Jake Tapper delivered his first monologue after Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in his own home by a hammer-wielding assailant early Friday morning.
Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and underwent surgery at a nearby San Francisco hospital. The suspect reportedly asked, “Where’s Nancy?”
According to multiple outlets, the suspect posted conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccine and bashed the House Jan. 6 committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection incited by former President Donald Trump.
Tapper played a clip of rioters at the insurrection demanding to know Pelosi’s whereabouts and turned to Friday’s attack.
“This horrifying act of violence today, I wish I could tell you it’s an outlier,” Tapper said. “It’s not. It is the inevitable product of a poisonous political climate where unchecked lies and hate-filled dehumanizing rhetoric combine to create a perfect storm of political violence.”
Tapper pointed to one poll showing that 34% of Americans said “it’s justifiable for citizens to take violent action against the government.”
Tapper aired clips of various recordings of threats made against members of Congress, including one to Jan. 6 committee member Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) saying, “We’re gonna get your wife. We’re gonna get your kids. We know where you live. We’re coming to your house. We’re going to get you, boy.”
The CNN host stated conservatives are hardly the only perpetrators of political violence.
“As much as Donald Trump is part of the problem here, you need to know these threats and horrific acts are not only from the right,” he continued. “Back in 2017, Republican congressman Steve Scalise was nearly killed after being shot during an attack on a congressional baseball game. Supreme Court justices are also under threat. This summer, a man traveled to D.C. From California armed to the teeth with the stated intention of killing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.”
He later added that these incidents aren’t one-offs and blamed certain politicians and media figures for fomenting violence:
We’re at a moment right now of extreme polarization, where calls for violence are leading to actual violence. We cannot pretend that these are all isolated, fringe events. There are people in mainstream accepted society – elected officials, TV anchors, others – who have been creating a permission structure that is helping to open the door to this violence, a permission structure created when they dehumanize opponents or smear them, or belittle or make light of acts or threats of violence against their perceived foes or spread conspiracy theories.
Watch above via CNN.
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