Right Wing Terrorism and Paul Pelosi

The attack was predictable. So is more GOP-incited violence

I have immersed myself in raw sewage for years. 

Since 2018, I have read right-wing social media, bulletin boards, and websites to keep track of terrorist threats. Using information from Parler alone, I posted a warning three weeks before January 6 that a coordinated attack by MAGA cultists was coming. And by following these sites, it was obvious the Republican base increasingly craved the murder of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - although timing of an actual attack was impossible to nail down. But with GOP politicians and conservative media escalating their demonization of Pelosi as the midterms approach - increasing their declarations that she is a godless communist out to destroy America - the intensity of violent rhetoric against her grew in these MAGA cesspools. 

The resulting attempted murder of Paul Pelosi by a MAGA cultist who trafficked in QAnon conspiracies - and who raged “Where’s Nancy?” before striking her husband with a hammer - should be no surprise. There are millions of unbalanced people in this country. The GOP knows that, yet still coo the extremist rhetoric that leads to violence, then invariably wash their hands of responsibility. Trump had to know something like this was likely: He reads Truth Social more than I do. If I saw the threats there, it strains credulity to think he didn’t, even as he posted another attack on Pelosi.

Now, I want to tell you the future: These types of attacks are only going to grow worse, with the GOP continuing to push their lies and fascistic conspiracy theories, regardless of the outcome so long as it helps them stay in power and give more rich people tax cuts. Remember, they kept going with the Pelosi lies and incitements to violence even after one of the January 6 rioters was recorded screaming “Where’s Nancy?” as he stormed through the Capitol. The next day, a MAGA and QAnon cultist who sent messages threatening to kill Pelosi was arrested at a hotel near the Capitol; he was armed with a pistol, an assault rifle and about 2,500 rounds of ammunition, as well as a telescoping gunsight. Yet the GOP kept going inciting terrorism.

In fact, the GOP loves these people. Dawn Bancroft, who was video recorded January 6 saying, “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain” won an elected seat on the Bucks County Republican Committee just days before she was sentenced to prison. She won even though everyone knew she had been charged, and it took two months for the committee to remove her for essentially being a criminal.

And it is not just politicians at risk. These people discuss violence against anyone they perceive as an enemy to the man some of them have described as “the imperfect vessel of God’s will” - Donald Trump. I have even read threats against me on these sites, which certainly offered my wife and I an added encouragement to follow through with our plan to leave Texas for a less violent state. 

Let’s return, though, to the escalations of violent rhetoric and conspiracy theories against Nancy Pelosi. Take Julie Green - a QAnon influencer and self-proclaimed prophet allied with Doug Mastriano, GOP candidate for Pennsylvania Governor. Green, who uses Telegram and Truth Social for her messages, recently posted a video, declared that Pelosi drinks the blood of children. This was the person Mastriano endorsed by allowing her to say the opening prayer at one of his rallies.

A recent posting on a QAnon site I won’t name because I don’t want to drive traffic there said that Pelosi was heading a plot by Deep State Democrats “to push U.S (sic) into WAR & COVERUP (sic) UKRAINE MONEY LAUNDERING, BIOWEAPON LABS & HUMAN TRAFFICKING NETWORKS.” This was also, the poster said to great acclaim from readers of the post, a Pelosi scheme to push nuclear war. It is not far-fetched to read this and think, “The GOP is going too far with the rhetoric, because these people are spinning out of control.” 

Some old lies about the dangers of Pelosi and Ukraine have started appearing again. A week ago on Gab, a user posted an often-discredited conspiracy theory that Pelosi was pushing for World War III because she has a son on the board of Ukrainian gas companies. No, she doesn’t. No matter: the post got 2,000 upvotes.

Or then there was this image that spread across these sites, which MAGA cultists proclaimed was Pelosi secretly signaling her demonic beliefs by using mimicking a hand gesture they said was used as a symbol of Satan. (The image on the right is the Star of David covered by the Birkat Kohanim, of “the Priestly blessing” used by Orthodox Jewish priests.)

Satan is a frequent guest star in the MAGA extremists’ postings about Pelosi. One recent one said that Pelosi comments about Trump and John Durham - the bumbling independent prosecutor who failed to “prove” there was a scheme against Trump that led to the Russia investigation - was proof that she was a “satanic demon from hell.” Then there are the frequent postings saying that Pelosi is Satan’s number three high priestess (Oprah - yah, what? - is number two and Hillary Clinton is number one, of course.) 

The other claims are equally off-the-charts: Pelosi blocked 168 criminal charges against prominent Democrats, and when Republicans win control of the House, the mass indictments will be officially handed up. Pelosi led a national voter fraud conspiracy to remove Trump and install Biden as her puppet. Pelosi was behind the COVID “hoax” because she owns stock in drug companies and is profiting from vaccines designed to kill everyone. A video appearance she made somehow contained secret messages revealing that she had personally murdered Bob Sagget, the comedian (This one has been making the rounds for more than a year, but it has suddenly become big again on QAnon message boards.) Then there is the “Pelosi is already dead” contingent, which claims that a secret army controlled by Trump has executed Pelosi, Biden, and Kamala Harris and replaced them all with clones. (Seriously.) And January 6 was Pelosi’s fault - of course, the MAGA cult’s God King also pushes this lie on Truth Social.

This all may sound like nonsense but think about it: The “she deserves to die” implications by January 6 participants and their allies makes bizarre sense. After all, wouldn’t Satan’s minion who is murdering millions for profit and pushing the world toward World War III while drinking the blood of children and engaging in human trafficking pose such an overwhelming danger to global survival that she would present the “Would you have assassinated Hitler” cliche. None of these people consider that Pelosi is just a liberal politician from San Francisco who succeeded in getting more people health insurance and has stood up for oppressed minorities.

I am not the only one who knows this is going on. At a recent one of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rallies, a supporter told her that Pelosi should be locked up. Of course, Greene is the same woman who said that Pelosi should be executed along with former President Barack Obama. And who can forget when Greene was running for Congress and spoke about Pelosi? "She took an oath to protect American citizens and uphold our laws,” Greene said. "And she gives aid and comfort to our enemies who illegally invade our land. That's what treason is…it's a crime punishable by death is what treason is.”

Greene is obviously not alone with her overheated rhetoric about Pelosi. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas recently said on a stage in front of red-meat GOPrs that Pelosi is “a communist.” As did a recent fundraising solicitation from the GOP. The House GOP twitter account tweeted that Pelosi loves Communist China. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise said Pelosi was covering for Communist China. Of course, Republican politicians either don’t know what communism is or know that their supporters certainly don’t. It is just means “something evil,” which is why they are so easily able to slide between calling her a communist and a socialist. 

I don’t hold any illusions that the attempted murder of Paul Pelosi will lead the GOP to dial back its violent rhetoric. It didn't happen after the murder of George Tiller, a doctor who provided abortions and who was featured 28 times on Fox’s then-program “The O’Reilly Factor” and in Republican speeches on the House floor, repeatedly calling him a “baby-killer.” (All Republicans, including Bill O’Reilly, host of the program, denied their lies had anything to do with the murder.) Or after January 6. (Most Republicans not only denied this was a violent assault, but often blamed Trump’s opponents from trying to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden as president.) And shortly after the attack on Pelosi, Fox News was on the air proclaiming that responsibility for the attack lay with Democrats who, of course, were to blame for the rise in crime that had reached Pelosi’s house.

The Republicans are going to keep going until there is a mass murder somewhere. And then they will deny responsibility again. The only thing that can be done, the only option, is to do our best to keep them out of power. So, for God’s sake, vote in the midterms. Because if the GOP is rewarded for its lies and incitement, they will escalate even more. And then the MAGA cult violence might even reach you.