Pipe bomb attacks, the far right, and "stochastic" terrorism

Dave Neiwert analyzes the Republican and far-right tactic of launching a "false flag" conspiracy theory when confronting evidence that a rightwing terrorist was at work in an incident like the pipe bombs this week: Mail-bomber 'false flag' theories overwhelm discourse on terrorismSPLC Hatewatch 10/26/2018.

This is one point he emphasizes:

Just for the record: Explosive devices like the pipe bombs sent in the mail have long been favored weapons of the radical right in the United States, reflecting its propensity for weapons of mass destruction generally. The use of pipe bombs by right-wing domestic terrorists dates back at least to the 1984 rampage of the neo-Nazi gang The Order, as well as subsequent terrorist plots that emanated from the Aryan Nations compound in northern Idaho in the ‘80s and ‘90s. These included pipe-bomb attacks on the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper and a Planned Parenthood clinic in 1996. The man who bombed the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Eric Rudolph, used pipe bombs in his attacks on abortion providers and gay bars.

More recently, homemade bombs turned up in a spate of cases involving radical-right extremists in 2009-10. These included an older case, from 2004, when neo-Nazis sent a bomb in the mail to the director of the Office of Diversity for the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, and nearly killed him.

Eyal Press talks about this string of pipe bombs sent to figures identified with left or center-left politics in the context of "stochastic terrorism" ( New York Times 10/25/2018):

In recent years, a term has begun to circulate to capture this phenomenon — “stochastic terrorism,” in which mass communications, including social media, inspire random acts of violence that according to one description “are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.” In other words, every act and actor is different, and no one knows by whom or where an act will happen - but it’s a good bet that something will.

The examples in his article relate to the extreme antiabortionists. As he notes in the article, he was writing before a suspect had been arrested in the letter-bomb series.

Heather Timmons updated this story to include some information about the arrest, Stochastic terror and the cycle of hate that pushes unstable Americans to violence Quartz 10/26/2018.

Juan Cole applies the concept to the pipe bombs in Suggestive Terrorism: Trump, Pipe Bomber and the ISIL Technique Informed Comment 10/27/2018, noting it#s one that ISIL has used to incite terrorist attacks in Europe and the US:

This free-floating willingness to fall under the influence of a charismatic leader calling for violence, is common between Trumpism and ISIL.

Trump has asked his crowds to beat up journalists in attendance. He has threatened o jail former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. His fantasies inhabited the dreams of his followers. Just as Trump didn’t actually ask anyone to bomb for him, neither did ISIL.

Those Republicans who point out that there are dangerous crazy people in both major parties are right. But in only one party is the leader actively calling for people to be beaten up or otherwise attacked. That’s the difference. [my emphasis]