Did a Democrat send the pipe bombs? And other conspiracy theories

It wasn’t long before some leading Republicans were suggesting that Democrats were behind the pipe bombs that were discovered this morning. Included in this growing list of conspiracy theorists we find Michael Flynn, Ann Coulter, and Rush Limbaugh. (Source)

This prompted me to post the following survey on Twitter. If you’re interested in participating, please click the link and vote, but do so before you read my thoughts below:

Some leading Republicans are now suggesting that the pipe bombs mailed to several leading critics of the POTUS were part of a Democrat conspiracy to make Trump and Republicans look bad. How likely do you believe that possibility to be?

— Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) October 25, 2018

Okay, now for my thoughts.

I’d say this is not at all plausible or likely, but I definitely think it is remotely possible. To be sure, by “Democrat Conspiracy” I am thinking one or more Democrats rather than some conspiracy involving many leading Democrats. The greater the conspiracy, the more implausible it becomes until it eventually drops to what is, for all intents and purposes, nil.

What I think is most likely is that this is what it appears to be: an angry Trump supporter sending a message.

But there is another possibility which I haven’t heard anyone mention yet, namely the possibility that these letter bombs were sent by foreign nationals — most likely Russian — as a means to destabilize the United States further. Is this likely? Well, it certainly isn’t as likely as the angry Trump supporter, but I also think it is more likely than the nefarious Democrat playing 4-D chess.

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