The Bomb Scare: Rhetoric and Reactions — Indira Lakshmanan on 'Radio Times' from WHYY-FM

Guests: Indira Lakshmanan, Dick Polman, Will Sommer

The news that pipe bombs were sent to prominent Democrats, including former President Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as CNN headquarters, has many people wondering if the level of vitriol in our politics had reached a breaking point. Have all the insults, hostility, and hyper-partisanship sparked such a violent action? While President Trump first responded to the attack by calling for unity, he quickly reverted to calling out the media and blaming them for "the Anger," tweeting "… Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!" Today we'll talk about the heated rhetoric and the President's role in it. We'll also look at the use of fear-mongering in politics, how trust has been eroded, and how the right-wing media is reacting to the terror attacks. Our guests are DICK POLMAN, political columnist for WHYY, INDIRA LAKSHMANAN, executive editor of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and WILL SOMMER who covers conservative media and the internet for The Daily Beast.