RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel says it is âunfairâ to link GOP-MAGA rhetoric to the Paul Pelosi attack because âthis was a deranged individual,â and besides, Democratic policies are the actual root cause of our violent culture. According to McDaniel:
Ronna McDaniel on Fox News Sunday says it’s “unfair” to link GOP rhetoric to the Pelosi attack bc “this is a deranged individual” and “you can’t say people saying ‘let’s fire Pelosi'” incites violence.
“Violence is up across the board,” she adds, as though it was a random crime. pic.twitter.com/ZYY3Q11XRp
â Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 30, 2022
And a portion of the transcript:
âI think this is a deranged individual. You canât say people saying letâs fire Pelosi or letâs take back the House is saying go do violence, and itâs just unfair.â
It would be unfair if her examples were the entirety of the MAGA message. But McDaniel knows that Trumpâs rhetoric (along with many other MAGA pols) goes well beyond pure political arguments. Even Tucker Carlsonâs comment that Democrats are a âchild sacrifice cultâ is so inflammatory that a true believer might feel compelled to violently attack Democrats in defense of âchildren.â
In blaming Democratic policies, McDaniel lied in order to make her argument seemingly compelling. From The Hill:
âWe saw Lee Zeldinâs attacker was on the street right after he attacked him. This is what Democrat policies are bringing,â McDaniel said, referring to an attack earlier this year at a campaign event for New York gubernatorial nominee and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R).Â
But Zeldinâs attacker was not released after the incident in which he rushed a stage at a campaign rally in July, remaining in custody for several months until a federal judge released him to a rehab facility in October.
When one has to tell a bald-faced lie to make a point, one has no point and is deflecting. To reinforce her argument that Democratic policies are to blame, McDaniel pointed to the violent culture:
âAnd I think we all need to recognize that violence is up across the board. Lee Zeldin was attacked. We had an assassination attempt against Brett Kavanaugh and Democrats didnât refute, you know, didnât repudiate that. Joe Biden didnât talk about the assassination attempt against Brett Kavanaugh.â
McDaniel has two examples. The Zeldin lie was addressed above. And while itâs perhaps legitimate to say that Biden should have said more about the Kavanaugh matter, Biden did sign legislation beefing up security for SCOTUS justices, perhaps the ultimate statement that violence wonât be tolerated. Trump hasnât said a thing about the attack despite his constant verbal attacks on Pelosi.
McDaniel could have come on the show and noted that the attack was politically motivated and then say that âAll of us, from both parties, have a duty to ensure that weâre not fomenting a more violent political sceneâŚâ and she would at least be âcorrectâ in a sense. This would be true despite the fact that nearly 40% of Republicans say that violence may be needed as a legitimate political tool.
If Republican politicians are creating a culture in which almost 40% of their voters say violence is legitimate and justified to protect their perception of the American way of life, it isnât surprising when thousands attack the Capitol or when a deranged individual, convinced the election was stolen, shows up in the Pelosi home as a âlegitimateâ act.
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@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.