Tragically, with a terror-bent pipe bomber still uncaught and an inflammatory president unrepentant and unrepressed, this much is painfully clear:
It will now take a very special kind of village � a Republican leadership village � to Make America Great Again, as long as Donald Trump remains president.
And sadly, we've still seen no sign that the titular national leaders of the Republican Party (especially House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell) possess the fortitude to patriotically lead by demanding President Donald Trump stop using incendiary, hate-based rhetoric to fire up his hardcore voters. Responsible Republicans clearly realize Trump's rhetoric undoubtedly fired up the would-be assassin (or assassins) who this week sent pipe bombs, stuffed with lethal shards of glass, to at least 10 prominent Trump critics and the one mainstream news television network � CNN � Trump most frequently attacks.
Unconscionably, after pipe bombs were mailed to the homes of Hillary and Bill Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, CNN's New York City headquarters and other liberal Trump critics, President Donald Trump proved himself incapable of stifling his hate-based, attack campaign rhetoric for more than one news cycle. After America watched live TV coverage on Wednesday of the too familiar terror routine (a pipe bomb being discovered at CNN, and the live-TV evacuation of the building), Trump went to a Wisconsin rally and made a joking show of being rhetorically restrained: "Do you see how nice I'm behaving today?" he said.
But early Thursday, Trump, unrepentant or just incorrigible, reverted to his campaign of division and hate that only served to Make America Grate Again. He targeted the mainstream media in this 7:18 a.m. tweet: "A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!"
Fortunately, there was also good news: The mainstream media Trump was condemning spent the morning demonstrating that Trump's once-Grand Old Party still has a wide stream of responsible, patriotic Republicans in prominent places who have the guts to publicly say what needs to be said.
CNN's New York City headquarters anchors were back at their desks, reporting the real news, which included an interview with Ohio's Republican Gov. John Kasich, who said of Trump: "I was always hopeful he perhaps could unite the country.... I've now become convinced ...he's not capable of being a unifier."
Ever since Trump began pointing to the press area at rallies, calling journalists "the enemies of the people," I have warned that eventually he would provoke an unstable-but-armed rally-goer to shoot at journalists. On Thursday, Kasich � a courageous conservative who needs to run against Trump again in 2020 � went there too: "When a crowd gets revved up, there's always somebody on the edge who might do something stupid ... somebody unstable."
Over on MSNBC, the network that has been viewed as the progressive (see also: liberal) alternative to the conservative Fox News, anchors were interviewing conservative Republicans who were long considered Fox News regulars. Conservative John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary Magazine, said of Trump's joking about being nice at his Wisconsin rally: "He thinks all of this is a joke � it's not!"
Bill Kristol, founder of conservative The Weekly Standard, said about the rage that provoked the recent pipe bomb terrorism: "Trump is both a symptom and the cause of the problem.... Trump is now legitimizing things that presidents used to deplore....Trump indeed fosters this.... It's unbelievably irresponsible for the president to be doing that."
Commentary associate editor Noah Rothman added: "In 2016, he incited violence. In 2017, he incited violence _ excused violence. In 2018 � this morning � he is excusing violence by not confronting it."
And Republican political strategist Susan Del Percio called the pipe bomb incidents "a reflection of his (Trump's) rhetoric.... He seeks to divide us ... he creates the anger. They look for leadership and they find hate."
The GOP has what it needs to become a grand new party again � just not up top. It is up to the Republican regulars to step up and patriotically lead their leaders so they can Make the USA United Again.
