America braces for midterms mayhem
An attack on the husband of Nancy Pelosi, the US Speaker of the House of Representatives, has fuelled fears of a new wave of political violence just over a week before America’s critical midterm elections that will decide the balance of power in Congress.
Paul Pelosi, 82, underwent surgery for a fractured skull and other serious injuries on Friday night, local time, after an intruder wielding a hammer broke into the couple’s San Francisco home, shouting: ‘‘Where is Nancy?’’
Police officers who arrived at the scene found the victim and a man named as David DePape, 42, wrestling for the hammer. DePape tore the weapon away from Paul Pelosi and struck him with it before he was tackled by officers. He is in custody, charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and a string of other crimes.
‘‘This was not a random act,’’ Bill Scott, the chief of San Francisco police, said. ‘‘This was intentional.’’
The attack on the home of one of the most powerful politicians in America has stunned Washington as politicians make their final pitch before the midterms to an increasingly polarised electorate and mounting threats of violence.
Many had warned that such an incident was likely as threats on social media towards lawmakers, government officials, judges, election workers and law enforcement spill into stalking, harassment and physical attacks.
It had chilling echoes of the riot on January 6 last year, when supporters of Donald Trump who stormed the US Capitol in a bid to halt certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. As the mob rampaged through the halls of Congress, rioters demanded to see the Speaker, 82, chanting ‘‘Nancy, Nancy,’’ and told police: ‘‘We’re coming in if you don’t bring her out.’’
The senior Democrat’s office was ransacked in the melee that ended with an armed siege at the doors of the House of Representatives, with one protester shot dead by police as members of Congress cowered inside. More than 150 police officers were injured.
One died the next day and others took their own lives in the weeks that followed.
Trump allegedly watched the violence unfold on television, resisting frantic calls for him to intervene and call off the mob.
Almost two years on from the insurrection, the rift between left and right continues to widen.
Politicians have warned for months that a catastrophe was coming. Threats to US lawmakers are at an all-time high and members of Congress from both parties have sought additional protection at their homes.
Attacks on US politicians in recent years include the shootings of the Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords as she met constituents in Arizona in 2011 and the Republican Steve Scalise during a baseball practice session in Virginia in 2017. Both survived.
Those incidents stunned colleagues but were seen as a horrific aberration. Today, threats online have become commonplace, increasingly metastasising into physical threats.