Republican Holiday Tree decorated with hanged Democratic figures

[Kid Berwyn]

84. Great Questions, yours.

Pelosi's attacker is proud of himself. The GOP emboldened him

Of course, the Pelosi suspect feels supported — the GOP is the party of political violence now

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Salon, January 31, 2023

David DePape seems proud of himself. On Friday, a judge ordered the release of video footage that appears to show DePape beating Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, with a hammer after refusing to listen to police orders to drop the weapon. The video is hard to watch, showing the suspect tackling Pelosi to the ground and viciously pounding him with a hammer while the police attempt to pull him off the 82-year-old man. Bizarrely, however, in a phone call to a San Francisco reporter made the same day, DePape's only regret was that the violence wasn't worse.

"Now that you all have seen the body cam footage, I have an important message for everyone in America," DePape told KTVU's Amber Lee of. "You're welcome."

He then apologized that he "didn't get more of them."

Like many of the January 6 insurrectionists who have been arrested, DePape appears to have no interest in backing down from the Donald Trump-fueled conspiracy theories that led to his violence. Instead, the chilling audio hints at a man who feels confident in his false accusations and supported in his belief that the Trumpist agenda must be forced upon America through violence.

DePape appears delusional in many regards, but he is, sadly, right about one thing: His pro-violence views have a lot of support from Republicans, both politicians and voters. While he took it to the next level, DePape was only acting on a correct interpretation of Trump's implicit message: Since Democrats can't be beaten at the ballot box, power must be seized through violence. It's a view that, while they often avoid saying out loud, is widely backed by the rest of the GOP. The party, after all, has gone out of its way to reaffirm support for Trump in the wake of the deadly riot he unleashed on the Capitol two years ago.

Continues…

https://www.salon.com/2023/01/31/pelosis-attacker-is-proud-of-himself-the-emboldened-him/

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Great observation, too, yours.

Where is the shame?