Some nutcase, rightwing extremist broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's house days ago and ultimately attacked Paul Pelosi, Nancy's husband. But he was asking for Nancy, who was his actual target.
It seems that this has become the new normal for our American political landscape these days. We have ads running here in New Jersey from Tome Kane, Jr. (the son of former New Jersey Governor Tom Kane) suggesting that Tom Malinowski is everything that we hate in a politician. We have former President Trump suggesting that a political rival (a fellow Republican) has a "death wish." We have conspiracy theory "news sources" like QAnon feeding this endless appetite for hatred and scapegoating in this country presently, where claims of Pizzagate and lizard people and mainstream politicians like the Clintons or Obamas or Bidens being communist are all taken, without question, as the gospel truth for some rightwing fanatics.
The end result - violence - can hardly be surprising. Whether it is a politically motivated mass shooting at a Democratic political rally in a supermarket parking lot in Arizona, or a white supremacist and Neo-Nazi rally (many, if not most, with clubs and other weapons, clearly gearing for violence) in a city in Virginia that indeed quickly turned violent (not surprisingly), or some band of nutcases in Michigan coming close to kidnapping (and likely killing) the sitting Governor, or an enormous crowd of fanatics attacking the Congress and trying to stop the process of a democratic and peaceful transfer of power, or now some idiot breaking into the home of House Speaker Pelosi and seriously assaulting and injuring her husband, violence has seemingly become a normal part of our news cycle. I know some people who might not have specifically been involved in any of these particular incidents, but who nevertheless seem to hesitate to criticize the perpetrators too harshly, and when pressed, quickly counter with alleged abuses by Democratic politicians.
Now don't get me wrong: I do not particularly care for Nancy Pelosi, or the Clintons, or the Obamas, or the Bidens. I believe them to be elitists who are more interested in enriching themselves and taking care of the interests of those sponsors who helped to get and keep them in power, than in sincerely trying to improve conditions for the American people. However, once we allow politicians to literally talk about targeting other politicians to "hate" or making indirect threats at them (a Trump specialty), than we are giving our current politicians far too much power. We cannot condone any literal or implied violent threats, and must condemn them outright and clearly, without any ambiguity.
This attack was an abhorrent act of a lunatic, and cannot be justified in any way. I wish Paul Pelosi a speedy recovery. And for the good of society, let us hope that this man is locked up for a long, long time, so that he no longer poses a threat in our streets again.
Pelosi’s Husband Injured by Attacker Asking, ‘Where’s Nancy?’: Updates By Nia Prater, Oct. 29, 2022:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/paul-pelosi-nancy-pelosis-husband-assaulted-at-home.html
Man arrested in attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband faces charges by Nathan Frandino and Steve Gorman, October 29, 2022:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/man-arrested-attack-us-house-speaker-pelosis-spouse-faces-charges-2022-10-29/
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