“When you convince people that politicians are rigging elections, drink babies’ blood, etc., you will get violence.”
By Mary Papenfuss
Trends Reporter
HuffPost
To help quell mounting political violence in America, critics warn that Republicans have to stop praising violent insurrectionists who participated in last year’s storming of the U.S. Capitol and other extremists as “patriots” and “heroes.”
And they have to stop filling supporters’ heads with crazed QAnon theories, critics have warned.
“When you hold up domestic terrorists like those that participated in Jan. 6 as heroes, when you call them political prisoners, when you say that they should be pardoned for participating in that active insurrection you are sending the message loud and clear that violence is what you want — that trial by combat is what you want,” former Republican official Kurt Bardella warned Friday on MSNBC’s “The Beat.”
The latest outcry against politically motivated violence has been sparked by a vicious attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was beaten with a hammer by a suspect who appears to be a Donald Trump supporter and who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday when the Democratic leader was away, according to police.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) drew a line from unhinged conspiracy theories being fiercely peddled by GOP candidates to increasingly violent and out-of-control extremists in his response to the attack on Paul Pelosi.
“When you convince people that politicians are rigging elections, drink babies’ blood, etc., you will get violence. This must be rejected,” Kinzinger tweeted.