-flag theory was all but endorsed by Rush Limbaugh:
And so,
