Trump Says Explosive Devices Are “Very Unfortunate” Because They Slowed GOP “Momentum”

“‘Bomb’ stuff.”

Ting Shen/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump on Friday took to Twitter to bemoan the impact that the wave of explosive devices sent to prominent Democrats could have on Republican candidates in the upcoming elections.

The tweet—which came just as law enforcement officials announced that two additional packages addressed to former intelligence director James Clapper and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) had been discovered—notably included the word “bomb” in quotes. Many interpreted the punctuation usage as the president embracing right-wing conspiracy theories suggesting that the devices could be part of a “false flag” operation designed to boost Democrats next month.

The tweet came hours after Trump resurrected his attacks against CNN, which earlier this week had received the suspicious package addressed to former CIA director John Brennan. (The package addressed to Clapper on Friday was also addressed to the network’s Manhattan offices, though it never made it to the building.)

Trump’s favorite Fox News talking head Lou Dobbs tweeted—then quickly deleted—a similar false flag on Thursday. The tweet marked one of the more established conservatives to push the false flag theories this week.

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

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But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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