In the hours immediately following the news that the 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had attacked by a hammer-wielding attacker At their San Francisco home, Fox News hosts and commentators quickly turned to filming the attack as anything but politically motivated.
Even after reports of the suspect embracing right-wing conspiracy theories about COVID and 2020 election denialism, network anchors wondered how to “connect all of this.” there” to Pelosi for “missing a dot here.”
David DePape, 42, was taken into police custody early Friday morning after allegedly breaking into the speaker’s home and assaulting Paul Pelosi. “The suspect pulled the hammer out of Mr. Pelosi and used it violently,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said Friday. “Our officers immediately addressed the suspect, disarmed him, detained him, requested emergency backup and medical assistance.”
While the motive for the attack is still under investigation, CNN reported on Friday morning, DePape yelled “Where’s Nancy, where’s Nancy?” entered the home and allegedly tried to tie up Paul Pelosi until the speaker turned around.
Besides, review of DePape’s social media activity shows the vortex of far-right conspiracies, including the posting of a video of MAGA pillow salesman Mike Lindell baselessly claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump’s hands. .
Besides sharing links to websites that specialize in false claims about the deadly COVID-19 vaccine and George Floyd’s death from a drug overdose, he also regularly shares images and transposition memes. On top of that, DePape also reported to have kept a blog talk about the “ruling class” and dig deeper into far-right conspiracies, such as “Pizzagate,” QAnon, and concerns that “pedophile schools” are normalizing pedophilia.
As reporters dug into the suspect’s past and potential motives, Fox News characters and guests swirled around suggesting the attack on Pelosi’s home was a “random“The incident comes amid a nationwide spike in violent crime, which they have long blamed on perceived lax policies in Democratic-led cities.
“So obviously we don’t know what happened with this attack on Mr. Pelosi and that’s deplorable under any circumstances, but I also think it’s important to note that we are in a crime crisis in our country because we demoralized the police. , ” California independent gubernatorial candidate Michael Shellenberger speaks on Fox News. “We basically told the police that they were enemies in different ways. And I think this is a wake-up call that these are problems that affect everyone. This is not just an issue that affects people in poor neighborhoods, but we should all be concerned about restoring public safety, both for cities like San Francisco and cities around the world. country “.
At the same time, while linking the attack to rising crime rates, some Fox hosts have targeted former President Joe Biden for a number of reasons.
“There are two things we can get our hands on here. You know, a criminal situation that just happened more randomly or with some motive but wasn’t really aimed at Pelosi,” Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis stated on the Fox News daytime talk show. outnumber.
“That illuminates what is happening not only in San Francisco but all the other cities,” she continued. “If we have a situation where this is politically motivated, you have to step back and say: ‘Why is our country so divided?’ President Biden, you walked up to the podium and said you would bring us together! “
Again outnumber However, the presenter was really upset that Biden even condemned the assault on Pelosi’s husband – wondering why the president didn’t do the same for other hammer attacks.
“I don’t remember them doing that when we watched an elderly Asian American get stomped in the face multiple times. Or the hammer attacks here in the city that have affected thousands of American victims,” said Emily Compagno at one point.
While CNN and other media outlets reported on some of the suspect’s social media posts, Fox News’ “live news” division cautioned that the violent manner was a random criminal act. course.
“We just don’t know at this point, that this person can be motivated by anything. We don’t know,” said John Roberts, a spokesman for Fox News.
“Yes, the only sign we had was ‘Where is Nancy?’ That he was waiting for Nancy,” replied political leader Bret Baier. “But we don’t know his point of view.”
Eventually, however, Fox anchors and reporters began covering DePape’s social media activity. However, they did so while criticizing the fact that the conspiracy theories he espoused often echoed much of the network’s opinion agenda.
“Social media posts include pictures of the bacteria, links to websites claiming a deadly COVID vaccine. The [COVID] Roberts reported that the increased mortality was whatever they wanted to be as high as the death rate. “Also post links to YouTube videos with titles like ‘Democrat FARCE Committee to Investigate January 6 Capitol Riots in Congress!!!’ and ‘Global elites plan to control your money!’ “Then Roberts added: ‘So it looks like we’re likely to have someone here accepting conspiracy theories? “
However, the Fox anchor missed something while describing DePape’s posts, as Mediaite editor-in-chief Aidan McLaughlin noted on Twitter.
“Roberts calls them ‘conspiracy theories’ but all these theories pop up every night on Tucker Carlson’s show,” I wrote. Indeed, primetime Fox News host regular traffic in his anti-transgender commentary, vaccine skepticism, anger at the global elite “ruling class,” and disdain for the House committee investigating the Capitol riots of May 6. January.
After it was reported that a former associate of DePape had shunned him after he began “using biblical justification to cause harm,” Roberts wondered how this could have led to his We brutally attacked Pelosi. “Again, how do you connect all of that with Nancy Pelosi? That’s the missing trace of the dots here,” he wondered.
However, Baier pointed out that there were posts on DePape’s Facebook page that mentioned the speaker.
Roberts responded: “You also have to be careful looking for stuff on social media because people can go out there and fake some of these social media sites. “So you have to be very careful to know exactly what we’re looking at before we report on it.”
Fox News contributor and former California gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner, in an appearance Friday afternoon, publicly revealed the main goal here: Blame liars, regardless how.
“It’s imperative that we don’t see this as a partisan issue,” she told hostess Martha MacCallum. Thirty seconds later, however, she exclaims: “Tender to the criminal libertarians, the politicians are running to really embarrass the police… We have to kick those people out. this out of the office!”
And, of course, she also won a seat in Biden with the midterm elections just 11 days away.
“Another big destination is Biden,” she said. “He did nothing to tone down the rhetoric and unite this nation.”
