Attempts by Democratic leaders and liberal-leaning media to portray the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi as an act of political violence by Republicans or Trump supporters were premature, and could backfire amid the looming November 8 midterm elections, observers have told Sputnik.
The Friday morning attack on the Democratic House speaker’s husband sparked outrage from Democratic politicians and liberal-leaning media alike. Although police have yet to reveal a motive for 42-year-old suspect David DePape’s assault on Mr. Pelosi, President Biden immediately hinted at the Trump Right’s indirect responsibility.
“What makes us think that one party can talk about stolen elections, Covid being a hoax, that it’s all a bunch of lies, and it not affect[ing] people who may not be so well balanced?” Biden asked. “What makes us think that it’s not going to corrode the political climate? Enough is enough.”
Republicans, including former president Donald Trump, called the attack a “terrible thing,” and attributed it to rising urban crime rates, sparking further condemnation from Democrats who accused their opponents of engaging in politicking.
Subsequent media investigations based on DePape’s Facebook page and conversations with friends, relatives and associates revealed that the suspect suffers from drug addiction, was heavily involved in the nudism activism movement, supports the Black Lives Matters and LGBT rights movements and once claimed that Jesus was “the anti-Christ” – not exactly standard fare for your average conservative or Trump voter.
“Some in the media were certainly quick to try to pin the blame for the attack on Republicans, and others in the media went along with the narrative, but there were too many questions about the events and there was immediate pushback,” Timothy M. Hagle, an associate professor at the University of Iowa and US politics specialist, told Sputnik in an interview.
Democrats have consistently accused the Republicans and Trump supporters of “various forms of hate,” both during the current election cycle and even before that, partly in a bid to “energize their base” ahead of the midterms, according to the professor.
“As much as Democrats would like to change the subject, the issues that voters are about are usually the ‘kitchen table’ issues such as jobs, the economy, and healthcare. That includes things such as increased inflation and high gas prices,” Dr. Hagle explained.
The academic doesn’t expect Friday’s attack on Paul Pelosi to change the situation for Democrats politically, with the collapse of the original narrative about the assault robbing the party of any benefit it could hope to squeeze out of it. “The initial attempt to blame Republicans has been debunked and won’t have an effect on the midterms,” Hagle said.
According to the professor, Republicans have been able to use their opponents’ initial politicized approach to the Pelosi assault to point out their “inconsistency” and “hypocrisy,” given their record of failing to show much sympathy or concern over political violence against GOP figures.
Lisa Haven, a libertarian commentator, radio host and alternative media news analyst, told Sputnik that the rush to blame Republicans was based on the Democrats’ hard and fast rule of seeking “to use any catastrophe and/or crisis for political gain,” in accordance with former Obama top aide Rahm Emanuel’s ‘Never let a crisis go to waste’ motto.
“Mainstream media, now just an arm of the Democrat party, without any evidence, took to the airways to seize up the opportunity to blame this attack on Republicans and Trump supporters. But as it turns out, the attacker has far more left leaning symbolism associated with him. He is an illegal immigrant, a homeless addict, he lived with a notorious local nudist in a Berkeley home complete with a BLM sign in the window and an LGBT rainbow flag. However, despite the evidence the Democrats and media used it for political gain in order to gain votes for this election,” Ms. Haven said.
The observer suggested that if the media were “truly open and honest about what happened” at the Pelosi residence Friday, the news wouldn’t have turned into the politicized story it ultimately did.
Like Dr. Hagle, Haven doesn’t expect the narrative on the Pelosi attack to help Democrats in the midterms, and warned that it could even “backfire on them” after key assumptions about the suspect were debunked.