HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT

Blame games. Bipartisan condemnation of the mailings was quickly followed by pointing of fingers. Many commentators blamed Trump’s own rhetoric, which has specifically called out Clinton and Soros, for inspiring such violence. Others, meanwhile, pointed to theories about a potential electoral benefit for Democrats. “It’s happening in October. There’s a reason for this,” said radio personality Rush Limbaugh. Trump himself hinted at Democrats benefiting from “this ‘bomb’ stuff” in a Friday morning tweet.

Close call. Most of the packages were intercepted before they reached their intended destination. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has teams nationwide trained to inspect suspicious packages and are on alert for what they say are dead giveaways: unusual shapes, excessive postage and specified personal delivery. There are also sophisticated X-ray machines and bomb-sniffing dogs in wide use at sensitive locations.

A history of violence. America has seen mail attacks before. In 1919, for example, the U.S. Postal Service intercepted 36 mail bombs directed at prominent people across the country. President Harry Truman was the target of letter bombs in 1947. Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, terrorized his victims with bomb packages from 1978-1995, killing three. And, earlier this month, multiple letters containing castor seeds, from which the poison ricin is derived, were intercepted on their way to President Trump and Pentagon officials. A Utah man was charged for sending those letters this week. Facing a potential life sentence in prison, William Clyde Allen, the suspect, cried in the courtroom.

And the midterms? The pipe bombs raise the disconcerting possibility of more election-season violence in the U.S., and with elections less than two weeks away, there’s a chance for messaging to get even nastier on both sides. The once-fringe theory of “false flag” attacks is spreading on social media channels. Meanwhile, Trump applauded the arrest of the suspect today but expressed frustration over the media’s coverage of the crimes, suggesting that it diverted attention away from politics ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

WHAT TO READ

Having Divided Us, Trump Cannot Unite Us, by Michael D’Antonio at CNN
“We have no idea who sent the bombs and no idea what the motive was. But what we can say is that the conspiracy theories Trump promotes, like the violent rhetoric he uses, have degraded the political environment to the point at which the kind of terrorism that comes with mail bombs is not a surprise.”

The Pipe-Bombs Story: Another Example of Why No One Trusts the Media, by Andrew C. McCarthy at The National Review
“At this point, there is no evidence whatsoever that provocative words from the president had anything to do with the sending of bombs.”

WHAT TO WATCH