Nutcases abound

The Pelosi attacker is more typical than you think

In case you missed it …

• The media claims there was a 1,300% increase in slurs on Twitter after Elon Musk took over. A Twitter spokesman says it’s more likely there was a smear campaign from bots.

• A recent poll shows white Democrats are more offended than Hispanic people by sombreros being used in Halloween costumes.

• Google refused to allow ads for a kids’ book about the 2020 election because of “unreliable claims.”

Dear Friends —

Within hours of the assault on Paul Pelosi, politicos began milking the attack for votes.

Gavin Newsom was fast: “Those who are using their platforms to incite violence must be held to account.” Yes, the California governor blamed the lack of social media censorship, yet made no reference to holding the actual assailant to account. 

President Biden was, understandably, slower and a bit more confused: “And what makes us think that one party can talk about stolen elections? Covid being a hoax? It’s all a bunch of lies … You know, it’s reports that the same chant was used by this guy they have in custody that was used on January 6 in the attacks on the U.S. Capitol. I’m not making this up.”

Reuters hid behind “experts”: “The frequent targeting of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by online extremists and political opponents likely contributed to the violent attack on her husband Paul, terrorism and extremism experts said.”

(As an aside, when a man shot Rep. Steve Scalise and others during a baseball game in 2017, Reuters pointed fingers at … Steve Scalise, making sure to note that not only was he a strong NRA supporter, but that he “addressed a white supremacist group connected to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke” as a state rep 15 years beforehand.)

The L.A Times took a shotgun approach: “Attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband stems from toxic politics,” “Extremist political violence is increasing, experts warn,” “Paul Pelosi attack: Get ready for more political violence,” “Attack on Pelosi’s husband seen as rising political violence.”

The media machine geared up to blame MAGA, yet it’s become quite clear that Pelosi’s attacker, by anyone’s definition, is quite insane.

He ran a website where he embraces every modern conspiracy, from aliens to anything anti-Jewish, communism, vaccines, voter fraud, fairies, and more. People who knew David DePape expressed no surprise that he would do something like this.

He’s the latest in a long line of nutcases committing political violence.

Here’s a sampling of the most serious attempts to kill an American president. Most had motivations similar to DePape, craziness intermixed with a dash of politics.

John Kennedy missed being blown up by a Catholic-hating postal worker before being assassinated three years later.

Richard Nixon twice escaped being shot by Arthur Bremmer, who gave up and instead shot and paralyzed Alabama governor George Wallace. Another man hijacked a DC-9 to crash into the White House, before being shot on the BWI airport tarmac.

Gerald Ford missed being killed by both "Squeaky" Fromme and, 17 days later, Sara Jane Moore who missed him from 40 feet away when a bystander grabbed her arm.

Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley, who wanted to impress actress Jodie Foster, in 1981. 

Bill Clinton was targeted by a man who flew a stolen Cessna into the White House, and weeks later a man fired 29 rounds at the White House, claiming at trial that he was trying to save the world by destroying an alien "mist" which was connected by an umbilical cord to an alien in the Colorado mountains. 

Both Bush presidents were targeted by Middle Eastern terrorists. G.W. missed being killed by a massive car bomb coordinated by Saddam Hussein. George W. Bush had a live grenade fail to explode while giving a speech in Tiblisi, Georgia (2005), and more recently was the target of ISIS-related terrorists.

Barack Obama wasn’t at the White House, when Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired multiple shots at the building, with seven hitting the second-floor residence. Obama also missed ricin mailed to him, as well as a pipe bomb.

Donald Trump survived probably the most bizarre attempt when a man tried to kill him in a stolen forklift, which jammed before it reached the presidential motorcade.

Among American assassin wannabes, most resemble the Pelosi attacker: mentally disturbed people whose fantasies intersect with politics. 

Because some of David DePape coincided with “Republican”, we’ll see the false narrative by the political and media class to tie him to the right, but it’s unlikely to convince many outside of that media-driven bubble.

That bubble will hit reality one week from today. More on that tomorrow.

— Ken

Finally …