The following is an editorial by PoliticusUSA’s co-publisher Sarah Jones.
The mob is real; it’s Republican, and it’s dangerous. The media needs to do its job regarding Trump and the Republicans’ dangerous rhetoric against Democrats and liberals.
Today, Wednesday October 24th just two weeks before the Nov. 6 elections, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating after bombs were found near former Democratic President and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill and Hillary Clinton’s home and sent to former President Obama. CNN’s Time Warner Center in New York was also targeted according to authorities.
Additional targets include critics of Trump like John Brennan via CNN and Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Eric Holder, and Kamala Harris.
Yesterday, Democratic donor George Soros received a bomb.
On October 17th, a paid mob shut Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s event down.
A report that a suspicious package also was sent to the White House was later found to be false, a person familiar with the matter said.
The bombs sent to the Obamas, Clintons, CNN and George Soros are linked, according to authorities.
Each of these targets have been repeatedly the subject of hate and violent rhetoric by President Trump, many in his administration and elected Republicans. None of them have had the courage or moral fiber to tell him and their party to stop the violent rhetoric.
Terrorism is defined as: “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”
There is no equivalent on the left in high leadership. Republicans like to point to “Antifa,” but there is no elected Democratic leadership egging Antifa on, pointing to targets, falsely accusing of criminality and encouraging vigilantism.
CNN’s Jim Acosta warned that Trump was planting “seeds of violence” in his supporters five days ago after Trump praised the Republican Congressman who assaulted a journalist for no reason, noting that “Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of—he’s my guy.”
The list of Trump’s violent rhetoric is too long for anyone to include in one article, but this Slate piece lays out the broad strokes.
It’s a fact that DHS admitted that “law enforcement sees right-wing extremism as the top terrorism threat to the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sees right-wing extremism as the top terrorism threat to the United States, or that the FBI sees right-wing extremism as the top terrorism threat to the United States.”
However, complaints from conservatives got a 2009 report warning about right wing terrorism and its office shut down.
Yet, right-wing extremism—generated a comparable number of fatalities to Muslim extremism. In fact, in 2014 law enforcement warned, “Since 2000, 35 law enforcement officers have been killed in 26 incidents in which at least one of the suspects was a right-wing criminal extremist” (Harris 2014).
“By the start of 2014, when we carried out our survey of law enforcement agencies, the amount of violence attributed to right-wing extremists was similar to or greater than violence attributed to Muslim extremists,” a report on Ideology and Threat Assessment: Law Enforcement Evaluation of Muslim and Right-Wing Extremism 2 found. (This later changed, but the media coverage on the two is so vastly different it reveals more pro-right bias than it should.)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders condemned these “terrorizing acts”, but just last night she was inaccurately blaming Democrats for the caravan her boss and the Republican Party/Fox News keep using to terrorize their base into voting.
“These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. “The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards.”
Tuesday evening, Sanders mimicked her boss’ daily hate against Democrats, stirring up hate against Democrats and liberals, adding that Trump was “willing to stand up to the liberal mob trying to unleash chaos across our country.”
The Democrats’ open border policy is an open invitation to the caravan. Thank God we have a President fighting for the rule of law and willing to stand up to the liberal mob trying to unleash chaos across our country
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) October 24, 2018
There is a mob, but it’s not the liberals, the rape victims trying to be heard, or the mothers upset about jailed babies.
The media plays a big part in this because they keep repeating Trump and Republicans’ false accusations while at the same time, there has been none of the cheese platter moral outrage they saved for poor Sarah Hucakbee Sanders, even when Democrats are almost killed.
The mainstream media was so outraged by citizens who verbally confronted Republicans over the egregious, un-American policy of separating children from their parents, but every day they let the hate dripping from Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and more pass by unnoticed, even though the media’s job is supposed to be to check power.
Is there an agenda at play? Larger corporate media has an agenda that benefits from Republican deregulation and tax cuts, while individual reporters are said to lean more liberal. The accusation of “liberal media bias” has done its job of shaming reporters and gaming the ref so that they lean way to the right to appear non-partisan and fair. But it’s not “fair” – not at all. What it is is inaccurate and now it’s dangerous.
Everyone in this country needs to grow a spine and stop letting complaints about facts silence the discussion. Right wing terrorism is a huge threat in this country, and it is not being dealt with because even the government is giving it a pass so as not to offend conservatives.
When Trump and Republicans’ rhetoric gets someone beloved killed, they will wake those who aren’t woke yet. The media will bear some responsibility for the way they’ve handled the endless lies and hate coming from this White House and its Republican-led Congress and indeed, violent rhetoric from Republicans across the country.
This is right wing terrorism. It has a political agenda motivated by fear of losing power and a failure of real leadership.
Violence, running on hate and lies and ugly rhetoric is for losers. It’s for people who can’t lead. Trump should resign immediately, he’s morally unfit and mentally unable to do his job. He is incompetent and dangerous. But of course he won’t resign and no one in the Republican Party will take a moral stand, so it’s up to citizens to get out the vote on November 6th to put a check on this president.
Follow Sarah on Facebook and Twitter.
Updated 1:50 PM as more information became known to include: “Additional targets include critics of Trump like John Brennan via CNN and Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Eric Holder, and Kamala Harris.”
1. “Since 2000, 35 law enforcement officers have been killed in 26 incidents in which at least one of the suspects was a right-wing criminal extremist” (Harris 2014
Harris Robert F. 2014. Domestic Terrorism/Sovereign Citizen Overview. Tallahassee, FL: Institute for Intergovernmental Research.
2. Kurzman, C., Kamal, A., & Yazdiha, H. (2017). Ideology and Threat Assessment: Law Enforcement Evaluation of Muslim and Right-Wing Extremism. Socius. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117704771
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
- Philly DA Warns Anyone Planning to Play Militia ‘F Around and Find Out’ - Mon, Nov 4th, 2024
- Opinion: Republicans Kill Another Woman with Abortion Ban as Pregnant Teenager Dies - Fri, Nov 1st, 2024
- Musk Flouts the Law with No Repercussions in Pennsylvania - Thu, Oct 31st, 2024
