Acclaimed documentary filmmaker and vociferous Trump critic, Michael Moore, did not mince words as to where the blame lay for the series of pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats, former CIA directors, and CNN, saying Fox News and Trump have to take responsibility.
Florida resident Cesar Sayoc has been arrested by the FBI as the suspected MAGA bomber, and even a brief look at his history and social media profiles show that Sayoc was obsessed with Trump and loathed the people the president targeted routinely during his rallies. One of those people that have come in the crosshairs of Trump’s seething rhetoric, Michael Moore, also found his face with a bull’s eye plastered on Sayoc’s van. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter , Moore blamed Fox News for twisting facts for their viewers and as a result creating a slew of “violent conspiracy theorists” who are far removed from the political reality surrounding them.
“The accused bomber plastered a picture of me on the side of his van, with a crosshairs target over my face. Actually, the target is over my neck, which I’ll take as a minor concession on his part,” Moore appeared to joke, before going on to lay the blame for the pipe bombs squarely on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News .
“The threat of right-wing violence against figures on the American left is not new. It is not an aberration. It is not a violation of norms. It IS the norm,” Moore said.
“Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News Channel and right-wing radio have preyed upon those who’ve seen their American Dream go up in smoke, and they have helped to create a generation of angry and violent conspiracy theorists who will believe any lie that is perpetrated on those airwaves. These angry right wing men have been openly encouraged to act on those lies, even as late as this very morning when Trump was tweeting his doubts that the bombs were real.”
So the bomber guy plasters my face on the side of his van w/ a crosshairs target over me then drives around south Florida mailing bombs to the people Trump hates. It’s been an exhausting day full of things I can’t talk about right now, so I promise I’ll write about it tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/faMOamn2Qo
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) October 27, 2018
Moore was also critical of Trump, saying it was ultimately the president who was responsible for encouraging and nurturing a political environment based on violence and intimidation. Calling Trump an “enabler” for encouraging people like Sayoc to take the law in their own hands, the filmmaker beseeched people to come out and vote in the midterms, saying it was the only way of helping America escape the clutches of a political climate where national discourse is decided by conspiracy theorists.
“We must vote out of office all enablers of this man and the violent culture he instigates and nurtures. There are millions and millions of us who will never be intimidated, who will never back down, and who will show up on Election Day,” Moore said.