After the Pelosi attack, Republicans have quit pretending they oppose political violence

[marmar]

After the Pelosi attack, Republicans have quit pretending they oppose political violence
Even after Jan. 6, Republicans waited a while before rolling out the jokes, memes and conspiracy theories. No more

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 2, 2022 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) There are ever so many ways Republicans can admit they were delighted by the attempted assassination of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which resulted in severe injuries to her husband, who had the misfortune of being home when apparent right-wing nut David DePape broke into the couple's San Francisco home. They can pretend to condemn the attack while promoting conspiracy theories denying that it was right-wing political violence, as did Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk. They can make jokes about it in public appearances, the classy path pioneered by Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. They can do both at the same time, as Donald Trump Jr. did. They can share vicious memes mocking the victim, as a Facebook page did that is evidently owned by Pennsylania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. Or they can deflect blame by casting the villains as the victims, as Tucker Carlson did in a Fox News segment equating criticism of hate speech with censorship.

OK, it's true that so far no Republican leaders (to my knowledge) have directly congratulated the would-be assassin for his attempt on Pelosi's life, or openly expressed regret that he didn't succeed. Establishing plausible deniability is still a priority within the GOP ranks, although to a diminishing extent. But make no mistake: Any effort to minimize the violence or deflect blame for the attack on Pelosi or her husband is a tacit endorsement. It's certainly received that way by the Republican base, which has spent the past two years, ever since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, ramping themselves up to support a fascist — and therefore inherently violent — campaign to seize power against the will of a clear majority.

How rapidly the GOP jokes and conspiracy theories began to emerge was especially alarming, as that represents a shift in attitudes toward fascist violence in the past couple of years. Contrast this with the aftermath of the insurrection of Jan. 6, when even the biggest jackasses among elected Republicans, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, took their time before starting to signal explicit approval of the riot. The PR stunt when those two declared that those arrested for the attack were "political prisoners," for example, came a full six months after the assault.

Paul Pelosi is still in the hospital, and the attack was so severe that DePape will be charged with attempted murder, among numerous other crimes. Cavalier Republican attitudes about this can't be chalked up to any legitimate sense that the event has been blown out of proportion. Rather, what has changed is that little to no political price was paid for increasingly supportive messaging about the Jan. 6 insurrection. If anything, those who most brazenly wink at the violence, like Greene, have become superstars in GOP politics. The only Republicans to feel real blowback from their voters are those who have criticized the Jan. 6 rioters — as well as the then-president who incited them — like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who lost to a Republican primary opponent largely because she served on the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack. Even Ted Cruz, who has been cravenly supportive of anti-democratic forces overall, got into hot water after describing Jan. 6 a "terrorist attack." He ended up feeling compelled to apologize to the people who ransacked the Capitol and defecated in the hallways. So Republican leaders aren't wrong to conclude that they must implicitly sanction violence to avoid the rage of their own voters, even as they make disingenuous noises of denunciation. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/02/after-the-pelosi-attack-have-quit-pretending-they-oppose-political-violence/

[Irish_Dem]

1. Yes the GOP is sending a clear message.

They will stop at nothing to obtain total power.

[Lovie777]

2. They are encouraging it .....

[CaptainTruth]

3. The RNC said the Jan 6 attack was "legitimate political discourse"

So yea, Republicans quit pretending they oppose political violence a while ago.

[bahboo]

4. fascists....