It's Happening Again

It's official: the angry white men who sent more than a dozen bombs in the mail and who shot up a synagogue were directly incited by Donald Trump.

The mail bomber lived out of a van festooned with pro-Trump propaganda: a rolling shrine to racism. According to his lawyer, Cesar Sayoc was directly radicalized by Donald Trump:

Sayoc, a 56-year-old Florida man who friends and other associates say had never shown any interest in politics, suddenly began sharing images of himself on Facebook at Trump campaign events. He signed up for Twitter, where he trafficked in conspiracy theories and conservative memes. He registered as a Republican to vote in Florida ­— Lowy said he believes it was for the first time in Sayoc’s life ­— in 2016. He traded out his Native American decals for ones that supported Trump.

“Had no interest in politics, was always at the night clubs, the gyms, wherever he thought he could meet people, impress people. And along came the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, who welcomed all extremists, all outsiders, all outliers, and he felt that somebody was finally talking to him,” Lowy said.

The synagogue shooter, Robert Bowers, was also directly radicalized by Trump. Bowers blasted Trump for not being nationalistic enough -- Trump only hates Muslims, Latinos, Chinese, Japanese, Germans, French, Canadians, transgendered people, women who need abortions, women who need birth control, women who have been assaulted by dickheads, people who live in countries wracked by dictatorship and violence and look to the United States for salvation.

Bowers swallowed the whole "caravan will kill us" line that Trump is trying to sell and took it one step further. He attacked Tree of Life Synagogue specifically because they are part of a century-old organization that helps resettle refugees in the United States:

The most recent postings on the Gab account believed to belong to Bowers specifically targeted the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, known as HIAS, which is one of nine organizations that works with the federal government to resettle refugees in American communities.

“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in,” Bowers is suspected of writing hours before authorities said he opened fire at Tree of Life.

In one posting, which seems to have been published several weeks ago, the author appears to threaten participants in the HIAS’s National Refugee Shabbat project, for which more than 200 congregations across the country held celebration and worship services centered on refugees last week. The organization, founded in 1881 to assist Jews fleeing Russia and Eastern Europe, now works to resettle displaced people from around the world, including Muslim and Central and South American nations.

“Why hello there HIAS! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us? We appreciate the list of friends you have provided,” the poster wrote before linking to the Web page that lists all of the participating congregations.

If you whip a dog into a frenzy, encourage it to attack people on the street, and then let it off its leash and it tears the throat out of a five-year-old child, you are guilty of murder.

Every day, on Twitter, at his rallies, at the scrum in front of Marine One, Trump is whipping his dogs into a frenzy, encouraging them to beat up reporters, punch protesters at his rallies, telling cops it's okay to brutalize suspects.

Trump didn't directly order these attacks. But he is morally responsible for the mail bombs and the bloodshed at Tree of Life.

And then, to add insult to injury, Trump blamed the Jewish victims for not having guards.

How many times do we have to repeat this? Guns do not provide protection, they only allow retaliation. Guards are just the first people to be hit by the burst of gunfire from the AR-15 shooters like Bowers love to use. Four cops with guns were among the shooting victims at the synagogue.

One of the Bowers' victims was a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor. What were her last thoughts as gunfire rang though the synagogue?

Oh, no. It's happening again.