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By now, you have heard that David DePape broke into Nancy and Paul Pelosi's home looking to harm the Speaker of the House. Speaker Pelosi was not at home then; however, her husband Paul was, and DePape attacked him. DePape is, as far as we can tell, obsessed with conspiracy theories, like QAnon, and a troubled man. And while DePape is solely accountable for his actions, it impossible to separate his actions from our current political climate.
First, there is QAnon, whose followers believe that the US is run by a deep state group of elites who are child sex traffickers, satanic pedophiles, and cannibals. QAnon conspiracies have been widely debunked, but Donald Trump has specifically embraced QAnon themes at his rallies and targeted QAnon supporters for his new Truth Social platform. Speaker Pelosi is often one of the favorite "main characters" in talks of who is leading this deep state movement.
Pelosi is also the focus of many on the Right's ire. US House candidate Tom Emmer of Minnesota tweeted this video of him shooting a gun at a range with the hashtag #FirePelosi just two days before DePape broke into the Pelosi home. It's not exactly clear from the video what a House candidate from Minnesota plans to do about a sitting congresswoman from California, but it is an unnecessarily violent image.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party refuses to call for less violence, temper our political rhetoric, and move for peace. Instead, Ronna McDaniel is on Fox News claiming it's unfair to blame GOP rhetoric for the Pelosi attack. And you cannot get on any part of social media without seeing some form of this meme mocking Paul Pelosi's attack. For the record, Rod D. Martin is a former member of the SBC Executive Committee and co-founder of the Conservative Baptist Network; in short, someone who should know better than to peddle the kind of "humor" in that meme.
If this story of extremist ideas, assault, and mockery was not enough, many on the right are now trying to dismiss the story or worse. Donald Trump Jr., Elon Musk, and countless others have started a misinformation campaign spreading a fake story about DePape and Paul Pelosi being lovers. Musk later deleted the tweet. Even though this story is entirely false and debunked by the FBI's own Mirandized interview with DePape, the story persists in meme form.
If you wanted to find a story that is a microcosm of how bankrupt and vile our political discourse has become, you would be hard-pressed to find a better example than DePape and Pelosi's. And it all begins with words. Some on the right may want to cry that rhetoric did not harm Paul Pelosi, but those folks are acting foolishly to pretend words are not causing harm. Sticks and stones may break your bones, and words are just the beginning.
The crazy conspiratorial writings of Q, and Q followers, radicalized DePape. The tweets of politicians like Tom Emmer lent credibility to DePape's belief that violence was an appropriate way to deal with Pelosi and other Democrats. And the continued calls by GOP politicians and power brokers that words are not violent ensure this cycle will continue. DePape's actions and those who gleefully share memes mocking an 80-year-old attacked in his home show that words can corrupt us. The tongue, after all, corrupts the whole person (James 3:6).
Unfortunately, there seems to be no end to this kind of behavior in sight. If anything, the misinformation campaign by Donald Trump Jr and Elon Musk, who now owns Twitter, shows an evolution in the playbook. It's no longer enough to pretend words do not have an impact. Now the GOP must fabricate lies to take the heat off the consequences of their actions. People who will call out this kind of language are needed, but so long as those in charge of the GOP see no need to adopt a sense of decorum, violence against elected officials is not likely to end.
3 More Things
1) How can social media combat misinformation? David Rand, writing for Financial Times, says the answer is crowdsourcing. Citing both research he and a colleague conducted plus the results of a Twitter pilot program called Birdwatch; Rand notes that crowdsourcing fact-checking works. Rand's research shows that the crowd's wisdom matches that of experts. Twitter's Birdwatch had a few more issues regarding tweets flagged as misinformation fueled by partisanship, but even so, 86% of the tweets flagged were misleading. Crowdsourced fact-checking could be the way to tackle misinformation on social media. Time to get Elon Musk on board.
2) Lifeway Research is out with a new study that confirms what already seemed accurate: churchgoers prefer a congregation that shares their politics. Fortunately, only 50% of Christians prefer a church that shares their political beliefs, 41% disagree with that sentiment, and 10% remain unsure. It may not be a substantial majority, but what the numbers show is concerning, as 50% of Christians are fine with dividing the body of Christ along political lines.
3) PRRI has the results from the 2022 American Value Survey out, and the survey includes helpful information about The Big Lie and QAnon. In terms of The Big Lie, the survey shows that percentages of people who believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump is mainly unchanged. 3 in 10 Americans believe the election was stolen. 58% of Republicans and 54% of White Protestant Evangelicals believe the same. PRRI's reporting on QAnon is more troubling. While only 19% of Americans are QAnon supporters, compared to 52% polling as QAnon doubters and 30% outright rejecting QAnon, belief in QAnon is on the rise. "PRRI data shows that the proportion of respondents qualifying as QAnon believers has increased by 5 percentage points and the number of QAnon rejecters dropping by 10 percentage points." It seems QAnon is here to stay, at least for now.
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