The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Trump's not behind the pipe bombs

    By Flavius on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 3:15am |

    Say after me . And repeat it if asked. Or not.

    "Trump had nothing to do with the pipe bombs

    Two reasons: It's true and it's good politics. 

    Let's skip to the second. The attack will  be of some benefit of our  net margin. At least to the extent that

    some republicans won't vote against us. Maybe go fishing.Good.

    If we get some benefit without asking that's good  old American fair minded action by our good old Republican friends.

    I'm too tired to continue so I'll post this.And really strongly remind you to say tomorrow

    "The Rebuplicans didn't do it

     

     

     

    Comments

    I think Josh Marshall framed the matter well:

    I don’t deny that a certain level of polarization, coarseness in the way we talk to each other or reflexive presumptions of bad faith can lead us toward Trumpian type rhetoric. But that’s like a gateway drug argument. Sure, it happens with some people. But mostly not. The simple truth is that we can live with our politics being raucous, aggressive and even mean. What kills civic life is not only violence but violent incitement, rhetoric of dehumanization and the politics of aggression and hate that is still largely the exclusive possession of the political right in the United States today.

    From this point of view, it is not so much about who is "behind" the act, it is who is walking side by side with it.


    by moat on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 8:21am

    You don’t have to blame Trump for the pipe bombs. You can accurately point out that Trump blames the media for the pipe bombs.

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/25/politics/trump-blames-media-for-anger-aft...

    You can also point out that the crowd at his rally was yelling “Lock her up” about Hillary.Clinton despite the pipe bomb threat.


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 9:06am

    Thirteen days from now I'd agree. Will agree.

    Right now I'm reminded of Harold Wilson arriving at Heathrow when the Profumo scandal had erupted.

    "Mr. Wilson, what do you think of the involvement  between Ms Keeler and Minister Profumo ?" 

    "No comment. "

    Pause....

    "In technicolor."


    by Flavius on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 10:06am

    Pretending that Trump did not set a tone is not being honest. Candidates like Gillum and Abrams are competitive because they are confrontational.


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 10:35am

    My unpatriotic goal is to cause  a lot  of Republicans to roll over  Nov 6 and  decide to give it a pass.


    by Flavius on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 10:44am

    Trump supporters don’t care what we do. In fact, they are trying to keep us from voting.

    Trump gained prominence as a Birther 

    People thought he would mature int oth Presidency. He didn’t.

    Then we got the lie that Ivanka and Jared would keep him in check. They didn’t 

    Ivanka and Jared are grifters just like Donald

    Then we were told that Melania’s jacket was a message of hope. It wasn’t 

    Melania hates the press just like Donald

    Then we waited for Flake and Collins to keep a failed abuser off the court. They didn’t 

    We are all we got.

    If white women and men are abandoning Trump, it is because they are disgusted 

    Those who are giving up on Trump smell the same stench as the rest of us.

     


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 11:09am

    If you are a president of the U.S. and you use your bully pulpit to pump conspiratorial lies, it's going to affect some mentally ill to act out violently. That's just reality.

    We have freedom of hate speech in this country but I don't think our president should be using that freedom, as it can cause violence when someone with the power of the presidency does so, and I think he should suffer political consequences for doing so.

    The question really is how to affect those political consequences on the president in a wise and savvy way rather than just ratcheting up more hate.


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 12:55pm

    I think the junior Senator from Alabama is speaking about it in a wise way here:


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 2:05pm

    Some words of wisdom here from an old timer political op:

    Violent Political Rhetoric Can Feed Political Violence

    As excitement mounts in a runup to a critical election, it's important that we recognize that politics isn't, or shouldn't be, actual warfare

    By Ed Kilgore @ NYMag.com, Oct. 25

    He talks "then: and now:

    [...] We all have our theories of why politics increasingly feels like combat, and who is primarily to blame for the creeping savagery of political rhetoric. Back in 2011, when the tea party movement and its quasi-totalitarian ideology of Constitutional Conservatism appeared to be introducing a new and unforgiving tone in politics, two colleagues and I at The Democratic Strategist website published a memo deploring “politics as warfare,” and noting its ubiquity in the extremist politics of the left and right in other countries.

    [....]

    In writing those lines, we were thinking of the tea party extremists. But since then “politics as warfare” has become common on both sides of the partisan and ideological barricades [....]


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 2:33pm

    What political leader on the Left is inciting violence?


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 2:41pm

    The "never Trump" Republicans are taking care of it. Examples:

    Wilson also retweeted this yesterday


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 1:50pm

    another onea those converts to snowflakism:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/26/2018 - 2:33am

    Flavius, I am not sure that anybody is going to notice the restraint you are calling for. I hear the suggestion of not giving Republicans hairs to split. On the other hand, "liberals" are already the kick dog in this movie. The state of affairs will put any generalizations made in a bad light but one peep through the window of the G.O.P. frat party shows a scene where that is so much popcorn trampled upon on the way to the keg.

    I think Scaramucci has the correct angle on this festival of lies. It is all about triggering libtards. That is all Trump was hired to do. If you are a Republican, a Martian, or an Episcopalian who doesn't like that, then you probably didn't start that dislike just after some lefties noticed that some private citizen took the messages seriously.


    by moat on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 3:56pm

    I'm  encouraged by the virulent indifference to my trial balloons. Would be ashamed to admit membership in a group acting otherwise,

    That said, counting on my fingers and toes I can't calculate  any Trump&Co gain from today's pipe bombs. In fact, the opposite. So?

    Seems common sense when your opponent takes aim at his own big toe, don't jostle his arm.. 

    The House of Lords                                                                                                                                       throughout the War                                                                                                                                                       Did nothing in particular                                                                                                                                         And did it very well  

    Seems about right.

     

     

     


    by Flavius on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 10:37pm

    Trump hasn’t bothered to call President Obama, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, Vice President Biden, or any other targets. 

    If the FBI says that a person with Rightwing ties is involved, Trump will say that the FBI is wrong.

    Welcome to the Trump era.


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 11:18pm

    I am not indifferent. And I take your point about not jostling someone's arm at key moments.


    by moat on Fri, 10/26/2018 - 2:15pm

    I thought of your advice in this post when I saw this, yes, rage is what the grifters of the right wanted to see from the left, and they are still looking for it:

    ❛Do not go gentle into that good night…
    Burn and rave at close of day;
    RAGE, RAGE against the dying of the light.❜ pic.twitter.com/oFSmREZB8Q

    — Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) October 27, 2018

    Since I know you're not a fan of newfangled internet stuff, so that you don't have to delve into Twitter links, I will add that who posted this, Harry Siegel, is Senior Editor @ The Daily Beast and I found it retweeted by Rick Wilson who added the comment that The early 1990s called and they want their video game font back.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/26/2018 - 10:54pm