Bombs sent to Obama, Clinton and others prove the US remains Disunited

First and foremost those responsible for making and then sending pipe bombs to Obama, Hillary Clinton, CNN, John Brennan, former CIA chief, and others are guilty of a heinous, murderous criminal act. But the bombs were also a political punch in the face for liberal-minded people in America. This was an attack on democracy and on the Democratic Party. These bombs demonstrated how divided the US is. Nothing Donald Trump has achieved which could be regarded as positive, such as his charm offensive to North Korea, will change the fact that the country has never been so disunited. Trump will always be a divisive leader and a hugely popular president for those on the extremist right who have been waiting for years for someone like Trump to run the White House. They probably believe, wrongly of course, that having someone in the White House who has views which might seem similar to theirs on many issues, such as immigration, gives them carte blanche to stand up for extremism. Last week Trump praised the Republican congressman who physically attacked a reporter from The Guardian in May last year. He called Congressman Greg Gianforte of Montana "my guy" during a rally. Does this give carte blanche to all right-wing people to go around hitting reporters? Not in so many words but there are people on the extremist fringes who will think to themselves: "If the president says it's ok, then it must be ok." Leaders are supposed to lead by example; and if the president of the United States said, as has been reported, joked that it was ok to grab women in intimate places, then it's not surprising that this week a man appearing in court for sexually harassing a woman in the seat in front of him on a passenger plane claimed in his defence that the president had said grabbing a woman was fine. Trump of course has condemned the bombs sent to his political opponents. But someone somewhere probably thought to himself: "Let's teach those liberal motherf......s a lesson and do Trump a favour."