Oklahoma City: Flashback to 1995
On the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, former President Bill Clinton says the extreme rhetoric coming from the Right today reminds him of the political climate at the time of the tragedy in April 1995.
The Oklahoma City bombing was 15 years ago, said Carl Hulse in The New York Times, but to former President Bill Clinton, those awful memories are suddenly tinged with a new foreboding. Clinton spoke out last week on the anniversary of that deadly spasm of American terrorism, in which Timothy McVeigh detonated a massive truck bomb at a federal building, killing 168 innocent people, including 19 children. The extreme rhetoric coming today from the Right, Clinton said, reminds him of the climate in April 1995, with “profoundly alienated, disconnected people” insisting that “the greatest threat to American freedom is our government.” Such demonizing rhetoric, he warned, has “the potential for stirring a violent response.” As the prosecutor who helped convict McVeigh, I share that fear, said former federal prosecutor Aitan Goelman in Politico.com. When mainstream Republicans speak of “secession” and “revolution,” impressionable nuts like McVeigh can conclude that violent resistance is both moral and necessary.
Where was Clinton during the last Bush administration? said W. James Antle in The American Spectator. Why didn’t he spend those eight years admonishing mainstream liberals who warned that Bush and Cheney were dragging us toward a fascist, “imperial presidency”? Clearly, Clinton has no problem with extreme rhetoric per se, only with those “uncouth enough to criticize the government from the Right.” Once again, Clinton is milking 168 deaths for “political gain,” said Byron York in Examiner.com. Back in 1995, then–President Clinton—“in deep political trouble”—exploited the tragedy to tar all Republicans with the “extremist” brush. By suggesting, in effect, that “today’s Tea Partiers are tomorrow’s right-wing bombers,” Clinton once again hopes to suppress dissent by marginalizing it.
Try reading my mail, said Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post. I receive a steady stream of alarming communications from readers who are convinced that only armed resistance can prevent the coming of tyranny. These kind of people used to express their rage in letters written in crayon; in the Internet age, “the least sane among us” can share their views with the world. The number of hate and vigilante groups has swelled 54 percent over four years, and now totals 1,000. Given this climate, when mainstream politicians speak of putting opponents “in the cross hairs,” they are “complicit in whatever transpires.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Indian space mission's moment in the Sun
Under the Radar Emerging space power's first solar mission could help keep Earth safe from Sun's 'fireballs'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
How people-smuggling gangs work
The Explainer The Government has promised to 'smash' the gangs that smuggle migrants across the Channel. Who are they and how do they work?
By The Week UK Published
-
US election: who the billionaires are backing
The Explainer More have endorsed Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, but among the 'ultra-rich' the split is more even
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US election: where things stand with one week to go
The Explainer Harris' lead in the polls has been narrowing in Trump's favour, but her campaign remains 'cautiously optimistic'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Trump okay?
Today's Big Question Former president's mental fitness and alleged cognitive decline firmly back in the spotlight after 'bizarre' town hall event
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The life and times of Kamala Harris
The Explainer The vice-president is narrowly leading the race to become the next US president. How did she get to where she is now?
By The Week UK Published
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?
Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
1 of 6 'Trump Train' drivers liable in Biden bus blockade
Speed Read Only one of the accused was found liable in the case concerning the deliberate slowing of a 2020 Biden campaign bus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published