Nancy Pelosi's husband attacked in home (1 Viewer)

Republicans usually tout a “tough on crime” stance, but right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk thinks a man who is set to be charged with attempted homicide should be allowed out on bail.

“Why has he not been bailed out?” Kirk said Monday on his podcast of the man who allegedly beat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul with a hammer last Friday.

“By the way, if some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out, I bet his bail’s like thirty or forty thousand bucks.” With a smirk, he added: “Bail him out and then go ask him some questions.”

TaylorB said:

My goodness, this article. I mean what screams BLM / Antifa / left wing more than posting far right wing propaganda online and showing up at Nancy Pelosi's house to try to beat her to death with a hammer? You just have to be a prominently anti-BLM substacker to see that clearly, and to see that the root cause here is California (read "Democrat") drug culture, and according to the article, but without any sort of specifics, pedophilia(?).

In all seriousness, I don't doubt this guy was complex, had a long history of mental health and drug issues, and even that at some point he aligned with progressive politics. But this substacker is doing some impressive intellectual gymnastics to avoid seeing right wing rhetoric as having played a part in this assassination attempt.

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I was in an Uber this morning and the driver was listening to Glenn Beck. He was interviewing this Shellenberger guy. I had to fight the urge to jump out of the car to spare myself the stupidity.

cuddlemonkey said:

I was in an Uber this morning and the driver was listening to Glenn Beck. He was interviewing this Shellenberger guy. I had to fight the urge to jump out of the car to spare myself the stupidity.

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How'd you rate him?

GrandAdmiral said:

How'd you rate him?

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Political violence is not an unintended consequence of the MAGA movement.

Much like Nike’s swoosh, it is at the center of the movement’s brand.


Remember this when considering the intruder who, hyped up on the conspiracy theories Republicans bandy about, reportedly broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home carrying zip ties.

He then demanded to confront the House speaker and cracked her husband’s skull. Tellingly, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin joked about the horrifying incident, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took his time before commenting on it.
How could something like this happen?

Well, as The Post reports: “For a wide swath of Republicans, Pelosi is Enemy No. 1 — a target of the collective rage, conspiratorial thinking and overt misogyny that have marked the party’s hard-right turn in recent years.

Among far-right extremist groups, the anti-Pelosi memes are often cruder and more violent, but the demonization of the Democratic House leader is no fringe phenomenon.

Her face — sometimes adorned with devil’s horns or a swastika — was plastered on signs at all the national rallies that led up to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.”

Indeed, the GOP has made it standard practice to demonize Democratic women. This includes Pelosi, of course, but also Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Hillary Clinton.

And don’t forget Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused of coddling child molesters during her confirmation hearings……..

Much like Hillary Clinton was/is demonized. And AOC, and the other women of The Squad. Do you all notice the same pattern I have noticed? Nothing provokes the right wing’s fury like a woman with some power. Nothing.

Here is the DOJ’s criminal complaint with affidavits and, ya know, facts. No mention of the substacker who spoke to the anonymous neighbor who said the family used to be left wing. No, it’s actually exactly what it appeared to be:

The path that led an attacker to the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was long and meandering, with evidence suggesting that he dabbled in fringe movements of all sorts before embracing the right-wing vilification of Democrats.


The complex history of accused attacker David DePape’s radicalization unfolded over more than eight years and several different ideologies, moving from Green Party support and nudist activism, to a hateful mix of racist, anti-Jewish and misogynistic rhetoric, according to terrorism analysts who’ve studied his writings and social media posts.


They say DePape’s evolving beliefs show how today’s extremist threat complicates easy left-right categorization, a shift that’s confusing to the public and a bonanza for trolls who exploit the messiness to push disinformation and justify violence.


“You get stuff that just feels contradictory, but when you understand how online exposure to propaganda works, it makes perfect sense,” said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, who heads the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University. “It’s a choose-your-own-adventure type of radicalization.”


By the time DePape, 42, allegedly broke into the Pelosis’ residence Friday and attacked 82-year-old Paul with a hammer, his writings were laden with far-right messaging that indicated a dark, conspiratorial spiral.

His blog posts in October were a mix of bloody images and hateful screeds aimed at a variety of targeted groups including Jewish, Black and trans people, as well as Democrats.

He also shared delusional thoughts about an invisible fairy that sometimes appeared as a bird; a purported former romantic partner, Oxane “Gypsy” Taub, has told reporters that DePape is “mentally ill.”

Those details were largely ignored by right-wing figures — including elected Republicans and MAGA stars with millions of followers — who instead reached years back to portray him as a leftist, hemp bracelet-peddling “hippie,” perhaps part of a “false flag” operation to blame the right for the assault.

An alternative, unsubstantiated scenario that DePape and Paul Pelosi had a sexual relationship blazed across right-wing news outlets, boosted by high-profile figures such as Elon Musk and referenced by Republican officials.


“That moment you realize the nudist hippie male prostitute LSD guy was the reason your husband didn’t make it to your fundraiser,” tweeted Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) alongside a photo of a distressed-looking Nancy Pelosi……..

The responses from some Republicans have been shameful. When Steve Scalise was shot, there was universal condemnation of political violence. Nobody made jokes about dressing up as a bloody baseball player. Nobody made jokes about how he should‘ve run faster to get away, nobody said :at least that gets him out of Washington. All the above types of “jokes” were made about this situation by either elected R officials or people running for office as Republican or people prominent in the R party.

And the so-called “normal” Republicans make mealy-mouthed condemnations of violence but say absolutely NOTHING about the inappropriate and cruel “jokes”.

Also, we haven’t even touched on the sick lies told about this situation which were magnified by Ted Cruz after he knew they were false.

All of the above is why nobody should even vote for so-called “normal” Rs for any office. The party is not redeemable. It’s just not. And by treating this violence in this way, they are giving the green light for any other disturbed people out there to do it again.

SaintForLife said:

Did you mind that Pelosi's daughter celebrated Paul's assault? But Paul is the Idiot?

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It’s not good to celebrate violence, but attacks from random citizens that are stirred up by major political players is in another universe of dangerous to democracy than personal attacks unrelated to democracy. If the Paul attack were stirred up by mainstream Democratic politicians, the Democratic Party would be going down a terrible road for democracy that should be condemned. That’s what’s going on with the Republican Party today. There is no morale basis to justify it with whataboutisim.

I believe a Democrat attacked Scalise a few years ago, and I believe it was properly condemned. There was no morale basis to try to find a prior Republican attack. It simply should be condemned and punished. These attacks have to be punished harshly, because it undermines democracy. Our political leaders must not be afraid for their lives and health of themselves nor those they love, because that will discourage good people from serving, and encourage the good ones to stop serving. That will eventually turn us into a banana republic. There is a bigger picture to worry about than scoring political points.

SaintForLife said:

They are both assaults. What's your point?

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The point is that there is a much bigger picture. The Pelosi attack impacts us all much more, because it strikes fear into politicians when attackers go after politicians and their families for their legislating. They are representing their constituents. The Paul attacker should be condemned as well, but that has no national impact to undermine democracy.

This is what Republicans are doing and it’s dangerous.

MT15 said:

The responses from some Republicans have been shameful. When Steve Scalise was shot, there was universal condemnation of political violence. Nobody made jokes about dressing up as a bloody baseball player. Nobody made jokes about how he should‘ve run faster to get away, nobody said :at least that gets him out of Washington. All the above types of “jokes” were made about this situation by either elected R officials or people running for office as Republican or people prominent in the R party.

And the so-called “normal” Republicans make mealy-mouthed condemnations of violence but say absolutely NOTHING about the inappropriate and cruel “jokes”.

Also, we haven’t even touched on the sick lies told about this situation which were magnified by Ted Cruz after he knew they were false.

All of the above is why nobody should even vote for so-called “normal” Rs for any office. The party is not redeemable. It’s just not. And by treating this violence in this way, they are giving the green light for any other disturbed people out there to do it again.

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Republican politicians have no control and very little sway with the right wing base. The politicians are followers, with the exception of maybe Trump (but even him a lot of times). The Republican base is everything that has been said of them: cruel, mean spirited, violent, angry, sexist, homophobic, racist, etc. They are deplorable and revel in this type of violence in which they can also mock their enemies.

They used to keep this under wraps because they didn't want to "appear" that way in public. But the last 6 years have done a lot to eliminate expectations of public decency and acceptance in this country. There truly is a cesspool in this country and it's threatening to drown us all. The truly sad fact that so many people in this country still either don't want to acknowledge that truth or don't see it and are going to vote to give those degenerates power again.

coldseat said:

Republican politicians have no control and very little sway with the right wing base. The politicians are followers, with the exception of maybe Trump (but even him a lot of times). The Republican base is everything that has been said of them: cruel, mean spirited, violent, angry, sexist, homophobic, racist, etc. They are deplorable and revel in this type of violence in which they can also mock their enemies.

They used to keep this under wraps because they didn't want to "appear" that way in public. But the last 6 years have done a lot to eliminate expectations of public decency and acceptance in this country. There truly is a cesspool in this country and it's threatening to drown us all. The truly sad fact that so many people in this country still either don't want to acknowledge that truth or don't see it and are going to vote to give those degenerates power again.

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back in 2016 on the old Poli board on SR.com, i posted in a Trump thread that the largest threat was his way of "attacking" others was going to become normalized and accepted. That those that now speak with no regards to civility, decorum and respect for others, do so as LOUD as they want because it was slowly becoming " the thing to do " and gain acceptance.

Here we are. Dont know how to reverse it, but i think common decency and critical thinking will eventually push those back into the margins.

at least i hope.

Farb said:

I don't remember a lot of sympathy for Paul when he was attacked by his neighbor, but I am sure it is a completely different situation, like one votes one way than the other.

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Just out of curosity, do you know the story of what happened to Rand Paul in that situation? In your opinion are they in any way comparable in terms of being a political attack? There has been plenty of times i really wanted to punch my neighbor in the throat, like for real.. But never in my life have i ever wanted to kidnapp a politician and their spouse and break knee caps because i disagreed with their policies...

With what the guy did to Pelosi's husband and wanted to do to her isn't much different to what happened to Steve Scalise. I would like to see tweets and vidoes of other politicains making fun of Scalise that it happened and using it at campaign rallies.

bluejersey14 said:

Personally, when it comes to Rand Paul, I'm on Team Neighbor.

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Stay classy!