The False Flag Waving

The term “false flag” is used to describe “covert operations that are designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by entities, groups, or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them.”  The term is taken from the days when pirate ships flew flags of countries as a disguise and to lay blame for the attack on another country.

Just a few hours after pipe bombs were sent to the Clinton’s, Barack Obama and other Trump-maligned Democrats (including George Soros) last week, Democrats quickly accused Mr. Trump of stirring up the anger, since every pipe bomb recipient was someone he had attacked, denigrated and belittled.  Meanwhile, another set of folk started another “blame” rumor (a conspiracy theory).  The bombs, this rumor said, were not intended to harm the selected Democrats at all, but was a “false flag” operation concocted by the Democrats (or leftists) in order to affect the midterm elections.

There is clear recorded and visual evidence that Mr. Trump had maligned the persons who received the pipe bombs.  There was little evidence for the “false flag” conspiracy.  In spite of this, the fact-free rumor mushroomed—the bombs were props (none exploded) planted by Democratic operatives.  Lou Dobbs, Fox News, picked up on the rumor and gossiped “fake news”—“Who could possibly benefit by so much fakery.”  he wondered in several tweets (later deleted). “Republicans just don’t do this kind of thing,” said Rush Limbaugh, suggesting that a “Democratic operative” was more likely to have sent the pipe bombs than a Republican.  Donald Trump, Jr. “liked” a tweet saying: “Fake bombs made to scare and pick up Blue Sympathy vote.”  Surely, these folks asserted, this incident was a product of “an angry (that is, liberal) mob.”  Ann Coulter tweeted “From the Haymarket riot to the Unabomber, bombs are a liberal tactic.”  

Meanwhile other rumors abound:  small pox and leprosy in the migrant caravan, Soros funding the migrant caravan, the caravan is an “invasion, an infestation, an assault.”  A sociology professor at Tufts University says:  “The very foundation of democracy is that citizens’ ability to make informed decisions on their own behalf in the voting booth…When disinformation interferes with that premise, it becomes un-American.”  Our democratic foundation is being demolished by lies and we continue to be gullible.