SILENT: House GOP Leader won’t condemn political assassin

While many top Republicans have spoken out to condemn the violence against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, there’s a conspicuous silence from her conservative counterpart. GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has made no comment, despite questions from the press, and calls for a response from his own party.

Paul Pelosi was attacked in the early hours of Friday morning by a man who is reported to have been looking for his wife, the top House Democrat. The alleged assailant’s social media posts reveal his obsession with right-wing conspiracy theories.

This follows years of violent rhetoric against Pelosi, including from McCarthy himself, who hopes to step into the role of Speaker if Republicans gain control of the House, and once joked that, in taking the gavel, “it will be hard not to hit her with it.” The assailant, as it happened, used a hammer.

Now, many members of his party have spoken to condemn the attack, although few have condemned the party’s violent rhetoric, and some have even tried to place the blame on progressive politics in California. McCarthy, however, has nothing to say.

Even Adam Kinzinger, a House Republican himself — albeit one that has broken with the party on certain matters relating to Trumpism, treason, and extremism lately — is asking why McCarthy doesn’t have anything to say about the attack.

Has @GOPLeader made a statement about Paul Pelosi yet?

— Adam Kinzinger #fella (@AdamKinzinger) October 30, 2022

It’s not that he is entirely unable to speak out about political rhetoric resulting in violence — in fact, in 2020, he accused Pelosi herself of inciting violence. Pelosi said in an MSNBC interview that there are domestic enemies “at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with their allies in the Congress of the United States,” referring to attacks on mail-in voting during a global pandemic — but McCarthy spun that into a call for anti-Republican violence.

In fact, he’s called out the alleged incitement of violence (accusing Representative Maxine Waters of doing so by supporting protests after the murder of George Floyd, for instance), and the failure to address violence (accusing then-candidate Joe Biden of ignoring protests that turned violent) repeatedly — as long as he could accuse Democrats of it.

However, when it’s his own party’s rhetoric, and the target was across the aisle? He can’t even muster a “no comment” on behalf of the GOP.

OccupyDemocrats has reached out to McCarthy, his office, and his campaign, and as yet received no response

Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.