What mail bombs say – and don’t say – about political discourse

Hours after a package containing a pipe bomb was mailed to a “John Brenan” c/o CNN in New York on Wednesday, former CIA Director John Brennan linked the attack to America’s political fever pitch.

That the beating of “tom-toms of anger, animosity, and war” should “embolden people to take matters into their own hands” doesn’t require an intellectual stretch, Mr. Brennan, who served under six presidents, told an audience at the University of Texas in Austin Wednesday night. He added, “I hope this is a turning point.”

Brennan was among those who received a series of bombs mailed to Democratic leaders and Trump critics, including former President Barack Obama; former Vice President Joe Biden; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; former