Violence against public officials and their families is the mark of an undemocratic society.
America is now a nation where acts of political violence are so predictable that for months before an assailant broke into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, on Friday, experts have warned such an incident was likely.
“Politically catalyzed violence should be expected to rise with the election calendar and to fall between campaigns,” Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said in testimony to Congress in March.
In August, two counterterrorism experts at Georgetown wrote that “with a midterm around the corner, a former president under investigation, and major upheavals occurring on hot-button issues such as abortion and gun control, extremists inclined to violence will be increasingly likely to lash out.”
And earlier this month, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told the New York Times that threats of violence against members of Congress have become so intense that “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed.”
Public officials, and their families, should not have to live with this level of fear. It is horrific that campaign season has become a time of violence and threats rather than healthy debate about the issues.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., when the intruder broke into her San Francisco home shouting, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?” before attacking her husband with a hammer, fracturing his skull and seriously injuring his arm.
