The attempted political assassinations of nearly a dozen prominent Trump critics has, predictably, brought out the worst in the White House. In moments of national crisis, Americans have traditionally turned to the president to offer the usual patriotic nostrums. But Donald Trump, who famously observed “very fine people on both sides” after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, has never been comfortable in that role. His presidency, unlike those of his predecessors, has been fueled by division. And so—after a few half-hearted denunciations regarding the explosive devices sent to Barack Obama, the Clintons, and CNN, among other political targets—Trump swiftly regressed to the mean. “Do you see how nice I am behaving tonight?” he joked Wednesday at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, mocking his own call for Americans to “unify,” just hours earlier, and providing a menacing meta-commentary on the news of the day. “We’re all behaving very well, and hopefully we can keep it that way.”

In case there was any doubt, Trump did nothing to counter the notion that his critics had brought violence on themselves. The news media “has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative, and oftentimes false attacks and stories,” he told the crowd. On Twitter the following morning, he made his position even more clear. “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” he wrote, as police recovered two more bombs. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”

The moral leadership of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders followed a similar trajectory. In the aftermath of the first series of bomb scares, Sanders released an official statement calling the “terrorizing acts” the work of “cowards.” In a follow-up tweet, she made sure to note that the administration’s condemnation “includes threats made to CNN as well as current or former public servants.” As with Trump, however, the appeal to unity was really a call for subservience. When CNN President Jeff Zucker responded with a statement accusing the president and the press secretary of fomenting hatred of the press, Sanders shot back that Zucker had chosen to “attack and divide.”

The following morning, Sanders expressed her frustration to a friendlier audience: Fox & Friends. “When 90 percent of the coverage about this president are negative, despite the historic successes . . . that is not helpful for the American discourse,” she said. Afterward, in comments to reporters on the White House lawn, she said Trump “is certainly not responsible for sending suspicious packages to someone, no more than Bernie Sanders was responsible for a supporter of his shooting up a Republican baseball field practice last year.”

There are at least two things going on here. The White House is understandably sensitive to the argument that Trump, after years of violent rhetoric describing Democrats and journalists as criminals and traitors, should bear some responsibility for inciting this week’s bombing spree. While the F.B.I. has yet to identify any suspects, it is impossible to ignore the fact that all of the targets—a growing list that includes Eric Holder, John Brennan, Maxine Waters, George Soros, and, as of Thursday morning, Joe Biden and Robert De Niro—have all been subjects of Trump’s rants. (As I reported Wednesday, several prominent Trump supporters have already theorized that the mail bombs could be the work of a leftist seeking to influence the midterm elections.) But Trump, in his most recent comments, also seems to be embracing the implication. Rather than make explicit that political violence is unacceptable under any circumstances, the president has made his position that “the Anger we are seeing today” has a specific, and justifiable, cause. His demand that the media “clean up its act”—not the bomber or bombers—is nothing less than a demand to get in line.