“Where is Nancy?” Man attacks US Speaker Pelosi’s husband with hammer

Fueled by rhetoric from former President Donald Trump and Q-Anon conspiracy theories, a man broke into the home of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacked her husband with a hammer while demanding to see her. The attack is seen by many as a foreshadowing of potential political violence with the upcoming midterm elections in the United States just one week away.

The 42 year old man was arrested and taken to the hospital along with Pelosi’s husband Paul. The 82 year old man went in for surgery for a skull fracture and injuries to his hands and right arm. Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery. The assailant was booked into San Francisco County Jail in absentia as he remains in the hospital. He is facing prosecution for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, battery, elder abuse, and other charges.

Police say that the man broke into the back door of Nancy and Paul Pelosi’s home after 2am, with police being alerted at 2.27am. They reportedly received a coded call from Paul who had asked the intruder to use the toilet and called 911 emergency services from a phone that was charging in the bathroom. The 911 operator suspected more to his coded language and sent out an “A-priority wellbeing check” that officials are crediting as potentially saving Pelosi’s life.

Officers responded quickly and arrived to find Paul Pelosi fighting with his attacker to gain control of the hammer according to Thai PBS. Police attempted to intervene but the attacker grabbed the hammer and hit Pelosi before being tackled and taken into custody.

Speaker Pelosi was not at home at the time or there would have been a full security detail assigned to her home. The Speaker of The House is an important position that is second in line to the presidency should something happen to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington DC at the time of the attack, but the attacker reportedly shouted “Where is Nancy?” indicating that his home invasion was meant to threaten or harm the Speaker of the House.

While not a lot of official information has been released about the attacker, online user accounts that appear to be owned by him supported and shared conspiracy theories and hate speech. Older posts show he was a hemp jewellery maker that appears to have been radicalized more recently. Later posts included hate speech towards transgender people and women, anti-Semitic comments, rants against tech company censorship, and references to satanic paedophilia.

POLITICAL RESPONSE

Pelosi is a frequent target of right-wing attacks, as the Congressional leader of the Democratic Party. Many Republican extremists reference her with incendiary language to fire up their base in hopes of winning the upcoming election.

Officially, the attack drew criticism from both sides of the political aisle, with the president calling Pelosi, and the Republican leaders of both the House and the Senate, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell respectively, saying they reached out to Pelosi and publicly condemned the attack.

But some Republican provocateurs were quick to attack Pelosi and other Democrats in the wake of the home invasion. Fox News pundits blamed Democrats for being soft on crime and allowing the attack to occur. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel gave a speech just hours after the attack riling up her supporters by asking if they were ready to fire Nancy Pelosi.

Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger pointed at inflammatory rhetoric and the spread of voter fraud conspiracy, falsehoods, and often violent verbal attacks on political opponents. He condemned the radicalisation and called on Republicans to speak out.

“When you convince people that politicians are rigging elections, drink babies’ blood, etc, you will get violence. This must be rejected.”