Explosives mailed to Democrats signal 'a dangerous period of American politics,' Trump critic says

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A prominent Americanconservative commentator says this week's slew of suspicious packages and crude explosives sent to prominent Democrats and news media reflects the intense political polarization and divisiveness in the United States.

"If you look at the rhetoric and the escalation of the rhetoric and the sense of desperation about our politics, I think we could very much be at the beginning of a very, very dangerous period of American politics,"Charlie Sykes told The Current's guest host David Common.

I think we could very much be at the beginning of a very, very dangerous period of American politics.- CharlieSykes, conservative commentator

Several crude pipe bombs, addressed to former president Barack Obama, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and CNN headquarters were intercepted Tuesday andWednesday by police. Other apparent targets included New York liberal billionaire George Soros, Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters and actor Robert De Niro.

No one was hurt in any of the incidents. FBI officials provided no details about possible suspects or motives.

Presidency 'the ultimate bully pulpit'

U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the attacks at a rally Wednesday night in Wisconsin.

"Any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy itself," Trump said. "We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony."

The appeal didn't convince Sykes.

"The presidency is the ultimate bully pulpit. It is the ultimate megaphone,"he said. Chants of "lock her up," referring to Clinton, and "CNN sucks" regularly erupted from Trump's audience, he said.

However, Sykessaidthat the current American political climate is "relatively" more peaceful than some periods in the past, particularly the 1960s, which were marked by a raft of politically motivated assassinations.

He's worried that the current situation could escalate before it gets better.

"To be quite honest, David, I am terrified," he told Common.

Heated moments in U.S. history

Historian Joanne Freeman drew some parallels from the current political climate to some of the most heated periods in U.S.'s past.

"In the 1790s, the debate, really more than anything else, was about the democratization of politics. In the 1850s, it was about the place of slavery in American society. In the 1960s, there were two very different visions of what Americans, and America, should be," she said.

"And I think this moment clearly falls in line and during these moments, people tend to step away from rules. They tend to see everything in extremes,and there is violence during those kinds of moments."

Freeman, a resident of New York City, noted that police have warnedabout suspicious packages and apparent bombs, either left in public or sent through the mail.

But she was troubled by the factthat every package intercepted in the last 24 hours were either sent toprominent figures on America's political left, or perceived critics and opponents of Trump.

"It's the fact that there's a widespread, targeted nature of the spreading of this kind of a threat that is most alarming," she said.

Click the listen button above to hear the full conversation.

• Charlie Sykes is a conservative commentator and author of How The Right Lost Its Mind.
• Joanne Freeman is a professor of history in American studies at Yale University and co-host of the historical podcast "Backstory". Her latest book is The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War.

Written by Jonathan Ore with files from The Associated Press. Produced by Howard Goldenthal and Kristin Nelson.