BOMBS ‘A VIRUS ON OUR SOCIETY’
Campaign seen linked to heated political rhetoric
• Investigators probing crude pipe bombs sent to prominent critics of President Donald Trump are trying to determine whether the devices were intended to detonate or simply to sow fear, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
The officials said the devices were not rigged like a booby-trapped package bomb that would explode upon opening. They had timers and batteries but never went off.
Details about the devices came as the four-day mailbomb scare widened. Law enforcement officials seized three more devices Thursday — two addressed to former Vice-President Joe Biden and one to actor Robert De Niro — described as similar to the devices sent to former president Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, CNN and others.
But the serial bombing has also ignited debate about the inflammatory rhetoric that has divided America.
“Bomb scares and the politics of the apocalypse,” read one Washington Post headline. “Rhetoric, Mobs and Terror,” said The New York Times.
“People feel encouraged to attack people who are voting for the other party,” said Carolyn Lukensmeyer, the executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse. “And this has now become ‘If you’re not with me, you’re against me. And not only are you against me, but you are dangerous.’ ”
“This is a virus on our society,” she added.
The new discoveries brought to 10 the number of suspicious packages targeting Democrats but intercepted by authorities this week.
Much was still unanswered about the devices and authorities have said nothing about suspects. Details suggest only a broad pattern — that the items were packaged in manila envelopes, addressed to prominent Trump critics and carried U.S. postage stamped. Some were discovered in mail processing facilities. Officials said the devices are being examined by technicians at the FBI’s forensic lab in Quantico, Virginia.
Law enforcement officials were still uncertain whether the devices were poorly designed or never intended to cause physical harm. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation by name.
At a press conference Thursday, officials in New York stressed they were still treating the packages as “live devices.”
“As far as a hoax device, we’re not treating it that way,” said Police Commissioner James O’Neill.
At the briefing, authorities confirmed that at least some of the packages were distributed through the U.S. mail. They said investigators searching for additional suspicious parcels had not found any during the previous eight hours.
The packages stoked nationwide tensions and fears two weeks before major congressional midterm elections. Even with the sender still unknown, politicians from both parties used the moment to decry a toxic political climate and lay blame.
“A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” Trump said on Twitter. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”
Former CIA director John Brennan, the target of one package sent to CNN, fired back. “Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror,” Brennan tweeted. “Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. Clean up your act ... try to act Presidential.”
As the scope of the attack became clearer on Wednesday, Trump originally decried political violence during a scripted event in the White House East Room.
Later at a rally in Wisconsin, he urged unity.
“Let’s get along,” he said. “By the way, do you see how nice I’m behaving tonight? Have you ever seen this?”
On Thursday, Biden also called for increased civility saying America had to “turn off this hate machine.”
Some voters expressed concern the country was spiralling into new territory.
“It almost seems like we’re in the middle of a civil war without the shots being fired,” said Bobby Dietzel, a 45-year-old information technology worker from Kansas City.