Chemi Shalev writes:

When Trump said Saturday that the attack in Pittsburgh might not have been as bloody if the synagogue had hired armed guards, he was essentially blaming the Jewish victims for their own death; proving, in the process, how detached he is from the sentiments of the liberal Jewish majority, which abhors the unflinching Republican support for guns and their owners.

Trump’s insensitive assertion proved to anyone who still harbored doubt that he is eminently unqualified to reassure liberal Jews in their hour of darkness. Even if the suspected killer, Robert Bowers, was disappointed with what he perceived as Trump’s failure to safeguard white supremacy, the president’s critics will draw a direct line between the attack and the president’s consistent incitement against immigrants – who, in the killer’s eyes, are backed by Jews and their representatives.

Trump’s opponents, who presumably include most of the Tree of Life congregation, will see Bowers’ rampage as a direct consequence of the implicit encouragement that Trump gives to far-right racist movements –most memorably when he depicted them as “fine people” in the wake of the deadly August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

In this regard, the attack on the Pittsburgh synagogue is likely to be intertwined with the dozen or more pipe bombs dispatched to the liberal opponents that Trump has maligned, including former President Barack Obama and Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Unlike Bowers, Cesar Sayoc – the suspected perpetrator of the bombing attempts who was arrested late last week – was a Trump groupie. Still, both fed off the fear, loathing and hatred for foreigners that have flourished in the Trump era as a direct result of his conduct and statements.

In the immediate maelstrom of emotion, it’s hard to project how the letter bombs and synagogue attack will influence the upcoming congressional elections.

The reflex effort by Trump and GOP leaders to disown the perpetrators of both crimes should be familiar to Israelis who witnessed the similar campaign by the Israeli right to shirk off responsibility for the hate-filled atmosphere that incited Yigal Amir to assassinate Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

GOP and conservative pundits say Sayoc is a deranged criminal while Bowers is a Trump-hating Nazi lowlife. Trump’s GOP base will be easily persuaded that Democrats are inflating the incidents for political gain, but for many Americans Trump’s complicity is now proven beyond a reasonable doubt. [Continue reading…]