The sound was unmistakable -- and potentially shattering.
It was yet another reverberating sound of silence at a time when we needed to hear everyone speak out in condemnation. Thankfully, this time it was not a total silence. But it was an inexcusable silence from far too many famous names from one political party -- the Republicans.
A violent attack had just occurred at the San Francisco home of the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Only by the grace of God, it didn’t end up as yet another American political assassination. But it did result in the serious wounding of the only one who was home, her 82-year-old husband, Paul. An intruder, fired up by right-wing zealotry, had broken into the Pelosi home carrying a hammer, rope, ties and tape. He kept asking: “Where is Nancy?” It was the same thing those Jan. 6 pro-Trump insurrectionists were yelling inside the Capitol.
During the presidency of Donald Trump, Republicans had made the bashing of Pelosi a rallying cry and a fundraising scheme. “Fire Pelosi” was emblazoned on a bus -- centered amid bright orange flames. Who knew that someone among the gullible masses would take the demonizing of Pelosi seriously? David DePape, 42, a Canadian who has been illegally living in the United States, had become fond of spreading QAnon conspiracies online. He later told police he wanted to break the House speaker’s kneecaps. But she was in Washington so he settled for bashing her husband’s head with a hammer before police arrested him.
Several famous Republicans voiced quick condemnation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted that he was “horrified and disgusted” by the assault. The House’s No. 2 Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., tweeted he was “disgusted to hear about the horrific assault … Violence has no place in this country. I’m praying for Paul Pelosi’s full recovery.”
But the House’s Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who fears displeasing pro-Trump representatives so he can become speaker in a GOP-led House, ducked personally condemning the assault. He sent his spokesperson to say that McCarthy phoned Pelosi.
Soon it became apparent that too many prominent Republicans were finding ways of ducking responsibility to publicly condemn or say anything beyond what Trump might want said. And Trump wasn’t saying anything. Indeed, some Republicans spread lies and treated it as a sick internet joke.
That’s what is so potentially shattering. Many Republican candidates seem determined to discredit our faith in America’s democracy in the run-up to Election Day.
Finally, Trump went on a talk radio show Tuesday, but only made things worse. After calling the Pelosi attack a “sad situation,” he spread a false right-wing anti-Paul Pelosi internet smear: “Wow …weird things going on in that household … Probably, you and I are better off not talking about it. The glass it seems was broken from the inside to the out so it wasn’t a break in, it was a break out.” Wrong. Police said it was a break-in from the outside.
Scores of Republican candidates who want to be just like Trump began refusing to pledge that they will accept the voters’ final tallied decisions. Most simply say they will win and accept that result.
Wednesday night, President Joe Biden told Americans: “Make no mistake -- democracy is on the ballot for us all…. We don’t settle our differences in America with a riot, a mob, or a bullet or a hammer. We settle them peacefully at the …ballot box.”
Epilogue: Steve Scalise’s strong condemnation of the Pelosi attack may have been his second finest hour in the House. His finest occurred on Sept. 28, 2017. My mind’s eye can still see Scalise, leaning on two canes, as he slowly entered the House chamber that day. Three months earlier, we thought he was dead after a would-be leftist assassin shot up a House Republican baseball team practice. Now, as Scalise entered, the House stood and cheered as one. You couldn’t tell Democrats from Republicans.
Watching Scalise then, I thought about the assassinations I had covered: Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy; also the near fatal gunshot woundings: George Wallace; Ronald Reagan and his press secretary, my pal James Brady; Gabby Giffords. I remember feeling a gleam in my eye as Scalise said: “You have no idea how great this feels to be back here at work in the People’s House.” And maybe that gleam rolled down my cheek.
Today, that 2017 House chamber seems like an eon ago. As history chronicles the Rocks, Scissors and Paper of our times, Democracy must shatter the hammer. Every time.
Martin Schram
Martin Schram, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, is a veteran Washington journalist, author and TV documentary executive. -- Ed.
(Tribune Content Agency)
