Friday, October 26, 2018

Somehow, we should've known something like this would happen

Over the last four days, several pipe bombs have been uncovered in New York, Florida, & California, most of which bore the return address of one of its targets, former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on the packages.

The most high profile targets have been former Secretary of State and Senator Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, who had two packages ticketed to him, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and actor Robert DeNiro, who famously lambasted President Trump at the Tony Awards back in June.

It is now believed that the packages were shipped from somewhere in Florida, using the Schultz address to conceal the sender's true identity. The first target was George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has since been falsely accused by Trumpian sheep of funding a caravan of migrant families traveling toward the US-Mexico border this week.

Predictably, after supporting Vice President Pence, President Trump scapegoated the media, which only adds more fuel to the fire for his critics, who buy into the media perception of Trump as a 70-something man-child who throws tantrums via Twitter (hence, Twantrums) when he feels offended. He'll tell you he's not at fault.

Directly, no, he's not. Indirectly? That's another story.

Trump's voter base, mostly in the Midwest, the South, and suburban areas in between, consists of white folks frustrated over eight years of the Obama administration, upset that, 10 years ago, America elected its first African-American President.

I didn't vote for Obama in 2008 or 2012. I didn't vote for Trump, either. I do, however, respect the office of the President. What Trump fails to understand is that within his voter base are a few extremists who, without the President's blessing, will try something like this, thinking that's what he would want.

No, he wouldn't.

Trump publicly condemned the bomb mailings before going back to ripping the media a few unnecessary new ones. Whomever sent the bombs is acting on his/her/their own, independent of the President, and absent of their own mind(s). Nothing's been said to explain why this happened, and that, really, only makes things worse, because the longer this extremist(s) is out there, the greater the chance he/she/they could try again.

Deep down, we should've seen this coming. The voter base doesn't see the real Donald Trump, just the guy who was the front man on The Apprentice, and Trump is using that act far longer than he should.

Wake up, Mr. President. You might not realize it now, but ultimately, blood may be on your hands because one or more of your nuttier supporters got off the grid. Nobody's died----yet----but that doesn't mean anyone will at the end of this.

Updated, 12:59 pm (ET): Florida police have arrested Cesar Sayoc, Jr., 56, in connection with the bombs. They also confiscated a white van plastered with an assortment of Presidential and pro-Trump stickers, and covered the vehicle with blue tarp. A typical case of a quiet guy that no one suspected would try something like this. As you could tell from the stickers, Sayoc is a registered Republican who has also lived in New York and North Carolina.

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