The attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband is a reminder of the malevolent power of political violence in the United States.
The assault of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, inside their San Francisco home early Friday morning by an intruder who shouted “Where is Nancy?” and bludgeoned him with a hammer, seems to confirm our worst fears that political violence has been loosed on our streets.
As Politico sees it, this was certainly an assassination attempt on the Speaker of the House, and the climate of violence can’t be ignored any longer.
But political violence comes amid longstanding concern that security services provided do not adequately reflect ongoing threats, especially as midterm elections loom.
“Somebody is going to die,” Debbie Dingell, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, told the news website Axios. Dingell said that in 2020 after Fox News’s Tucker Carlson broadcast a segment on her, “I had men outside my home with assault weapons that night.”
Mike Quigley, a Democratic congressman from Illinois, also told Axios that the savage Pelosi assault “is confirming what members know: we are completely vulnerable at a time when the risks are increasing.” Quigley also said: “We need more ways to protect members and their families.”
It has been nearly two years since supporters of former President Donald J. Trump invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, inspired by his lies about a stolen election.
And since that time, social media has been inundated with a toxic stew of violent language, conspiracy theories, and misinformation.
“When we see things like what happened last night at the speaker’s home; when we see things like plots to kidnap governors; when we see overt acts ramping up; we see, frankly, a whole host of indicators suggesting that we’re really at a crisis point,” said Peter Simi, an associate professor at Chapman University who has studied extremist groups and violence for more than 20 years, according to the New York Times.
Quite a number of threats from every corner of the political spectrum have resulted in the Department of Homeland Security warning that the United States faces growing danger from “violent domestic extremists” emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack, and motivated by anger over “the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives” — a reference to Mr. Trump’s claims that have been echoed by Republicans and right-wing activists.
I lament the loss of open political discourse because arguments have grown meaner and easily can lead to violence. It took Donald Trump to fully demonstrate the malevolent power of violent rhetoric.
From the beginning of his presidential campaign, when he poured venom on immigrants, insulted the war record of Senator John McCain, and urged his followers at rallies to lay hands on protesters, it continued to escalate.
Politico cites a speech made by Bobby Kennedy in Chicago after the assassination of Martin Luther King, calling his words “prophetic.”
“When you teach a man to hate and to fear his brother when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies that he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your home or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies — to be met not with cooperation but with conquest, to be subjugated and to be mastered.”
Robert F. Kennedy
________________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
