If you’re playing wingnut/alt-right boogeyman bingo at home, you’ve clearly filled out your card based on today’s mail bombing spree. There are several outstanding questions right now:
- Are there any more of these pipe bombs in the postal service pipeline that won’t get delivered until tomorrow?
- Are these the only planned bombs or is this just the first set in a series?
- If this is just the first set in a series, are those in the next set also going to people that are unlikely to actually receive their mail directly without it going through a security pre-screening? Or will the next set or sets be going to recipients that will receive their mail directly?
- How many copycats will follow today’s perpetrator’s lead?
If there are more pipe bombs in the system right now that were either mailed yesterday or today, given the targeting pattern so far, I’d expect they’d also be going to current or former elected or appointed officials that are unlikely to get their mail delivered directly to them for security reasons. I was quite surprised that George Soros has a plain old mail box at his home in Westchester County, NY. I expect that whoever runs his corporate and personal security will now remedy that situation and set up a situation where all mail is first delivered to an offsite for pre-screening before it is brought to the Soroses. I fully expect that Speaker Pelosi’s security detail, as well as the Capitol Police, are on high alert. As is the personal security details for Special Counsel Mueller. I would also not be surprised if arrangements are being made for former FBI Director Comey, former Director of Central Intelligence Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence Clapper.
Right now Federal law enforcement is likely working very hard to try to ensure there are no more of these pipe bombs moving through the US Postal Service for delivery. They are also working to put in place procedures to identify any further sets, if this is a series, that might go out later today, tomorrow, or Friday. Targets of concern need to be legislators in western states, where it would take an extra day or two for a package to be delivered if mailed from the east coast. I fully expect that additional security has been put in place for Senator Heitkamp given her vote against Associate Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination.
And this brings us to the next stage in the stochastic portion of this act of domestic terrorism, the copycats. The pipe bombs sent to George Soros, the Clintons, the Obamas, Congresswoman Waters, DCI Brennan via CNN, and Attorney General Holder will unfortunately inspire and embolden others to action. People who are themselves steeped in the same coded language, context, and conspiracy theories that prompted the person who sent these bombs will be nudged into action both by the actual perpetrator of these parcel bombs, as well as both domestic and foreign actors seeking to leverage this attack for their own political purposes. Fox News had a commenter on earlier who claimed this could be a Democratic Party get out the vote effort. The usual suspects are already out of the woodwork on social media pushing the conspiracy theories about this attack being a Democratic or liberal false flag.
Finally, how the President actually responds, when he’s not on a script like he was this afternoon, will go a long way to determining whether this attack gives birth to one or more copycats. The President’s scripted statement this afternoon was very good, but, unfortunately, he has a rally tonight in Wisconsin. Ostensibly to help Governor Walker’s faltering campaign for reelection. He will be in front of his base, or at least those members of his base that didn’t have to be hired on Craigslist to be at the event, and this will lower his already low inhibitions. Over the last several rallies he’s gone all in on going after Congresswoman Waters and referring to those who vote for Democrats are 100% crazy. And he always goes after the news media as the enemy of the people. If the President were smart he’d avoid all of these things tonight. Unfortunately, and more’s the pity, I don’t think he has the impulse control to do so.