A Liberal
Dose
November 3,
2022
Troy D.
Smith
“Political
Violence Marches on, Unabated”
This is the last edition before election day. It is,
therefore, my final opportunity to fulfill my promise from a couple of weeks
ago to talk about what makes these midterms so important. As is so often the
case, reality stepped in to make my point for me.
Last week a man broke into the California home of House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, armed with zip-ties, duct tape, a hammer, and a list of
targets. She, and her security detail, were on the other side of the continent
and only her 82-year-old husband Paul Pelosi was home. The assailant tried to
tie up Mr. Pelosi, who had the presence of mind to call 911 and leave the line
open, which probably saved his life. He was hospitalized with a skull fracture,
and his attacker taken into custody. Throughout the attack, the intruder had
yelled “Where’s Nancy?” and told police his plan had been to tie up Paul and
wait for Nancy to return home. It was soon discovered that the attacker, whom I
won’t name, was a Trump-supporting, QAnon believing, January 6 endorsing
ultra-right-wing conservative. He had been posting about conspiracy theories
like “Pizzagate” and “The Big Steal”, and denying the Holocaust. He claimed his goal had been to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and bust her kneecaps with the hammer, so when she was wheeled into Congress Democratic politicians would see that "their lies have consequences."
Almost immediately, Fox News hosts were attempting to
perform sleight-of-hand (AKA misdirection) by proclaiming the attack was proof
Democrats were letting crime spiral out of control. As if anyone believed this
was a random crime. As if no one remembered the hundreds of people clamoring in
the hallways of our Capitol calling out “where’s Nancy” or stating on-camera
that they planned to murder her… and several other people. I have spent column
after column here warning that the political violence stirred up by Trump and
his far-right enablers would probably happen again. This is just one example of
it. If the police had not arrived when they did, we would probably be discussing
a murder.
Some people are going to say that this attacker was just
deranged, that his mental problems were the sole cause of this incident (and
would somehow find a way to blame Democrats for that). Well, maybe he is. But
is he any more or less deranged than the thousands of ordinary Americans who
assaulted those cops at the Capitol? Or the millions who spew violent,
threatening rhetoric across social media? I doubt it very much.
Some, on the other side of the political aisle from me, will
downplay far-right violence by mentioning crime statistics in Chicago, or
pointing to the handful of incidents when Black Lives Matter protesters were
involved in violence. To say there is violence or dangerous rhetoric on both
sides is not an equivalency when 90% of it is on one side in particular. And is
spurred on daily by the guy these folks idolize for some unfathomable reason.
For petesake, those folks tried to kill cops and members of
Congress -in broad daylight, on live television.
So there’s an important issue for you, political violence.
Another one: absolute disregard for the law.
That should come as no surprise. Trump has been disregarding
the law his whole life. And what greater disregard could there be than trying
to hold onto power by directing a violent coup attempt? This is the
Frankenstein’s Monster that we have unleashed, and it threatens to suck all the
oxygen out of democracy.
I said last week that recently I have had some causes for
hope, and I have. Some people have told me they are tired of it all, and want
to go back to two parties disagreeing but working together for the good of the
country. I hope that can change the tide. But some of the folks saying it is
all “both sides” need to take a clear, hard look at where most of it is
actually coming from, and own up to it. And certainly, most of all, not reward it.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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