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Robert Costa
National political reporter covering the White House, Congress and campaigns
Felicia Sonmez
National reporter on the Washington post
President Trump and his Republican allies remained defiant Sunday amid allegations from critics that Trump's incendiary attacks on political rivals and racially charged to the United States.
Trump, who has made calls to tone down his public statements, signaled that he would not such thing – berating billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer, a target of a mail bomb sent by a Trump supporter, as a "crazed & stumbling lunatic" on Twitter, after Steyer said on CNN that Trump and the Republican Party have created an atmosphere of "political violence."
Later Sunday, Trump lashed out again on Twitter, this time at the media: "The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country. "
The GOP's defensive posture, following Saturday's deadliest attack on Jews in US history. responsible for the national unrest than the president's combative politics or the rise of conspiracy theories on the right. These theories appear to have driven the suspects behind the bombs to the Democratic officials and the mass shooting Saturday at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
"You could say [Democrats are on the] defensive after encouraging the scene at the Kavanaugh hearings, "Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), The No. 2 Republican in the Senate, wrote in a Twitter message on Sunday, referring to the Supreme Court Justice Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh's confirmation of this month, in which liberal activists protested outside the Capitol.
The debate that erupts over the weekend is a partisan divide with just over a week before the hotly contested midterm elections. While other mass shootings have become more commonplace, the tragedy in Pittsburgh, coming soon after the mail bombs and the killing of two African Americans in a grocery store outside Louisville, and standards of political combat.
In charge of the media and the Democratic Protestants have been largely responsible for inciting hate, Trump and his allies have seemingly equated the influence of activists and journalists with the singular power and reach of the American presidency.
"The idea that Trump and conservative share no blame for scaremongering on immigrants and the refugees is really ridiculous," said William Kristol, a veteran conservative commentator and Trump critic who is Jewish – and was called a "loser" by Trump at a Saturday rally in Illinois. "A little dignity and cessation of 'what-about-ism' or 'you-too-ism' would be welcome."
Trump's approach to white nationalist movements has been routinely criticized, as it has been dehumanizing language about undocumented immigrants and his nativist appeals. He said "both sides" have been blamed for the deadly white supremacist rally last year in Charlottesville, which featured anti-Jewish chants.
Trump has repeatedly issued stark warnings about the Central American migrants headed to the United States in recent weeks, fueling concerns on the right to have sparked conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism on fringe websites.
The accused synagogue gunman in Pittsburgh, Robert D. Bowers, is suspected of blanketing the social media site with anti-Semitic postings, and has falsely accused the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which helps resettle refugees in American communities, from nefarious immigration efforts.
Comments on Jewish Influence on the Economics of the Global Economy, the Fox Business Network, where a guest falsely stated in an interview with Lou Dobbs on Thursday that the migrants are being funded by the Soros-occupied State Department, "a reference to Democratic donor George Soros, who is Jewish.
Soros has been a regular feature in the Republic of the United States. Trump has also accused Soros, without evidence, of paying for protesters at his rallies.
A Fox Business Network executive, responding Sunday to the outcry over the segment, pulled the episode of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" from air and issued a statement saying "we condemn the rhetoric" of the guest, Chris Farrell, who works at the conservative group Judicial Watch, which has been praised by Trump.
Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch, said in a brief interview Sunday that "the [Farrell] statement is not anti-Semitic and Chris is not anti-Semitic. To suggest that is absurd. We are concerned about the funding of Mr. Soros, not his religion. "
Civil rights leaders on Sunday said they are concerned that these episodes are part of a growing national pattern of conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism being lifted into the mainstream.
"Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said on NBC's" Meet the Press.
Trump has denounced the violence and called for national unity. At the campaign rally in Illinois on Saturday night, Trump said "the scourge of anti-semitism can not be ignored, can not be tolerated and can not be allowed to continue."
Some of Trump's allies, however, said that it is more of a division than it is to destroy the Democrats and others.
"The White House would say, well, listen, it's on both sides, and the president's just hitting back. And I understand that, "White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said on CNN. "And I think a lot of those tactics helped him win the presidency. But he's now the leader of the free world. . . . I would love to see this stuff on both sides. "
But, for the most part Sunday, Republicans refused to accept responsibility for the flashes of violence that have become a national crisis.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) Brought up last year's attempted murder of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) And other GOP lawmakers by a former campaign volunteer for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), When pressed Sunday on whether Trump's use of the word "globalist" to describe his political foes was misguided.
The term "globalist" has long been a euphemism for Jewish people among white nationalists and anti-Semites.
"I do not see any connection where you would like to connect, just like I would not see that connecting." Washington, DC, and said, 'Is "Where are the Republicans being practiced?" and then opened fire on them simply because they were Republicans, "Lankford said on CBS's" Face the Nation. "
Inside the Trump administration, the president has been bolstered by officials and advisers who have followed his lead and assailed the media or contested assertions that Trump's words deserve more scrutiny amid violence.
Vice President Pence, in an interview with NBC News on Saturday night, defended Trump's conduct.
"Everyone has their own style," Pence said. "Frankly, people on both sides of the aisle use their language about our political differences. But I just do not think you can connect it to threats or acts of violence. "
The GOP is in the process of being elected in an electoral district in which it has been negotiated.
Republican leaders on Sunday said they were standing by the president, but they also urged him to be steady in his response to the polls.
"I thought about the pipe bombs he initially set the right tone of unity and coming together. And I hope that he will continue on that path, "Rep. Steve Stivers (Ohio), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Democrats were far more forceful in calling out Trump as responsible for the country's deep divisions.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," asked, "What kind of climate are we creating?"
"No one sets the tone more than the president of the United States," Schiff said. "There's no escaping the tone that he sets."
Ever since the mail bombs have been uncovered last week, they have been uncovered and have been blamed for violence.
"There is an equivalent. There is a man screaming at Mitch McConnell, "The Senate Majority Leader," in the restaurant, commentator Hugh Hewitt said on MSNBC on Friday about the political culture following the mail bomb scare.
Hewitt's view that left-leaning groups outraged by Trump and the Republican agenda – or "mobs," they have been called by many Republicans – are threatening Republicans and contributing to the rise of violence nationally has become a core GOP message.
Countering insinuations of anti-Semitism has been another Republican priority in the wake of Saturday's shooting.
"The best friends of the Jewish people are conservative Christians," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), Trump ally, said on Sunday in an interview. "Conservative, evangelical Christians are big, big supporters of Israel and the Jewish people. I often joke that I'm at the right of the Likud, "a conservative party in Israel.
Yet even those who have come back
After meeting in August with members of a Holocaust memorial group, King faced criticism.
King, in response, arguing that the group does not have Nazi connections and that is not anti-Semitic.
David Nakamura, Paul Kane and Philip Bump contributed to this report.
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