The man whose plan to kidnap and torture Nancy Pelosi led to a vicious attack on her husband was clearly under the spell of right-wing lies and conspiracy theories – from Pizzagate, Covid vaccines, and the January 6 attack on the Capitol to the tale of a stolen 2020 presidential election. Conservatives have furiously spun made-up stories to fend off this connection. Jonathan Chait offers two reasons why.
First, because a truthful account disrupts the conservative presentation of themselves as victims, innocent of blame but persecuted by evil liberal elites. This conceit justifies in their minds trampling on democratic norms in order to defend themselves from a malevolent assault. As Chait notes, “to acknowledge even one episode of a violent maniac” would challenge this narrative of conservative victimization.
Second, Republicans closed ranks to fend off the possibility that a maniac may have been inspired by the big lie (and lesser lies) or by QAnon. To grant this would have risked too much because so much of their base accepts these tales. Chait again: “They might be able to afford cutting DePape loose, but they could not afford to alienate those who shared his most important beliefs.”
I noted in my previous post that Republicans could not condemn violence without fear of alienating a critical voting bloc in their party. Chait includes “bigots, conspiracy theorists, and paramilitary members” as well as “QAnon, election truthers, antisemites, insurrectionists, and anti-vaxxers” as factions that the GOP cannot afford to denounce, since the party depends on their votes.
The conservative response to a ghastly, vicious attack on the family of a political foe has been jokes, wild fabrications, and finally, after grotesque contortions, acceptance of (what both sides regarded until recently as) the unacceptable.
After review of how this dynamic has played out with Florida Governor DeSantis’s rejection of vaccines, and the Republican Party’s embrace of January 6 violence, Chait concludes:
The remorseless pattern of the Trump era is that every right-wing impulse that begins as resentment of the critics of some element of their movement ultimately evolves into direct support. The anti-anti-DePape right is clearing the way for something even more sinister.
Count on it. As I noted in my previous post, with this crew there is never a bridge too far.