Washington US President Joe Biden has blamed the extremist rhetoric of US Republicans for politically motivated violence. This was preceded by a brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, who is married to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“This is despicable,” Biden commented in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s annual Independence Dinner. “There can be no place for that in America. There is too much violence, political violence. too much hate Too much poison.”
Biden drew parallels between verbal and physical violence, blaming extreme Republicans for such crimes. “If a party can talk about stolen elections and claim that Covid is a lie, that it’s all a bunch of lies in the first place – how can that not have an impact on people? How can that not affect the political climate?”
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The President said he spoke to Nancy Pelosi and arranged a plane for her to fly to her husband from Washington to San Francisco. “She said he was fine,” Biden said. “He seems to be on the mend, he’s in good spirits.”
Obama: “I understand people’s fear”
Vice President Kamala Harris made a similar statement. “It was an act of extreme violence. We live in a time when so much discussion is fueled by hate and division,” Harris said Friday. “It is important to have a public discourse when there are disagreements about politics. But what we’ve seen lately is so vile. I think that’s beneath the dignity and intelligence of the American people.”
The extent to which the attack is affecting the current election campaign in the USA was shown by a performance by ex-President Barack Obama. He is currently touring the US for a few performances to mobilize Democratic voters. In Georgia, he devoted part of his speech to the “erosion of civil strife” in the country.
“I want to take a moment to say a prayer for one of my friends, Paul Pelosi,” Obama told tens of thousands in Atlanta. Politics is becoming “more and more agitated, more and more heated,” said the ex-president.
Obama sees social networks as sharing responsibility. “All of this has been amplified…on platforms that often find conflict and controversy more profitable than facts and truth. I understand why people are afraid.”
The digital platforms deal differently with the moderation of opinions and hate posts. Tesla CEO Elon Musk finalized his takeover of Twitter this week and announced reforms.
US authorities expect violence on election day
On the same day that Paul Pelosi was attacked, US authorities issued a new, alarming report. The US government warned of an “elevated threat” for the Nov. 8 midterm elections, which would be fueled by a rise in so-called “domestic violent extremism,” CBS News reported.
Potential targets for acts of violence are “candidates running for public office, elected officials, poll workers, political rallies, representatives of political parties, ethnic and religious minorities or perceived ideological opponents as such,” the report released on Friday said.
>> Read also: Three reasons why the midterms will decide the next US president
Danger looms around Election Day from “lone perpetrators using election-related issues to justify violence,” invoking in part the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged — a lie propagated by ex-President Donald Trump and circulated to dozens of midterm election candidates.
Congress’s in-house police force alone has reported a “sharp increase” in threats against members of Congress in the past year. According to the report, US authorities believe it is plausible that extremists could attack state and local government buildings after the election in order to sabotage the vote count.
Democrat Pelosi is a frequent target of verbal attacks from the American political right. Ex-President Trump has been calling her “Crazy Nancy” for years, making her a hate figure for his supporters over the years. When the US Capitol was stormed on January 6, 2021, Trump’s supporters were looking for Pelosi and vandalized her office.
On Friday, prominent Republicans including ex-Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the attack. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly contacted Pelosi privately. Trump posted on his Twitter copy Truth Social but did not comment on the attack.
More: Before the congressional elections: Nancy Pelosi is at the center of the hate