Trump tones it down as more bombs found
White House: President not responsible for anger
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has called Democrats “evil,” described the media as “the enemy of the people,” dismissed opponents as having a “low IQ” and encouraged supporters to chant “lock her up” at the sound of Hillary Clinton’s name.
But as authorities intercepted suspicious packages mailed to his rivals for a second day Thursday, the White House sought to dial down the rhetoric while simultaneously blaming the media for the nation’s charged political atmosphere.
After years of intentionally poking his Twitter fingers at what remains of civil discourse in Washington – a tactic Trump himself admits is intended to get a rise out of Democrats – experts who study political language say the pipe bombs delivered to prominent Democrats and media figures were probably inevitable.
“It doesn’t have to trigger everybody, but you can’t predict who it will make violent,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric and an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. “If you have a pervasive culture of weaponized communication, statistically, someone will be violent.”
Over the course of a single week this month, Trump took to Twitter to describe a former porn star who accused him of an affair as “horseface,” labeled Democrats the “party of crime” at a rally in Montana, called a Democratic candidate in Texas a “flake” and gleefully employed the word “mob” to describe his political opponents.
Trump’s words changed markedly this week after authorities intercepted packages mailed to former President Barack Obama, Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the New York offices of CNN (which was addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan) and others who have been on the receiving end of the president’s barbs.
At a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday, Trump refrained from calling the media “fake” – a line that always prompts supporters to turn around and jeer at the press – or blasting Democrats with this his trademark nicknames. The president even spoke in a more somber tone, the kind of voice he is more likely to use at the White House.
“Do you see how nice I’m behaving tonight?” Trump told supporters in Mosinee. “This is like – have you ever seen this? We’re all behaving very well.”
The restrained approach continued Thursday, as the president spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services to announce a new initiative to lower drug prices.
The White House, meanwhile, pushed back on a chorus of criticism from Democrats and academics suggesting Trump’s rhetoric created a charged political atmosphere where violence is possible. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders rejected the idea that the president was complicit in stirring up animosity directed at Democrats.
“The president is certainly not responsible for sending suspicious packages to someone, no more than Bernie Sanders was responsible for a supporter of his shooting up a Republican baseball field practice last year,” Sanders said, referring to a shooting in Virginia that left House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, RLa., critically injured.
Brennan, who has sparred publicly with Trump and who was an intended target for one of the packages, posted to Twitter that Trump needs to “stop blaming others. Look in the mirror.”