Bomber Sends Explosives To Hillary, Obama, Soros, Holder. Leftists Blame Trump. Right-Wingers Claim False Flag. Everything Is Terrible.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, pipe bombs were discovered in mail directed toward top Democratic figures ranging from former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to former president Barack Obama, from Eric Holder to George Soros. Media outlets including CNN and The San Diego Union Tribune were also targeted.

This, obviously, is evil. Politically-motivated violence is the definition of terrorism, and this certainly fits the definition.

Yet the parallel responses of some on the Left and Right has been wildly disheartening, to say the least. The proper response to political violence isn’t to blame those who aren’t responsible for political violence — Bernie Sanders wasn’t responsible for the Congressional baseball shootings despite his anti-Republican rhetoric, nor was Barack Obama responsible for the targeting of Dallas police officers despite his critiques of supposedly systemic police racism. Yet some on the Left blamed President Trump and Republicans more broadly for the bombing attempts. Paul Waldman of The Washington Post wrote a full piece assuring Americans that Trump could safely be blamed for the bombing attempts:

Given what Trump has done and said, this was absolutely predictable. In fact, it’s a wonder that it took this long. It’s not just that Trump advocates violence against his political opponents — though he does. It’s that everything about his rhetoric pushes his supporters in that direction, even if the overwhelming majority will never get quite to the point where they’ll actually commit this kind of act of terrorism.

More: Bomber Sends Explosives To Hillary, Obama, Soros, Holder. Leftists Blame Trump. Right-Wingers Claim False Flag. Everything Is Terrible.