Words matter dramatically

Tom Steyer: 'The president's words matter dramatically'

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer on Tuesday said that “of course” President Donald Trump’s words have played a role in dampening civility in public discourse.

Steyer, who has poured millions of dollars into Democratic causes and has campaigned hard for impeaching the president, was one of the targets of more than a dozen pipe bombs mailed to prominent critics of the president last week.

Trump, in an interview with Fox News that aired Monday, complained that accusations his brash rhetoric emboldened the mail bomb suspect were overblown. He also complained that Sen. Bernie Sanders was not similarly blamed when one of his supporters allegedly shot up a Republican baseball practice last summer that injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

Steyer rejected that assertion on Tuesday. “Listen, this is a president who has created an atmosphere of hate,” he said on CNN. “He has continued to demonize people after these events, who has created an atmosphere of extreme lawlessness. I think it doesn't really matter what he says because what he does is so obviously wrong and what he does has led to this breakdown in terms of civil society.”

Despite condemning the mail bombs and calling for the country to come together, Trump has continued to attack some of the mail bomb targets, including Steyer. On Twitter on Sunday, Trump called Steyer “wacky” and wrote that Steyer came off in a recently aired interview “as a crazed & stumbling lunatic who should be running out of money pretty soon.”

Steyer implored Trump to “do your job, man” instead of attacking rivals on Twitter, adding, “I don't think there is any point in getting into the gutter with a guttersnipe. The only thing we can do at a very tough time is tell the truth and try to stand up for the American people, two things that he is unable to do.”

Asked on Tuesday whether he thought that, despite pushback from the White House, the president bore any responsibility for a recent wave of violence that appears to be rooted in political motives, Steyer responded in the affirmative.

“Look, he's part of an entire system. He's the leading part. The idea that the words of the president don't matter is on its face silly. … Of course, the president's words matter dramatically. Any other suggestion, honestly, that's just silly.”