At 2:30 in the morning on Friday David DePape broke into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She was in Washington D.C. and not there, but her 82 year old husband, Paul, confronted the 42 year old DePape. The assailant demanded to know “where is Nancy” and later told police “we are waiting for Nancy to get back.” He was clearly targeting the Speaker, and assassination was his likely objective.
Paul managed to secretly call 911 and keep them on the line while engaging with DePape. When police arrived DePape, brutally attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. Police quickly tackled DePape, almost certainly saving Paul’s life. The attack fractured Paul Pelosi’s skull, requiring surgery. DePape has been charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse and burglary, among other offenses. DePape’s social media history establishes that he is:
- An antisemite
- A 2020 election denier who boosted the lunatic theories of My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell
- called January 6 Committee a farce
- QAnoner
- Pizzagater
- said the trial of Derek Chauvin was a “modern day lynching”
Some Republicans responded to the attempted murder of the Speaker’s husband with the dignity and class we would hope to hear from all Americans united against such vicious violence. For example, Senate Majority Leader McConnell stated that he was “horrified and disgusted” by the attack.
However, many Republicans, particularly those in the ultra-MAGA community, have not responded with condemnation. Some have exploited it. Some have treated it as something to joke about. Some have already claimed it was staged, even though San Francisco police witnessed it, and recorded it on their body cameras.
It should be noted that this is a movement associated with often shocking suggestions of violence towards Pelosi. On January 6th the insurrectionists roamed the halls of the Capitol with threatening chants of “where are you Nancy,” that presaged the very words of David DePape on Friday morning. Marjorie Taylor Greene once endorsed a tweet that suggested the easiest way to remove Pelosi would be a bullet to her head.
So it should be no surprise that some Republicans responded in shockingly inappropriate ways. Perhaps the least offensive was Republican Governor of Virginia, who while condemning the attack turned it into a stump speech talking point by suggesting voters send Pelosi home to take care of her injured husband:
“Speaker Pelosi’s husband had a break-in last night in their house, and he was assaulted. There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re gonna send her back to be with him in California. That’s what we’re going to go do.” — Glenn Youngkin
Congrats Governor Youngkin, you win the Political Talking Points Silver Lining Award.
Like Youngkin Republican Representative from Ohio Mike Loychik sought to score political points by dancing on Paul Pelosi’s fractured skull.
Fox News commentator Jesse Waters weighed in compassionately declaring that “a lot of people get hit with hammers” while urging that Paul Pelosi’s assailant be released because if it happened to anyone else it wouldn’t be a big deal.
Former Republican candidate for Congress Shukri Abdirahman viewed the felonious cracking of the Paul Pelosi’s skull as a chance for a funny pun, exploiting a DWI incident involving Paul Pelosi.
Alas, I later discovered that Ms. Abdirahman knows a bad line when she steals one. It turns out the originator of this one was right wing radio personality Larry Elder, who made this joke even as Paul Pelosi was undergoing surgery to save his life. A sad commentary on the darkness of Mr. Elder’s soul.
Truth Social CEO, former Congressman Devin Nunes thought this would be a funny take on the attempted murder.
MAGA loving James Bradley also viewed this as an opportunity to be funny along with a chance to suggest that the victim was engaged in a gay affair.
This gay affair thing has been a recurring theme among the whackadoodles, never mind that it was Paul Pelosi who called 911 and police say the man broke into the house.
In perhaps the highest profile example, none other than new Twitter owner Elon Musk committed his prestige and reputation to the gay lover theme in a tweet responding to one from Hillary Clinton. Concern for Paul Pelosi’s condition was nowhere to be found. Only the innuendo and smear from a now deleted article.
For the record, Musk later deleted the tweet, well after it had gained so much traction to not matter.
Combining the gay lover and DWI themes fell to notorious Twitter Troll Charlie Kirk.
But Kirk later flips his narrative from the gay lover conspiracy to a conspiracy where dark operators have been setting this guy up as a fake MAGA for years (because his above mentioned social media history really is years and not just weeks).
This wouldn’t be complete without a couple of contributions from the it was faked/staged crowd, even though the SF Police witnessed it.
Shortly after Paul Pelosi’s skull was cracked Republican Congressman Anthony Sabatini demonstrated his Christian compassion by calling him a scumbag. Yes, he attacked the elderly victim of an attempted murder. Solid look Tony.
Sabatini then advanced the conspiracy theory of “Something Is Weird But I Won’t Say What.”
To be fair, Representative Sabatini was not the only one to take the attack the victim approach.
Mary William Benefield, of the Georgia House, retweeted a claim that Paul Pelosi getting his head bashed in was staged, sarcastically suggesting that Pelosi’s daughter filmed it.
For the record, Ms. Benefield did get back to me stating how “honored” she was to be included with such “great conservatives.” I responded as politely as I could. As the conversation continued I directly asked Ms. Benefield if she would condemn the attack. She refused to answer, describing that inquiry as a “gotcha question.”
Convicted election fraud felon, and maker of the 2000 Mules hoax, Dinesh D’Souza finds it very suspicious that Paul Pelosi was in his underwear at 2:30 in the morning.
I can’t even attempt to describe what this tweet was about.
Nick Adams, a MAGAt pathetically obsessed with convincing others that he is a very alpha male, deemed the attempted murder “Pelosigate” and demanded a Congressional investigation. Concern for the still hospitalized Paul Pelosi was nowhere to be found, such empathy not being the sort of thing that faux alpha males (and faux Christians) do.
As the story evolved one person asked who assaulted Paul Pelosi. This was one answer that speaks for the sickening culture and mentality involved.
These are some Republican responses to an attempted murder that has left the victim in the hospital with a fractured skull. What you see in these tweets is some of the worst America has to offer. There’s a lot there, but none of it involves any concern for the health and recovery of a man brutally attacked in an attempted murder. There’s plenty more where this came from, and I may be updating this article with more as I find them. However, I would like to mention at least one person who has spoken perhaps most loudly by not speaking.
Donald Trump has not commented at all. He has not condemned the attack in anyway. Think of Trump’s supporters, to include those so far gone that they would consider violence against Pelosi. They very much “hear” his failure to condemn this attack. For them, that silence is a strong message.
