Words and Deeds
In 1995 when Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children and injuring hundreds more, President Bill Clinton blamed “promoters of paranoia,” which conservative talk radio hosts took as a slur against them.
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At the time I wrote that while there were many examples of incendiary language coming from the left, as well as the right, people are responsible for their own behavior and that murders and violent acts against government and government officials were not unique to the modern era.
Which brings me to Sunday’s incident at Donald Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach. Accused sniper Ryan Wesley Routh got within 300-500 yards of Trump after spending 12 hours hidden in vegetation just outside a fence. The Secret Service reportedly knew of the location and had warned Trump, who chose to play golf anyway. They said Trump was never in line of sight of the suspect, and Routh never fired a single round, but he might have had an agent not spotted him and shot at him.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Trump “wasn’t supposed to be there,” so he said, the Secret Service exercised their “emergency” plan.
