Gotta be the left-wing mob, amirite?

Minutes after news broke of “potential explosive devices” being mailed to the homes of former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, along with CNN’s New York City studio, the dark corners of the conservative Internet were declaring it a plot to gin up empathy for Democrats.

Cries that the bomb threats was merely a “false flag” operation were evident on Twitter and pro-Trump forums. Many of the personalities pushing the claim were fringe types. But not all of them.

Popular talk radio host Rush Limbaugh hinted that the attempted bombings were set-up by Democrats, saying they would serve a political “purpose.”

“It’s happening in October,” Limbaugh said. “There’s a reason for this.”

Frank Gaffney, an Islamophobe who has held posts on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) presidential campaign and in the Ronald Reagan White House, suggested the packages were a “deflection” technique. “None of the leftists ostensibly targeted for pipe-bombs were actually at serious risk, since security details would be screening their mail,” he tweeted. “So let’s determine not only who is responsible for these bombs, but whether they were trying to deflect attention from the Left’s mobs.”

John Cardillo, a former NYPD officer and popular right-wing radio host, initially denounced political violence on both sides of the aisle, but quickly broadcast his skepticism that the threats were legit. “Just too coincidental that two weeks before Election Day, as the ‘blue wave’ has turned into a ripple, and the left is losing ground because of incivility and violent rhetoric, explosive devices show up in the mailboxes of Soros, Clinton, and Obama,” he wrote on Twitter. He later deleted the tweet.

Gab, a social media network that’s popular with alt-right figures who have been kicked off of Twitter, implied that the bomb attacks were a false flag. Devoted Trump supporters on forums like 4Chan and Reddit had similar reactions, claiming the bombs were set up by Democrats—or regretting that the bombs didn’t go off.

The explosive devices sent on Wednesday came on the heels of a similar discovery outside the home of Democratic financier George Soros on Tuesday. And they all follow a weeks-long debate over the absence of civility in politics—a theme heavily pushed by President Donald Trump to portray Democrats as the party of “mobs.” On Wednesday mornings, numerous Republican lawmakers, including the Vice President himself, moved swiftly to condemn the bomb threats and to call for the restoration of calmness and sanity with the midterm elections approaching.

Online, many of the biggest Trump-backing conservative voices refused to concede that the threats were real. Conservative columnist Kurt Schlichter tweeted that the “potential explosive devices” were a “super convenient turn of events.” Michael Flynn Jr., the son of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and a former promoter of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, claimed the bombs were “a total false flag operation.”

“I condemn all political violence but again the timing is bullsh#t,” Flynn tweeted. He, too, later deleted his tweets...