We have become so desensitized to such hateful, terrible things in the Trump presidency that perhaps some people weren't shocked yesterday, their cynicism or need-to-be-brave so close to an election makes them numb or flippant to such things, but I'll be honest-I was shook to my core and genuinely curled up into a ball Wednesday night, not wanting to do anything but stay indoors, glued to the news, in a way I can only remember being at a few tragedies in American history.
This week, a terrorist attacked leaders of the party opposed to the President of the United States, people the president has literally described as his "enemy." Pipe bombs were sent through the mail to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, John Brennan (the package was sent to CNN headquarters), Eric Holder, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Maxine Waters, Joe Biden, Robert de Niro, and George Soros. These people are not arbitrary politicians or public figures. They are two former presidents, a former vice president (who is also the leading Democratic contender for the White House in 2020), a former secretary of state, a former first lady, two sitting congresswomen (one being a former DNC Chair), a former attorney general, a former CIA Director, a major Democratic fundraiser, and a prominent liberal actor. They are all Democrats or a key member of a Democratic administration, prominent Trump critics, and people that Trump regularly demeans and attacks with vitriolic hate in his stump speeches and on Twitter.
That Trump's hateful, violent speeches have led to actual violence may be inevitable, but it's worth noting that Trump and Republicans like him deserve the blame for what happened this week, and the media needs to lay it at their feet. Trump, just days ago, praised Rep. Greg Gianforte in a rally in Missoula, MT, calling him "my guy" in reference to Gianforte's assault of a journalist during his campaign last year. Ted Cruz, just days ago, was talking about how his opponent (Rep. Beto O'Rourke) could share a cell with Hillary Clinton, one of the victims of yesterday's attacks. And even after Monday's attack, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (the frontrunner to be the next Republican leader in the House after the elections), still had a pinned tweet attacking Mr. Soros on his verified Twitter page even after Soros has received a pipe bomb.
Trump's rhetoric against the media and the protesters has been violent, hateful, and frequently filled with lies, so the fact that CNN was one of those targeted is petrifying considering it is not only an attack on our leaders, but on the first amendment itself that was perpetrated Wednesday. And yet just days before our nation exercises its most sacred right, that of choosing our leaders, Trump couldn't control his supporters and his mouth for even 24 hours. After a scripted statement where he called for unity, Trump couldn't admit that his rhetoric is the clearest culprit here. No, he didn't send those packages, but that all of the people who received them are people who have been outspoken critics of Trump AND are people he regularly lashes out at in speeches, oftentimes with violent language, is no accident. Trump had the ability yesterday to say "I made a mistake, I need to work to change the discourse and shoulder some of this blame if we are actually going to unify," but he is incapable of doing so. Trump's rally in Wisconsin Wednesday night proved that, with him blaming the media for the attacks rather than taking any sort of accountability on his own, going back to attacking reporters the same exact day that CNN got a pipe bomb in the mail. Republican State Sen. Leah Vukmir, herself running for the US Senate in the state, grinned as the crowd chanted "lock her up" rather than trying to counter them on the same day Hillary Clinton (the "her" that they're referring to), was attacked. That Republican leaders (cause that's what Trump and Vukmir are), can't even go 24 hours without going after Democrats who were violently attacked by a terrorist is unforgivable and frankly is the final alarm that needs to be rung-if you can't see that yesterday was one of America's darkest days, I don't know how to help you. Think of it this way-if 11 people from the opposition party were attacked in Russia or China, we'd call it a banana republic or refer to that country as unstable. That's exactly what happened here-don't just get your coffee like usual, pretending "this is just Trump's America", because if we have to normalize what happened this week, this isn't America at all. We need to vote in 11 days, as if our civil liberties and lives depended on it, because they do. Democracy cannot stand if our leaders only care about the people who support them, if protection and rights are only bestowed on those who support the president. This week Donald Trump showed that he only cares about people who agree with him, and is incapable of feeling compassion for those who don't. Hopefully in 11 days, he sees that those who don't are louder than those that do, because it's the only message that will get through to him.
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