By Rick Manning
President Donald Trump addressed America on Oct. 24 about the number of explosives that have been received by Democrat political leaders over the past couple of days.
These packages closely follow the Oct. 18 indictment of a Logan, Utah man for sending mail containing the deadly chemical ricin to President Trump, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson, FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.
Below are the President’s remarks in their entirety, which state the obvious. We all should agree that there is no place for political violence.
“I’d like to begin today’s remarks by providing an update on the suspicious packages and devices mailed to current and former high-ranking government officials. The safety of the American people is my highest and absolute priority.
“I have just concluded a briefing with the FBI, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Secret Service.
“As we speak, the packages are being inspected by top explosive experts, and a major federal investigation is now underway. The full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation and bring those responsible for these despicable acts to justice. We will spare no resources or expense in this effort.
“And I just want to tell you that, in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together, and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America. (Applause.) Thank you very much.
“It’s a very bipartisan statement, I can tell you, from both sides. We both agree on that.
“This egregious conduct is abhorrent to everything we hold dear and sacred as Americans. My administration will provide additional updates as they become available. And I just want to thank everybody for their understanding. We’re extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning, and we will get to the bottom of it.”
It should not be remarkable that politicians of both political parties would condemn acts of political terrorism, but in the wake of an onslaught of high-level Democrats like Representative Maxine Waters and former Attorney General Eric Holder urging physical confrontation against their political opponents, the President’s unifying message is exactly what America needs.
In spite of finger pointing by many in the media in an attempt to assign blame for this week’s spate of intended violence, the simple fact remains that we don’t know who or what group is responsible for the actions, and the President rightly is making it a top priority to identify and bring the culprit(s) to justice.
Many Americans remember how the media and the FBI initially got it wrong when they fingered an innocent man who was actually a hero during the Atlanta Olympics bombing. Others will remember how the FBI led by Robert Mueller hounded an innocent man for years who they wrongly suspected of sending mail filled with anthrax to Democratic Senators in 2001.
Yet, once again we find some of the more irresponsible news media speculation about the political motives of the person(s) who sent pipe bombs to Democratic Party leaders. One would think they would remember how they jumped to the wrong conclusion when Representative Gabby Giffords was shot and six others killed. They immediately blamed a Sarah Palin mailer for the shooting, only to find out that the crazed gunman was obsessed with the Congresswoman for reasons that have not been fully determined.
When Republican members of Congress were sprayed by bullets by a super fan of Bernie Sanders last year, resulting in severe injury to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, politicians from both sides of the aisle came together against political violence for what, in retrospect, seems like a blink of the eye.
No matter what the result of the investigation into these mail bombs, it is our prayer that people from all political stripes can embrace the President’s message that “in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together, and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.”
After all, if we cannot agree on that, then what can we agree on?
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
