Moments after President Trump called for an end to the politics of personal destruction at a rally in North Carolina late Friday, the crowd broke into the president’s trademark Hillary Clinton chant: “Lock her up!”
Hours earlier, authorities revealed that Cesar Sayoc, the man they accuse of terrorizing Democrats with homemade bombs last week, was a Trump supporter who drove a van with an image of Mrs. Clinton covered by target crosshairs. The van also sported a prominent “CNN sucks” sticker.
That did not faze the Trump crowd, which lustily booed the mention of Democrats including Mrs. Clinton, and broke into a round of “CNN sucks” chants, echoing the exact rhetoric that appears to have touched a nerve with Mr. Sayoc.
The shooting at a synagogue Saturday in Pennsylvania also did nothing to quell the heated political passions ahead of next week’s elections, with Mr. Trump’s fans again chanting against Mrs. Clinton.
Democrats, meanwhile, continued to blame Mr. Trump for rhetoric that they said is fueling the anger, and online liberal forums took no break in mercilessly attacking the Trump presidency’s legitimacy and veracity.
“Honestly, I think this president’s whole modus operandi is to divide us,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday.
SEE ALSO: Robert Bowers, Pittsburgh gunman, wanted ‘all Jews to die’
Mr. Schiff said the American people have a “collective responsibility” to reel in hatred, yet “no one sets the tone more than the president of the United States,” who he said has failed to lead.
“It’s going to fall on all the rest of us to make this a more perfect union,” Mr. Schiff said.
Mr. Trump, though, said change must start with the media.
In the hours after Mr. Sayoc’s identity was revealed and his pro-Trump proclivities became clear, the president suggested that intense negative coverage of him and his followers was feeding a sense of unfairness. He said coverage of his administration has been 94 percent negative.
“We want honest coverage from the media. That’s all we want,” he said.
Mr. Trump did praise the FBI and police for their quick action in arresting Mr. Sayoc, who has been charged with sending the 13 pipe bombs detected this week en route to major Trump political opponents. Targets included former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, several prominent members of Congress and former Obama administration officials. None of the devices detonated, and nobody was hurt.
SEE ALSO: Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life Synagogue warns shooting is ‘an attack upon America’
Mr. Sayoc’s van was plastered with images reflecting the president’s campaign speechifying, including attacks on the press, Democrats and the Washington “swamp.”
Mr. Trump said he found the press obsession with Mr. Sayoc’s political leanings untoward and compared it with coverage of the man who attacked Republicans at baseball practice last year, gravely wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana. The man had been a volunteer for Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016.
“We did not use that heinous attempt at mass murder for political gain because that would have been wrong,” the president said.
Mr. Trump over the weekend also condemned the Saturday attack on a synagogue, which authorities blamed on 46-year-old Robert Bowers. Authorities said Mr. Bowers has a history of vicious anti-Semitic comments that does not exclude accusing Mr. Trump of being surrounded by too many Jews.
“He was no supporter of mine,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he traveled to a campaign rally in Illinois on Saturday. “His thought process was sick.”
Trump critics, though, say he has been too willing to flirt with nefarious voices and note his reference to honorable people on “both sides” of the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year.
The violent attacks follow a particularly nasty string of weeks in Washington, where Democrats launched an unprecedented attack on Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, using uncorroborated allegations of sexual assault and outlandish gang rape accusations against him.
Amid the acrimony, liberal activists loudly confronted Republican senators in public. One Democratic staffer on Capitol Hill has been charged with “doxxing” senators, releasing their personal phone numbers and addresses online to encourage activists to target them.
Sen. Christopher A. Coons, Delaware Democrat, said Sunday that it is not the same as Mr. Sayoc’s behavior.
He did, though, criticize Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, for suggesting protesters should confront and bother Republicans when they are out in public.
“One of the things that really concerns me, that weighs on my heart, is the ways in which our president and a number of other national political leaders of both parties have used their megaphones in order to inspire and instill and energize folks based on division rather than based on unity,” Mr. Coons told the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
Sen. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, noted that Mr. Bowers didn’t appear to be a fan of the president.
“I believe the same shooter was condemning President Trump,” Mr. Lankford told CBS, referring to online postings in which Mr. Bowers referred to the president as a “globalist.”
“I don’t see how you connect Present Trump to a person who is deranged going into a synagogue,” he said.
Mr. Lankford also criticized liberal voices who have shouted down or attacked conservatives on college campuses and Justice Kavanaugh. Yet he also found fault with Mr. Trump, saying he is responsible for his own tone.
“I think the president needs to be more clear in his rhetoric and doesn’t need to be as caustic in his rhetoric,” Mr. Lankford said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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