After information broke Friday morning that Paul Pelosi was violently assaulted, Fox News wasted no time in pushing the GOP’s midterm message that crime is random and will strike at any second — even for what turned out to be a focused assault on the house of Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
With scant public particulars on what precisely occurred to Paul Pelosi, Fox Information host Invoice Hemmer stated it was vital to speak about how rampant crime is generally.
“Crime hits all people,” Hemmer stated, including moments later, “This could occur anyplace, crime is random and that’s why it’s such a major a part of this election story.”
Fox Information later brought on Michael Shellenberger, an writer who claims progressivism is linked to drug addiction and mental illness. He stated the assault on Paul Pelosi must be seen as “a wake-up name” that crime impacts all people.
“We’re in against the law disaster in our nation as a result of we demoralize the police,” stated Shellenberger, rattling off San Francisco crime statistics. “We’ve principally stated to police that they’re the enemy.”
Fox Information host John Roberts chimed in, “This particular person isn’t protected in opposition to being assaulted, what are common of us there in San Francisco to do?”
In yet one more phase, a Fox Information panelist wondered aloud why President Joe Biden condemned the assault in opposition to Paul Pelosi, which concerned a hammer, however didn’t condemn “1000’s” of different hammer assaults within the metropolis.
That is exactly the political message that Republicans have settled on for the midterm elections. Home GOP leaders routinely accuse Democrats of driving up crime. Republicans have turned to crime fear-mongering to carry weak Senate seats in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the place the GOP has deserted any promoting on financial points in favor of over-the-top and generally deceptive advertisements about crime.
Within the week of Sept. 10-17, a full 48% of the GOP’s digital promoting in battleground states handled crime, according to data compiled by Priorities USA, a Democratic tremendous PAC.
Man Cecil, the chair of the Democratic tremendous PAC Priorities USA, told HuffPost last month that the GOP’s bid to typically scare individuals about crime is a tried and trusted technique.
“This isn’t a brand new method for the Republican Occasion,” Cecil stated. “It occurs each single election: race-baiting, fear-mongering, divisive techniques.”
The assault on Paul Pelosi shouldn’t be an instance of a random crime. A person broke into the Pelosi dwelling in the course of the evening shouting, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?” in response to stories. When the person found the Home speaker was not there, he reportedly attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, tried to tie him up and stated he would wait “till Nancy acquired dwelling.”
Legislation enforcement officers have recognized the suspect within the assault as 42-year-old David DePape of Berkeley. Weblog posts that seem like from DePape suggest he underwent right-wing radicalization in current months.
The Home speaker has lengthy been the topic of ire from the correct and was focused when a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), whose district contains a part of San Francisco, appeared to counsel Friday morning that the assault could have come from a Trump supporter.
“Whereas the motive continues to be unknown we all know the place this sort of violence is sanctioned and modeled,” Speier tweeted.