(NewsNation) — You may have heard Speaker Nany Pelosi’s husband Paul was attacked with a hammer during a break-in at their San Francisco home. The suspect was looking for the speaker, saying “Where is Nancy?” He put Pelosi’s husband in the hospital with a fractured skull that required surgery.
Anytime a deranged person attacks a politician or their family, it is wrong. We all know that. Every politician will say it, but it is not enough. I’m not even sure I believe all of them anymore, even about this.
There’s good reason to think things will get worse. There is more of this violence in the air and less and less of our leaders who make a stand for being better. My case could rest on Jan. 6 alone, but U.S. Capitol Police fielded about 9,600 threats last year to Senate and House members.
A few weeks ago, a man smashed the windows of Sen. Susan Collins’ home and allegedly made threatening comments. Over the summer, a man with a semi-automatic rifle showed up outside Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s house in Washington state.
For the first time ever, members of Congress are allowed to spend their campaign funds on security due to the heightened threats. The man who attacked Paul Pelosi proves why. The attacker had a ton of material on the “My Pillow Guy” spouting nonsense about election fraud, pro-Putin theories and a lot of other ugly stuff.
One note about the Putin stuff. You want proof we need to make a correction?
Guys like this are pro-Putin as a response to the Russia investigation, because Democrats attacked former President Donald Trump for being preferred by Putin. Somehow, that meant to defend Trump they needed to defend Putin.
We have to be better than this, no? You are. You are at home and at work and with your family and kids, but when it comes to politics, are we?
Even after Pelosi, I’d bet even money you go at anyone on the right about this and they will say, “All violence is wrong” or “What about antifa?” Sen. Ted Cruz was doing just that on “The View” about Jan. 6.
Right after the Pelosi news, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made a perfunctory statement about how there is no room for violence anywhere, then called it just a break-in. It could actually be seen as an attempted assassination. Youngkin made a crack that Pelosi would be sent home by the election to be with her ailing husband. It got a few muted cheers.
To Youngkin, I say this: Imagine if it were your wife and your opponent said that. Would it be OK? No, you would go nuts, and all the other leaders in your party who are not calling you out would be, too.
Can’t one just be better than the game and say, ‘I know Nancy, and this is horrible.’” You know, be a normal person?
Instead, silence is the answer, and it is why the game has to go. We have to get to something better than “the other side is as bad or worse.” You would never tolerate that weak sauce at home or with kids or the company you keep. But we are opting for worse, not better, in our politics. And the next powder keg is right in front of us.
Poll monitors. This is a recipe for disaster if we don’t handle it right. Groups hanging out right by the polls, sometimes armed, taking license plates. It is intimidating and you know it.
Colorado and Pennsylvania are reporting election deniers signing on as poll watchers. What is the chance there isn’t trouble? What’s worse is, I don’t know that some leaders don’t want trouble. Isn’t it a natural consequence of the politics of demonizing opponents?
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued two warnings this month about threats to election workers and voter intimidation. The threats are mostly in key states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor, said, “Voter harassment may include gathering around ballot drop boxes, questioning voters, brandishing weapons, taking pictures of people voting and following or chasing voters who are attempting to drop off their ballots, and it can all be considered voter intimidation. It is unacceptable.”
And when you don’t stop, it goes up a notch.
Two men, one armed and in bulletproof vest, showed up at a Michigan community center claiming to be from the Department of Defense and tried to copy 2020 election data from a voting machine in an attempt to investigate baseless claims of voter fraud.
We know where this is headed, and no one who really wants anything to get better or safer would want random people becoming election security people. It’s bad enough states like Texas are already paying special attention to polling places in largely minority/Democrat areas.
You know we need to be better, and we can be. But it has to start with people like you, whom I believe to be better than this tribal tripe. Free agents, we need to be together on wanting things to be better.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not of NewsNation.