As a Democrat, I now fear for my safety. As an American, I weep for my country. This is not a healthy democracy anymore

When I moved to deep red North Carolina this spring, a man at a bar told me that if I’m a Democrat, I should keep that to myself to stay safe. I thought he was joking

It was always going to come to this. The attempted bombing campaign against Democratic leaders was inevitable. Perhaps not the specifics – could have been different targets, with different methods – but the violence was unavoidable. We have been percolating towards this point for years now.

We don’t yet know who sent the bombs or what their motives were. We have a pretty good idea, though. The bomb includes a parody Isis flag and the words “get ‘er done,” the catchphrase of Larry the Cable Guy, a comedian popular amongst the swaths of the country that make up Trump’s base. You only need to look at the current political climate and look at the targets to draw the obvious conclusion. This was an act of political terrorism.

The President doesn’t think so, though. He has spent much of the past 48 hours minimising this act or mocking it, as he did at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday night. Early this morning, he tweeted his anger at “how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs [sic] and ridiculously comparing this to September 11^th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream ‘it’s just not presidential!’”

Nothing about how Donald Trump has handled this, or most anything since taking office, has been presidential, though. Indeed, much of the blame for this culture of political violence rests on Donald Trump’s shoulders. From Hillary Clinton to Maxine Waters to CNN, every target is someone Trump has routinely attacked or vilified or accused of being “an enemy of the people.”

On Wednesday evening, at a rally in Wisconsin, the president refused to take any responsibility for the culture he has fostered, instead again blaming the media. But if Trump doesn’t turn down the heat, if he doesn’t start treating Democrats like the loyal opposition and not the enemy within, and if his own base doesn’t cool down as well, things are only going to escalate further.

I can already hear Republicans crying “But what about the Dems?!” Yes, Hillary Clinton said “you cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for,” which was unhelpful but perhaps understandable from a woman who has been put through the ringer by Republicans for nearly 30 years. And yes, former Attorney General Eric Holder said, “When they go low, we kick ‘em,” but he followed it up by adding, “When I say we, you know, kick ‘em, I don’t mean we do anything inappropriate. We don’t do anything illegal. But we gotta be tough.”

That’s a far cry from Trump, who once promised to pay the legal bills for any supporter who assaulted a protestor. This is a man who has encouraged violence at rallies, who said Democratic lawmakers were “treasonous” and “un-American” for not clapping for him. Then he called Democrats “really evil people” for opposing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. As Chris Matthews put it on Hardball last night, it isn’t a big jump from “lock her up” to “blow her up.”

Political violence is not new to America. From the Hamilton-Burr duel to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to the murder of Harvey Milk, it has happened throughout our history. Just last year, Congressman Steve Scalise was shot by a man who had a history of opposing the Republican Party.

That was a horrific and unconscionable act. It was also an isolated incident. It was not like what happened this week. There has been no concerted effort by Democratic leadership to demonise and incite violence against Republicans or Trump supporters. You never heard Barack Obama lead a “lock him up” chant or Nancy Pelosi call into question the patriotism or loyalty of Fox News.

The attempted bombings are just the latest in right-wing violence towards the left and the press. In 2016, a Trump supporter assaulted a protestor at a Trump rally in North Carolina. Last year, Republican Congressman Paul Gianforte physically assaulted a Guardian reporter. Last week, Donald Trump laughed about that incident. Also last year, a white nationalist drove a car into a crowd of protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Nobody died this week, but that’s only because we as a country got lucky, and it doesn’t mean we are out of the woods. Yesterday morning a bomb was found at the production studios owned by Robert De Niro, who famously said “f*** Trump” at the Tony Awards.

That these bombs have targeted not only politicians but private citizens like De Niro is chilling. If you’re not with Trump, the message seems to be, then you’re a traitor – and we will try to kill you. Let’s not mince words here – this is where we are now. People are so hate-filled that they are trying to kill their fellow citizens for the simple act of disagreeing.

As a frequent critic of the president, it makes me nervous. I’m already on-edge living in deep red eastern North Carolina. When I moved here this spring, a man at a bar told me that if I’m a Democrat, I should keep that to myself to stay safe. I thought he was joking. Watching people at the Trump rally on Wednesday chant “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton on the same day someone tried to blow her up really scared me. To see them take glee as the president mocked “being nice” on a day when someone tried to kill his political opponents was frightening.

As a Democrat, I fear for my safety. As an American, I weep for my country. This is not the sign of a healthy, functioning democracy. Americans of all political persuasions should be horrified. We are more divided than we have been at any point in my life, and it is incumbent upon all of us, but especially the president, to tone down the hostile rhetoric.

Nobody died this time. That is no guarantee that nobody will die next time. And if a right-wing extremist kills a Democratic politician, Trump and every Republican who has tolerated his incendiary rhetoric will have to answer for it.

Skylar Baker-Jordan is a freelance writer based in North Carolina