In the space of less than a week, America has suffered the worst anti-Semitic attack in its history — a massacre that claimed 11 lives — and uncovered a spate of pipe bombs mailed to at least 14 of President Donald Trump’s critics, including his predecessor, Barack Obama. In a third incident, two African-Americans were gunned down in a grocery store. The alleged killer spared a white customer, saying “whites don’t kill whites”. The apparent culprits in the first two — Cesar Sayoc, who allegedly posted the pipe bombs, and Robert Bowers, accused of gunning down worshippers and police officers in a Pittsburgh synagogue— were inspired, in part, by conspiracies on social media touting Mr Trump’s story of a caravan of central Americans heading towards the US border. Anti-Semites believe the caravan is funded by George Soros, the hedge fund billionaire, who was one of the pipe bomb targets.
As president, Mr Trump’s first duty should have been to appeal to national unity. Instead, he used it as a chance to sow more division. He endorsed the idea that the pipe bombs were “false flag” operations by Democrats fearful of losing next week’s midterm elections. “Republicans are doing so well in early voting and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows,” he tweeted. Although he condemned anti-Semitism, his response to the Pittsburgh massacre was no less inappropriate. He said the Tree of Life synagogue should have had an armed guard. These were highly incendiary responses, which gave Mr Trump cover to downplay any future violent attempts against his critics.
But his culpability goes deeper than that. As president and as a candidate, Mr Trump has routinely blessed acts of violence against people he dislikes. His incitements are now so routine that they are losing the capacity to shock. Whether it was applauding thugs for beating up an illegal immigrant, retweeting memes that showed Hillary Clinton in the crosshairs, or offering to pay the legal bills of anyone who attacked protesters, he has normalised appeals to violence in everyday politics. He has also created an enabling vocabulary by talking of opponents and the media as “enemies of the people”, praising a congressman who physically assaulted a journalist, and threatening to investigate his critics. The chants of “Lock her up”, referring to Mrs Clinton, are still routine at Mr Trump’s rallies.
