A terrible week in Trump's America

It has been a week of murder, mayhem, bombs and more murder. The Saudis at last admitted the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was premeditated, some right-wing Trump-supporting crazy man sent more than a dozen explosive devices to Democrat and Democrat-supporting VIPs, and a fascist walked into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire causing multiple casualties. There is no question that violence breeds violence. For the synagogue shooting to take place in the same week of the multiple mail bombs cannot be a coincidence. Both appear to have been inspired by hate and anger, two words that crop up regularly in Donald Trump's America. However much he condemns such incidents, the fact is his rhetoric and tweets have given comfort to the crazies of the United States. More than anything, Trump is clearly concerned that these acts of violence may cause voters to turn against him in the midterm elections. He has as good as said so himself in the case of the mail bomber. Unless I missed it, I don't think Trump has ever said how sorry he was that mail bombs were sent to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other notable Democrats. The Khashoggi murder has also caused divisions because of Trump's ambivalent reactions to suspected Saudi government responsibility for the planned assassination and dismemberment of the dissident journalist. It took Jim Mattis, the US defence secretary, to say what the White House should have said from the beginning, that the murder of Khashoggi will have a destabilising impact across the Middle East. All these violent incidents will also have an impact on the US midterm elections, now only ten days away. It could go either way, more support for the Republicans or a swing towards the Democrats.