Bombs are a coward’s currency

Someone sent bombs to two former presidents, a former secretary of state, a member of Congress, a billionaire and employees at a cable network.

Friday, we found out that he is a registered Republican, and a supporter of Donald Trump, a former felon, and demonstrably crazy (or at least marginally unhinged.) Before we knew his identity, though, the line of culpability led directly back to Trump, according to his critics, and the people who voted for him.

I’m disgusted. You should be, too.

First and foremost, I’m disgusted that a criminal decided to threaten, with real physical violence, American citizens on American soil. I don’t care who the targets were, they were tried, convicted and sentenced to death by a one-man tribunal, an anonymous Star Chamber meting out “justice” for perceived wrongs.

Bombs are the coward’s currency, sent from a distance to cause the greatest amount of damage. Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, the Weather Underground, Italy’s Red Brigade, Germany’s Bader Meinhoff Gang, al Qaida. The list of homicidal cowards, who set traps and run away to avoid the carnage is a long one.

I’m disgusted that we live in a country where people have access, on the internet, to instructions on how to make weapons of mass destruction. The First Amendment, to quote a Supreme Court justice, should not be a suicide pact.

I’m disgusted that we hate each other so much that we rejoice in the threats to political or philosophical opponents, or excuse the criminal acts of those on “our team.”

But the thing that most disgusts me is the sick, irresistible compulsion to exploit a near-tragedy. Immediately after news broke about the multiple bombing attempts, I started to hear a similar narrative: All of the intended victims hated, and were hated by, Donald Trump. Donald Trump uses the rhetoric of anger and mayhem, and has been ratcheting up the anger in the days leading up to the midterm elections. Some of Trump’s followers hear the dog whistles. This was an attack triggered, if not supported, by Trump.

The blood would have been on his hands. The blame was on his head. And those who support him were guilty by association.

Election Octobers are always full of unpleasant surprises, and what could be more unpleasant than attempted assassinations. There must be some way, mustn’t there, to gain an advantage, all the while standing at the gravesite of decency and civility. Farewell, old friends, we don’t need you anymore. It’s showtime, just a few days ‘til the votes are cast, and you are not helpful to the cause. That’s what we say at moments like this.

Most people who target philosophical enemies have crossed that invisible, fragile line between sanity and madness, and care only about the mayhem they can cause, not the message they are sending. Clearly, Cesar Sayok has several significant screws loose, as do all of those who think that killing a political enemy is legitimate partisanship.

I waited to hear those sentiments from CNN, one of the targets of the attacks, and those who supposedly care about civility, decency and fairness.

And I was disgusted by what I heard, implications and outright accusations that Trump and, by extension, anyone who didn’t reject the GOP and its unholy alliance with him were just as guilty of setting those bombs as the actual, likely lunatic who built them.

The hypocrisy was blatant, and upsetting.

I am a conservative, and I do not own any part of these attacks. I am a conservative, and I reject the idea that violence has been committed in my name. I am a conservative, and I rejoice in the fact that presidents Clinton and Obama are safe, and that journalists of any formation or philosophical stripe have escaped the fate of others, like Jamal Khashoggi. I am a conservative, and I hope that Cesar Sayok is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and, if found guilty, provided with lifetime accommodations at Supermax next door to Ted Kaczinski.

I am a conservative, and that is much less important than my humanity.

Words do not kill, and unless they qualify as “incitement to violence” under Supreme Court precedent, no one has any business laying the blame at the feet of anyone other than the guy in the straight jacket.