5 suspicious packages found in the last 24 hours

[Angrboda]

Explosive Devices Add to Climate of Overheated Partisan Rancor

... for a moment, at least, the political world paused on Wednesday to urge greater calm in a climate that had become dangerously inflammatory ... Those attempts at reconciliation and reflection, however, quickly gave way to the kind of reflexive, tribal defensiveness that is far more common today.

Many prominent conservative commentators — among them some of the president’s most ardent defenders — quickly pointed the finger at the left, accusing unnamed liberal agitators of sending the packages in a ploy to make Republicans look radical right before the midterms.

Rush Limbaugh, who hosts one of the most listened-to radio programs in the country with a weekly audience of about 14 million, questioned whether the bomb scare was part of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by Democratic operatives and Mrs. Clinton.

“Mrs. Clinton, it’s your party, forgive me, that is encouraging this kind of thing,” Mr. Limbaugh said on his show on Wednesday. “It is the Democrat Party that’s home to all of these mobs,” he continued. “There’s a smell test that this stuff has to pass. And, so far, a lot of people’s noses are in the air, not quite certain of what to make of this.”

Alex Jones, the conspiracy peddler who runs the website Infowars, said the bombs were likely plants by the left and its allies in the media like CNN, where the package to Mr. Brennan was sent.

“This is introducing them as the targets so they can whine, and moan, and predict, ‘If Trump doesn’t stop, you’re going to get us all killed,’” Mr. Jones said on his daily online program.