“Could this be called Suicide by FBI”
He was said to have checked his mailbox every day at the same time. He was also of an age where dementia can be detected.
The “optics” certainly don’t look so good...
Yes, it could.
My assessment is: "Yes, it was". Making written assassination threats to any public official is suicidal behavior.
The “optics” certainly don’t look so good...
Of course not. With limited staff and budgets, one must pick low-risk targets that can be easily vilified to gain public support for the enforcement action. There are always plenty of crazies in a local area of any desired political alignment for the show. Just pick one who is the most intense with the least capability for action.
Robertson was an ideal target.
The secret police forces of totalitarian governments always start with the easy targets. The floridly insane persons who "threatened law enforcement" and "deserved what they got". The police branch out from there, if the authorities direct them to do so. Totalitarian governments get very twitchy about any opposition or criticism.
And that is the critical problem with this incident. Once the public accepts the message, who will they go after next?
Every poster on this forum (and hundreds of other forums) is potentially at risk, as the government tolerance for criticism gets lowered. Even posters at the "Democrat Underground" and other left-wing sites are potentially at risk.
Leftists are way too lacking in caution about threatening public officials, because they have been allowed to do so, or even sponsored by authorities to do so. But as factional disputes get resolved, yesterdays' villain becomes todays' favored leader, and the posters who threatened him yesterday get put on today's list for the next raids.
It is really hard to keep up with the current thing. And the agencies have quotas they need to meet. They are going to pick somebody to visit. Ask your Russian immigrant neighbors how this works.
"Tune in to this breaking news story. Film at eleven."