October 25: On This Day In 2018
{Programming note: Today marks our second topical collaboration with Schlep Labs and NowThis Impact. They've taken this topic and made a great video on it as part of their One Day Under Trump series. They'll post it today at 3:00 pm EDT, so please check there then!}
You may not have liked Robert De Niro’s performance in “The Intern,” alongside Anne Hathaway. But that’s no reason to try to kill him.
More likely the rabid Trump supporter who did try to kill De Niro, via a mail bomb discovered OTDI 2018, was irritated because De Niro is publicly an anti-Trumper. That same day authorities also discovered two suspected mail bombs addressed to Joe Biden. Also receiving suspicious packages that week were Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Eric Holder, and several other Democrats.
The next day the wannabe bomber, a Florida man with Trump stickers plastered all over his car, was arrested and charged with mailing pipe bombs to more than a dozen Trump critics.
(Although some of the bombs reached the home or office of their targets, most were intercepted, and none detonated.)
Trump denied playing any role in inciting his fan. He mused that the bomber “preferred me over others,” but “There is no blame. There is no anything.”
How did we get to this point? Of course that madman took things to the extreme. But, there have been dozens of times when Trump applauded actual violence against his perceived enemies, several of whom became targets of this bomber.
You may remember most of these Trump incidents. But, several, such as the OTDI for July 2, are worth repeating: He sent out a video of himself physically punching CNN. And he has told supporters at rallies to "Knock the Crap Out Of" hecklers, including a variation on that theme even just this month. He added, for good measure, "I'll pay the legal fees."
Of course there's more. To pick just a few, Donald Trump has also:
Told police officers not to be “too nice” when they arrested people.
Promised to have looters be shot.
Fantasized about shooting somebody himself on 5th Avenue in NYC.
Praised a GOP lawmaker for bodyslamming a reporter.
Spread a conspiracy theory about a BLM protestor who suffered injuries
Smiled when crowds begged him to “lock her up,” meaning bomb-recipient Clinton.
Praised the neo-Nazis of Charlottesville, and the folks who stormed the Michigan state capitol with guns.
Defended a teenager who shot protestors to death.
So is it surprising that somebody in his fanbase took that kind of incitement to violence literally? And that he thought he'd have Trump’s support? Just like the Insurrectionists on Jan 6 thought they were doing Trump’s bidding? "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," said our president that day.
As CREW noted, the Insurrection of January 6 “wouldn’t have happened without his repeated calls for violence that started years before, which created an increasingly dangerous feedback loop of violent rhetoric and violent action.”
So, in 2020, ABC News identified 54 incidents of violence committed in the name of Donald J. Trump.
THIS IS NOT NORMAL, PEOPLE. ABC News looked but they “could not find a single criminal case filed in federal or state court where an act of violence or threat was made in the name of President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush.” Here at OTDI, we haven’t seen incidents on behalf of President Biden either.
Fast forward to today. This violence is now part of the very core of MAGA world. Attacks on Trump’s enemies continue. We see it in the guy who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband in a home invasion; a physical pummeling which Trump later mocked and made up conspiracy theories about. We see it in the statistic that there has been a 400% increase in attacks on lawmakers.
As Tom Nichols observed (and as most observers have observed) in The Atlantic: “Threats and intimidation are the new normal in the GOP.”
Now Trump supporters are emboldened to threaten even fellow Republicans who aren't sufficiently 100% MAGA. Liz Cheney was forced to hire private security due to death threats. During the 2023 House Speaker voting, politicians who pulled support for candidates like Jim Jordan faced waves of threats to themselves and their families.
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA) received “credible death threats,” as did Reps. Drew Ferguson (GA) and Ken Buck (CO), while Don Bacon’s (NE) wife slept with a gun for protection. For Cheney, the ratcheted up threats are “absolutely being driven by Donald Trump, and unfortunately, some of his supporters,” she told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
GOP politicians are even physically threatening each other now. In November 2023, some Republican lawmakers nearly engaged in a fistfight after they had elbowed and shoved each other, including “a clean shot to the kidneys.” And that was not the first altercation on the GOP side of the aisle right there on the floor of Congress.
As Nichols summarized: “Only in the age of Trump have threats become a common part of daily American partisan politics…Trump and his movement have gone quite far in killing any sense of shame for saying terrible things to other people or their families over political differences.”
So, although it's disappointing, it's no surprise to see Trump continuing to preach the gospel of violence and that it be wrought upon his perceived enemies after he wins this '24 campaign. And it's in part why so many, including his own Chief of Staff, have found it reasonable to call Trump a fascist.
And that's why it's no surprise when, two days ago, "moderate Republican" governor Chris Sununu dismissed any concern about Trump's reported praising of Hitler: "We've heard a lot of extreme things from Donald Trump," he said, dismissively. "With a guy like that, it's kinda baked into the vote." No matter what Trump says, the GOP Just Doesn't Care anymore.
By the way, somewhat off topic, but to note: Of the nine GOP men who tried to become Speaker of the House in 2023 -- after Kevin McCarthy had lost the support of his party -- seven had voted to ignore the will of the American people in the 2020 election and instead install Donald Trump as our illegitimate dictator.
Dive Deeper
NBC News reported on Trump’s pipe bomber
The Guardian covered it too
Vox wrote a primer on Trump’s failed opportunities to unite the country during the pipe bomb crisis
Politico covered the death threats and intimidation against those who opposed Jim Jordan’s speakership bid
Tom Nicols, for The Atlantic, wrote about the Republican party’s new culture of violence
Axios detailed a 400% spike in threats against federal lawmakers in the wake of Trump’s presidency
The Daily Beast covered his “beat the crap” encouragement
ABC details 54 incidents of violence committed in the name of Trump
Axios lists some of Trump’s incidents
The Washington Post details the GOP physicality
On This Day In The Trump Administration: Donald Trump has normalized violence in this country