Analysis by Stephen Collinson | CNN Newsource

Washington is locked in a destructive and acrimonious ritual that plays out every time President Donald Trump is called upon to lead in a moment of national peril — and that ensures that America’s political estrangement will only deepen.

The controversy over explosive devices sent to prominent Democrats, a liberal billionaire and CNN — all frequent targets of the President’s rhetoric — is following a pattern repeated over and over during over 21 tumultuous months.

When a natural disaster, a political controversy or a mass shooting takes place, the media and political establishment set expectations for Trump to invoke a poetic vision of common purpose and unity, craving a spectacle in line with the traditional conventions of the presidency at great historical moments.

Trump then produces a scripted response that is adequate, but in the moment or in subsequent days undercuts that message with radioactive comments or tweets that spark fierce criticism and mobilize the conservative media machine in his defense while he often deflects blame back onto the media as he did in a pointed 3 a.m. tweet early Friday morning.

Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, “it’s just not Presidential!”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018

It suggests the President has little desire to play the role of national counselor being forced upon him — one that is a poor fit given his deliberately divisive style. The drama usually ends with another layer of bile added to the nation’s politics.

That a President who has based his political career on crushing conventions and norms should so constantly be tripped up by the behavioral and ceremonial codes that define the role of head of state is deeply ironic.

But Trump knows that refusing to bow to the standards the establishment demands is the secret of his bond with his loyal political base.”Do you see how nice I’m behaving tonight?” he said on Wednesday, letting a crowd in Wisconsin in on the joke of a performance toned down after the bombs were discovered.

These dual forces operating on Trump help explain why the political divides and mutual mistrust cleaving America — between the President’s loyalists and critics — are unbridgeable and will produce a bitter 2020 election campaign.

The last few days have stuck to the script.

Undermining his own words

As soon as authorities discovered that homemade bombs had been sent to former President Barack Obama and the home of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as other Trump targets like George Soros and CNN, eyes started turning to the White House.

The President had to say something, and he did so at the top of a previously scheduled event on Wednesday.”I just want to tell you that, in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together, and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America,” Trump said, slamming the “egregious” and “abhorrent” attacks.

It was a strong statement on the face of it, though was notable in failing to name any of the victims, all often the focus of Trump’s ire.But Trump got a passing grade in the eyes of most commentators.

It was only later that his unwillingness to play the role presidential tradition requires became clear. At a rally in Wisconsin, the President undercut his message by appearing to blame the media and his opponents for the sour national mood in which the pipe bombs had been crafted and delivered.

His performance not only flouted the paternal conventions of the modern presidency — which date at least to Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats during the Great Depression — it also suggested that when he’s not in a formal, scripted setting, Trump really cares only about his own political motivations.

“It was one of the worst moments in the Trump presidency,” said CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. “It was a golden opportunity to be large, to try to say something that would unify the country. … He came off, in my opinion, as a very small president.”

The President’s attitude set off a media storm, and then a backlash from his White House. Press secretary Sarah Sanders accused reporters of always focusing “on the negative” and not playing their own role to foster national unity.

Trump next fired off a tweet unleashing new acrimony, sparking fresh accusations about his attitude toward norms and constitutional freedoms and his understanding of what a president is supposed to do.

The fight back on such occasions resonates with Trump supporters, however, who see the President as the victim of unrelenting and slanted news coverage, a factor that endears him to them even more.

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!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2018

One Trump confidant told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny that criticism of the President’s behavior over the bomb scares just cemented Trump’s view that he is “treated with hostility and unfairly — there’s no talking him out of that.”

Around 3 a.m. Friday morning, Trump again took to Twitter to defend himself and criticize the media saying that the media has been “blaming me for the current spate of Bombs.” He went on to claim that while he faces much media criticism, he is called “not Presidential” when he hits back.

This was not the first time that the criticism of him left Trump brooding after critics charged that his performance fell well short of the standards of decorum and decency expected of a commander-in-chief and revealed a leader unable to rise above political combat to console and steer his nation.

After violence at a white supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year in which an anti-racism protester was killed, Trump was initially criticized for an inadequate response but then delivered a speech condemning an “egregious display of bigotry, hatred and violence” that has “no place in America.”But he couldn’t help himself. 

A day later in a Trump Tower news conference, he blamed “both sides” for the violence, setting off a days-long debate about race.”You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say that. I’ll say it right now,” Trump said.

It was almost as if the President couldn’t let his scripted, “presidential”-style remarks have the last word. Maybe it’s a symptom of his rebellious character. Or perhaps it shows a need to signal his loyal base, which embraced his revolt against the establishment, that he hasn’t gone native in Washington.

The same scenario unfolded when Trump returned from Finland amid outrage over his deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit.

He read out a statement designed to make clear he accepted intelligence community assessments on Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US election. But he couldn’t resist adding a caveat — “could be other people also” — in an ad-lib that undermined his statement but was also an act of defiance against Washington’s expectations.

Every time the weight of convention and tradition requires him to act one way, Trump the outsider and iconoclast can’t bring himself to comply.

And each time, the criticism that Trump stirs, and consequent fury within his inner circle at the media response, makes the polarization even worse.

It’s been a trait of his presidency right from the beginning, emerging when he went to the CIA on his first full day in office, attacked the media for its coverage of his inaugural crowds and effectively conducted a campaign rally in front of the agency’s revered memorial wall to fallen officers.

Gravity of the presidency

Some commentators believe Trump simply has no desire to honor the moral authority of the presidency and simply sees it as a vehicle for his own power, prestige and self-glorification.

Others suggest he doesn’t understand the magnitude of his responsibilities.

“He is now the President of the United States. He is not on a talk show somewhere,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on Thursday. “When that position of power is spewing hateful rhetoric, that has an effect.”

Another theory about Trump’s behavior could be that he has banked so exclusively on his political base that he cannot allow himself to do anything that would damage his image as the ultimate rabble-rouser.The President also knows he’s most effective when he’s attacking an enemy, in the heat of a fight. And a political method that relies on inflaming cultural, racial and societal divides means he might not ever be accepted by those who despise him anyway.

But that all leaves a bigger question: What will be the impact on American life and the national unity of years of such civic discord?

Trump may simply be unable to summon the words and the aspiration to bring the country together — as President George W. Bush did on a pile of rubble after 9/11 — or he may not even want to do so.

Ultimately, as a self-styled disruptor, he may realize that it’s simply impossible to honor the historical expectations and conventions of his job while being true to himself. And if it comes to a choice, there’s no doubt which side of that equation he will choose.

By Nicole Chavez, CNN

Hours before his arrest, Cesar Sayoc was playing music sets at a Florida strip club.

Few there were aware of his political views.

“He was a nice guy,” Stacy Saccal, the club’s general manager, told CNN affiliate WPTV. “He would make jokes, just funny.”

At least four times a week over the last two months, the 56-year-old parked his white Dodge van plastered with stickers supporting President Donald Trump and depicting some of Trump’s critics with targets over their images near the Ultra Gentlemen’s Club in West Palm Beach. Sometimes he would work as a DJ and others as a bouncer.

He is a bodybuilder and former male dancer

Sayoc, of Aventura, Florida, is a bodybuilder who worked as a male dancer for several years and most recently as a pizza driver.

On his LinkedIn account, Sayoc described himself as a choreographer and booking agent for male strippers and burlesque shows.

On Twitter, he said he is a “Current Booking Agent/Sales/Marketing/Promotions/Project Mgr Live Events” at Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida, Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock International said there was “no evidence” the suspect is or was a member or was employed by any of the three groups.

They also said they could not immediately “verify if he is or was an employee of a vendor company.”

A cousin, Lenny Altieri, said Sayoc went to good schools and was well-educated. “Brains and common sense are not synonymous,” he said.

Sayoc attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from 1983 to 1984 but did not graduate, the school’s communications office said. He was an undeclared major who played on the soccer team.

He also went to Brevard College in North Carolina, a school spokeswoman said. He enrolled at Brevard in fall 1980 and attended classes there for three semesters but didn’t graduate.

He used to deliver food for a pizza restaurant in Fort Lauderdale until he quit in January. He said he had gotten a job driving a hazardous waste truck in North Carolina, manager Debra Gureghian said.

He appeared to be living in his van

He appears to have been estranged from his family for several years.

A 2012 bankruptcy filing in Florida indicated that Sayoc “lives with his mom, owns no furniture.” The 46-page filing, signed by Sayoc in June 2012, lists total assets of $4,175 and liabilities of $21,109.

But an attorney representing Sayoc’s family said he has not visited his mom’s condo in Aventura for at least three years.

His mother and sisters had urged him to seek medical treatment because he struggled with “a lack of comprehension of reality,” attorney Ronald S. Lowy said.

“He thinks there’s nothing wrong with him,” Lowy said in a telephone interview, shortly after meeting with the suspect’s family on Friday.

He said Sayoc’s mother, who underwent surgery Friday, “can’t understand his behavior or views.”

Lowy, the family attorney, said Sayoc’s father is Filipino and his mother is Italian. He said Sayoc was not politically active when he met him.

It appears that he was kicked out by his parents and had been living in the white Dodge van where he was found Friday, a law enforcement official said.

Investigators believe that Sayoc made the pipe bombs in that van, two law enforcement sources said. Inside that vehicle were soldering equipment, stamps, envelopes, paper, a printer and powder, the sources said.

He has a lengthy criminal history

Sayoc’s past is marked by encounters with law enforcement.

Court records show he had been arrested at least nine times, mostly in Florida, for accusations of grand theft, battery, fraud, drug possession and probation violations.

In 2002, he was arrested after Miami police said he threatened to bomb a power company saying “it would be worse than September 11th.”

“The defendant contacted a rep (from) Florida Power and Light Co. … by telephone and threatened to blow up FPL,” a Miami Police Department report about the incident said.

The caller “threatened to blow up the building if FP&L turned off his light,” the report said.

He pleaded guilty to the offense, records show, and was sentenced to one year of probation.

In 2014, he was arrested and later pleaded guilty to stealing copper pipes at a Home Depot, records show.

‘A model employee’ despite views on minorities, former boss says
Gureghian, general manager of New River Pizza and Fresh Kitchen in Fort Lauderdale, said Sayoc was open with her about his views. He calls himself a white supremacist and dislikes gays, African-Americans, Jews and anybody who isn’t white, she said.

Gureghian said Sayoc told her that lesbians like her and other minorities should be put on an island. And though he liked her, he told her she would burn in hell, she told CNN.

Even though she hated his political leanings, Gureghian said she didn’t fire him because he did his job and there were no complaints.

“He was a model employee,” she said, adding that she “can’t understand” how he would allegedly send mail bombs.

He posted anti-Muslim memes and slammed politicians
To some of his colleagues, Sayoc was not particularly involved in politics, but his social media accounts and his van tell a different story.

In 2016, Sayoc registered to vote as a Republican in Florida, and a Facebook video showed him in a “Make America Great Again” hat at a Trump rally.

He was prolific on his two Facebook accounts and three Twitter feeds, often posting provocative photos and memes attacking liberals.

He took on Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee in the Florida governor’s race, more than 80 times in October alone.

In other posts, Sayoc shared conspiracy theories, memes and articles slamming former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent in 2016.

On September 20, in response to a Trump tweet, Sayoc posted a self-shot video of himself at what appears to be a Trump rally.

The text of the tweet threatened former Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder, both of whom were targeted by improvised explosive devices discovered this week.

“Go Trump Trump Trump hey Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. And Eric Himpton Holder Sr. Stick your BS all crap you talk where sun doesn’t shine. We will meet your threats right to your face soon. Not option we will see you soon. Hug loved ones real close we aren’t ones,” the tweet read.

But he spoke about bombs only twice on Twitter and the context of those posts isn’t entirely clear.

“Bomb squad here,” read the first tweet posted Sept. 9.

“Unconquered Seminole Tribe Bomb squad,” read a second tweet posted minutes later.

Sayoc also posted virulently anti-Muslim memes and published the address of billionaire investor and Democratic donor George Soros and photos of the homes of some others who later received bombs.

As recently as Wednesday, Sayoc posted a tweet that was critical of Soros, former President Barack Obama and others. A package to Soros had two days earlier.

And about two weeks ago, Sayoc tweeted at a political analyst.

“We will see you 4 sure. Hug your loved ones real close every time you leave you home,” the tweet said in part.

Rochelle Ritchie reported it as abuse, but Twitter said it wasn’t a violation of its rules.

A Facebook representative told CNN that the company had removed Sayoc’s account Friday.

The rep said that several of Sayoc’s previous posts had violated Facebook’s community standards and had been removed before his arrest but that none of his posts reported to or discovered by Facebook contained violations of its rules severe enough to remove the account entirely.

Sayoc was not previously known to the Secret Service, law enforcement sources said.

CNN’s Jason Hanna, Evan Perez, Scott Glover, Steve Almasy, Ray Sanchez and Paul P. Murphy contributed to this report.

By Caroline Kelly | CNN Newsource

Former President Barack Obama made a thinly veiled jab at President Donald Trump on Friday evening, saying it was wrong to use a position of power for attacking others as “enemies of the people and then suddenly pretending that you’re concerned about civility.”

“I would like to think that everybody in America would think it’s wrong to spend all your time from a position of power vilifying people, questioning their patriotism, calling them enemies of the people and then suddenly pretending that you’re concerned about civility,” he told a cheering crowd.
Trump has repeatedly called the media “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.”

Following the discovery of multiple packages sent to people whom the President has spoken against as political enemies, as well as a suspicious package in CNN’s New York bureau at the Time Warner Center on Wednesday, Trump tweeted Thursday that “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.”

Obama said Friday, “It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say you don’t try to punish political opponents or threaten the freedom of the press just because you don’t like what they say.”

Obama was in Michigan campaigning for Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer. He urged attendees to consider political events of the recent past, including Republicans’ attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and a voting record that contradicts recent claims that the GOP has always protected individuals with pre-existing conditions.

Obama made similar comments at a Milwaukee rally earlier in the day when he stumped for Wisconsin Democrats, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin and gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers, and made a few jabs at Trump.

Referencing Republicans’ fixation on then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unsecured email server, Obama said, “They didn’t care about emails.“

“And you know how you know? If they did, they’d be up in arms right now as the Chinese are listening to the President’s iPhone that he leaves in his golf cart,” he added, a reference to a New York Times report. “It turns out, I guess it wasn’t that important.”

In what has become a tight governor’s race, Evers has been leading over 2016 Republican presidential candidate and current Gov. Scott Walker in most polls. Baldwin leads several polls by double digits.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is slated to visit Wisconsin on Tuesday to campaign for state Democrats at rallies in Madison and Milwaukee.

By Niara Savage

In early August, immediately following the release of the video footage depicting the killing of Daniel Hambrick at the hands of Officer Andrew Delke, the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police defended the acts of the officer.

James Smallwood, the president of the FOP justified the officer’s actions, and placed blame on  Hambrick, stating that he is “confident that Mr. Hambrick would be alive,” had he followed the officer’s commands.

Smallwood also stated that Delke “acted reasonably” in using deadly force, because Hambrick could have “twisted his body around,” or “reached across his body,” to fire a weapon.

Importantly, the video of the shooting does not depict Hambrick taking aim at the officer, but instead depicts Hambrick fleeing, while Officer Deleke pursues him.

When charges of criminal homicide were brought against Officer Delke in late September, the FOP released another statement, in which Smallwood criticized the release of the video depicting the shooting of Daniel Hambrick. Smallwood claimed that the video was released out of context, and provided only “a partial narrative of events.”

According to Smallwood, a statement from the very officer charged who was charged with criminal homicide in the shooting, should have been released at the same time as the video in order to provide “enhanced transparency and essential context,” to the video.

Smallwood did not comment on the apparent conflict of interest Officer Delke may have faced, had he been responsible for providing context to the video of him shooting a man in the back.

Furthermore, Smallwood called the District Attorney’s decision to go before a 2nd judge to obtain a signed arrest warrant against Officer Delke a “desperate,” “politically inspired rush to judgement,”referring to the action as “judge shopping.”

Smallwood went on to call Hambrick a “convicted felon,” something Delke had no way of knowing at the time he pulled the trigger.

In addition, Smallwood called the charge against Delke, “a charge against all police officers,” before insinuating that bringing charges against police officers makes everyone “less safe.”

When the Nashville Voice reached out to the FOP, which continues to call officer Delke “an outstanding police officer with an excellent record,” we were directed to their lawyer.

25 OCT 18 08:35 ET By Faith Karimi, CNN

    (CNN) — With every intercepted pipe bomb, fear spread from New York to Washington, Florida, Delaware and California. The devices stashed in manila envelopes and mailed nationwide targeted top Democrats two weeks before the midterm elections.

The bombs found this week were intended for at least seven officials, includingHillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters. Law enforcement officials said they believe they’ve tracked down another suspicious package sent to former Vice President Joe Biden, and the FBI says additional packages may have been mailed to other locations.

Another device was discovered early Thursday at an office in New York associated with actor Robert De Niro.

None of the bombs detonated and no one was injured. Here’s a breakdown of what we know:

The packages had a similar return address

The pipe bombs were sent to a mix of office and residential addresses, and appeared to target some of the people President Donald Trump criticizes frequently. The five packages discovered Tuesday and Wednesday had a similar return address: That of Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but with her last name misspelled. There is no information to suggest she sent the packages.

Barack Obama: The package sent to the former president was intercepted in Washington, D.C., during routine mail screening procedures, the Secret Service said.

Bill and Hillary Clinton: The package was addressed to their residence in Chappaqua, New York, and was intercepted Tuesday night by the Secret Service during routine mail inspection.

Eric Holder: The package was addressed to the former attorney general, but sent to the Florida office of Schultz, whose return address was on the package.

Maxine Waters: One package was sent to the Democratic congresswoman’s office in Washington and a second package addressed to her was found at a postal facility in Los Angeles. It matches the description of those sent to the other officials.

John Brennan: The “live explosive device” was delivered by courier to CNN’s offices in New York. The former CIA director frequently appears on CNN. The NYPD said an envelope containing white powder also was found as part of the device’s original packaging.

Joe Biden: Authorities believe they’ve found a suspicious package addressed to the former vice president, law enforcement officials told CNN Thursday morning. Two law enforcement sources on Wednesday told CNN’s Josh Campbell and Brynn Gingras the package was misaddressed and returned to sender.

George Soros: A suspicious package found Monday appeared to be an explosive device targeting the billionaire investor, philanthropist and Democratic donor. It was rendered safe in Bedford, New York, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Robert De Niro: Around 4:45 a.m. Thursday, police responded to areport of a suspicious package received at a nonresidential building in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, NYPD Lt. Thomas Antonetti said. The package was addressed to actor Robert De Niro, a vocal critic of Trump, and has markings similar to the other pipe bomb packages recently mailed nationwide, two law enforcement sources told CNN.

They came in similar packaging

The devices sent to Soros, Brennan and the Democratic officials appeared to be pipe bombs, said Bryan Paarmann, FBI special agent in charge of the counterterrorism division in New York.

An initial examination shows they are are rudimentary but functional, andhave similar construction. At least one contained projectiles, including shards of glass, a law enforcement official told CNN. The bombs were unstable and could have been set off just by handling, sources said.

The packages sent to all but Biden are in manila envelopes with bubble wrap interior, the FBI said. Each package had six American flag Forever stamps on the envelope.

The bomb maker wanted to create fear, expert says

The bombs were likely meant to be found and create panic, explosives experts say.

The devices had suspicious-looking packaging, and at least one had a timer that can be bought for a few dollars online and should be easily detected when mailed or delivered.

Ryan Morris, founder of Tripwire Operations Group, a company that provides explosives training to law enforcement and military officials, said that by examining images of two devices — the one found Monday at Soros’ home and the one sent to CNN’s New York offices on Wednesday — it looked like they were real devices that would cause serious bodily injury or death.

“Whoever is doing this is just trying to elicit a fear or disrupt something,” Morris said. “There are a multitude of more sophisticated methodologies that would have worked if they really wanted this to work.”

Trump blamed his opponents

Despite a chaotic day of what appeared to be an attempted large-scale attack on prominent Democratic figures, Trump pointed the finger at his opponents and the news media for the turbulent national political environment.

“Any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy itself. No nation can succeed that tolerates violence or the threat of violence as a method of political intimidation, corrosion or control, we all know that,” he said Wednesday night.

He said it’s the news media’s responsibility to set the national political tone. Then he resumed his attacks on Democrats, including one falsely claiming they are allowing immigrants to enter the county illegally.

Thursday morning, the President tweeted that the media is to blame for much of the anger in society.

“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,” Trump tweeted. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description.”

“Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!” he continued.

The-CNN-Wire
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