Fake Bomb Claims an Attempt to Deflect Blame

One thing I can say with a high degree of certainty is that the bombs being mailed to various Democratic politicians and activists are not the work of an organized plot by any political party.  No matter what the motivations behind this, an individual or possibly a small cell working independently are responsible.  That has not stopped the fake bomb conspiracy theories from flying all over the Internet.  The right wing fringe voices immediately started the gaslighting show, repeating a lie so often that people find themselves thinking  there might be some validity to it.

Of course the bomber was inspired by political rhetoric.  The bombs were sent to leaders of a political party.  There are people out there who feel hopeless in the face of a challenge to their view of how the country ought to be.  They see an opportunity to make a real statement in a cowardly act of terrorism.  They represent the least sophisticated player in the ongoing struggle for the hearts and minds of the American people.

A side by side comparison of the strongest rhetoric coming from each parties leaders does demonstrate an obvious difference in the level of fear they preach.  Republicans, and in particular Trump, have fear, anger and resentment as their major selling points.  They work very hard to make the average white guy feel that his privileged status in this country is slipping away,  as if it was something he had earned rather than just luck of the birth lottery.  Democrats on the other hand more often speak of equality, attempting to boost up those who are truly disadvantaged.

Statistically speaking the number of politically motivated murders in this country in the last decade committed by right wing extremists is at 71%.  Left wing radicals over the same period account for 2%.  Republicans like to point at Antifa as an example of the left's shared responsibility in political violence, but Antifa is a very small group with no connection to any major Democratic organization despite the ravings of the "Soros is the devil", tin foil hat crowd.

Just as the constant barrage of emails and Bengasi accusations created enough doubt to give the election to Trump, despite multiple investigations finding no crime, right wing pundits and Russian trolls alike have found a rallying cry of "fake bombs" hoping to cast a sliver of doubt. Sure Democrats have been using the pipe bomb attacks to sway the electorate, but there were actual attacks against their most influential members rather than an outlandish conspiracy theory.

When viewing the big picture concerning these attacks what should be noted is the egregiousness of each parties blame in the problem of domestic terrorism in general.  While there is some reason to place blame with some Democrats, the majority of the problem comes from Republicans and their embrace of the tactics of Trump.  Also the right's enthusiasm for pushing outlandish claims as plausible theories is merely an attempt to deflect the responsibility that they have so richly earned.