Is the Republican Party guilty of inciting violence?

Most Republicans “cannot even manage ordinary decency anymore”, said Mona Charen on The Bulwark. If you doubt me, look at the way they’ve reacted to the terrifying assault last month that took place in the home of leading Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker.

David DePape, 42, carrying zip ties, rope, two hammers and some tape, had broken in through a glass door, and started yelling “Where’s Nancy?” She happened to be away in Washington DC, so DePape allegedly attacked her 82-year-old husband Paul instead, fracturing his skull with a hammer.

In later police interviews, DePape said he’d planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and break her kneecaps because she is the “leader of the pack of lies told by the Democratic Party”. DePape’s social media history is laced with conspiracy theories from QAnon, anti-vaxxers, and the Big Lie about the 2020 election. Yet rather than express sympathy and denounce the violence, many Republicans “loosed their inner Trump troll”, spreading a mad rumour that Paul Pelosi and DePape were gay lovers having a quarrel.

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Louisiana Republican Clay Higgins tweeted a photo of Nancy Pelosi with the comment: “That moment you realise the nudist hippie male prostitute LSD guy was the reason your husband didn’t make it to your fundraiser.” Donald Trump Jr. shared a photo of a hammer and men’s underwear with the caption “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready”.

Violence not confined to the Right

What the hell is wrong with these people? The attack was sickening, for sure, said The Wall Street Journal, but such violence isn’t confined to the Right. In 2017, a Bernie Sanders supporter shot Republican congressman Steve Scalise; earlier this year, an armed man was arrested outside the home of supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh.

That misses the point entirely, said Max Boot in The Washington Post. Yes, there are violent left-wing extremists, but Republican politicians actually whip up violence through extremist rhetoric and campaign ads showing themselves brandishing assault weapons. Marjorie Taylor Greene has said Nancy Pelosi “is guilty of treason” and deserves to be executed. Inciter-in-chief Donald Trump calls Joe Biden an “enemy of the state”, and says the US is being taken over by “communists”. Is it any wonder unhinged losers respond to this vitriol with violence?

Trump has promoted ‘culture of intimidation’

As a longtime conservative, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that “populist authoritarianism poses a special civic threat to America”, said Nick Catoggio on The Dispatch. Trump has promoted “a culture of intimidation” in his Maga (Make America Great Again) fan base, and is now warning that they’ll respond with riots if he’s prosecuted. “There’s no comparable figure in the Democratic Party.”

Republicans should not wave away the attack on Pelosi by claiming both sides are equally guilty. “The GOP’s culture won’t change until rightwingers confront it instead of making excuses for it.”