In the past couple of days, pipe bombs were sent to the homes and offices of persons and individuals who “President” tRump attacked in campaign speeches-Bill and Hillary Clinton, billionaire philanthropist George Soros, Barrack and Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, Robert DeNiro, Maxine Waters, Debbie Wassermann Schultz, and Time-Warner, where CNN has its New York Offices. These were serious bombs, not just a high-school prank; fortunately, thanks to the great work of NYPD and the Secret Service, the bombs were rendered harmless.
These persons and institutions, like I said, criticized tRump, as all Americans have the right to do; but trump railed against them in rallies, calling CNN “fake news” and”The enemy of the people.” His fans still chant “lock her up!” at the mention of Hillary Clinton’s name; and trump and Republican Senators, during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, accused George Soros of subsidizing the demonstrations against Kavanaugh’s nomination. (Soros has also been accused of subsidizing the caravan of Centeral American people fleeing the violence and poverty of their nations to come to the “land of the free”; his name is a code word for all kinds of anti-Semitic conspiracy mongering.)
Right after the bombs were found, trump spoke of the need for unity and a call to end violence; this was about as sincere as his condemnation of the racist, neo-fascist marchers in Charlottesville, after he said there were “very fine people” among them. Then, later on, trump tweets that the “fake news” media brought the violence upon themselves, and tells them to “clean up their act.” What does THAT mean? Don’t criticize him or his minions? Don’t report his corrupt tax schemes for his father? His spinelessness after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post reporter, by Saudi operatives, just for a wildly exaggerated arms deal? His brown-nosing of such tyrants as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un, and Xi Jinping? His blatant lying about the republican tax giveaway bill to plutocrats and corporations? His urging his fans to beat up opponents, saying he’ll pay their legal bills? His mouthpiece Kelly Ann Conway talking about “alternative facts,” deciding which is or isn’t the truth?
Democracy, if it ha any chance of surviving, needs debate and discussion, and that includes a free press-not necessarily the corporate press, but all sorts of voices speaking truth to power, watching the government and other centers of power. Any threats to silence the press of any other forms of discussion will harms us as a society.
we must not give up or shut up. This series of terrorist acts-yes, it IS terrorism, not just some unhappy nutjob-makes voting on November 6 even more essential. Get out and VOTE November 6, and make a stand against trump and his thugs and thuggery.